I was delighted to join the third day of GenAIEdu 2024, the Second National Conference on Generative Artificial Intelligence in Education, hosted by Ulster University Derry. I had the opportunity to share some of my experiences with using AI tools to streamline my administrative work in a practitioner showcase. It’s great to meet up with fellow educators, share thoughts, ideas and practice.
The real benefit of the day though, was listening to the amazing keynote speakers who eloquently explained the potential of generative AI to enhancing teaching and learning, and assist with research, planning and preparation for learning and assessment. For me, a few presentations stood out when Exploring the Power of Generative AI for Education. One demonstrated the power and limitations (for now) of AI when tackling exam questions. Another focused on how AI can ease teacher workload and how it will be incorporated into the software that we use on a daily basis. The final presentation shows 101 ways to use AI creatively in education and has a nice free resource with it too.
ChatGPT Takes on Post Primary Computer Science Exams
There is a fascination and concern in how emerging AI tools like CoPilot and ChatGPT might impact teaching and learning. At GenAIEdu 2024 the findings of a new study testing ChatGPT on post primary school computer science exams were presented. The research was conducted by Joyce Mahon, a PhD candidate at University College Dublin in Ireland. She analysed how the conversational AI ChatGPT performed on the Leaving Certificate (Ireland’s version of A-Levels) and actual A-Levels (UK) GCE exams. The results were eye catching.
ChatGPT Excels at the Basics
The AI perfomed extremely well in both exams – hitting scores of 89% (A) in A level and 100% (H1) in Leaving Cert (all be it the multiple options in Leaving Cert suited the AI and gave it more opportunity to score highly).
On straightforward coding questions, ChatGPT followed instructions well, interpreted code snippets, and populated tables accurately. The AI model provided detailed explanations that went beyond the official marking schemes. However, ChatGPT struggled with reading diagram images and generating some diagrams correctly. Strategic thinking questions involving logic and puzzles were difficult for the AI. It occasionally misinterpreted questions or simply got answers wrong.
The AI was recently tested again (January 2024)- with the same problematic question areas. This time it was able do much better and could answer many of the questions it got wrong in 2023. AI continues to evolve and get better at exam performance. Maybe as many as 60-70% of students are already using AI to complete existing assessments and assignments. So if students are using AI to complete assessed work, it’s time for assessments to change.
Rethinking Assessments in the AI Era
This study highlights interesting future questions. How might exams change to assess what humans uniquely do well? Could AI like ChatGPT someday help generate novel solutions and enhance assessments? While ChatGPT isn’t fully acing exams (89% is not 100%) on its own yet, this project offers a fascinating look at AI’s current capabilities and limitations. Read more in the full report below.
Hugh Meenagh Talk Highlights Edtech Possibilities
Hugh Meenagh, who works for Microsoft Education, also gave a talk at the GEN AI 2024 event. He shared his perspective on how AI can benefit education. Hugh spoke about Microsoft tools like CoPilot, Reading Coach, and features in Office 365 that utilise AI to help educators and students. Here are some key highlights from his talk:
AI Can Help Address Workload for Teachers
Hugh points out that workload is a major issue for teachers and school leaders. AI tools that can help summarise documents, draft communications, and analyse data could save teachers time and let them focus on students. He gives examples of using CoPilot to summarise a school budget document and draft a fundraising email.
He emphasises that Microsoft’s AI products don’t allow access to organisational data or save prompts/responses to train the models. This privacy-focused approach is important for educators using these tools.
CoPilot Sidebar Makes AI Accessible
Having the CoPilot sidebar built into Edge browser removes friction and makes AI readily available as you work. Hugh highlights how he can toggle it on and then summarize PDFs, generate images, create transcripts, etc. all without leaving his main work page.
With practice over time, Hugh has learned how to craft prompts to get better, more useful responses from CoPilot. He estimates he gets 40-70% usable content from the AI response. This saves him time drafting documents, policies, communications and more. AI avoids the dreaded ‘blank page’ that so often is a barrier for us all when starting work tasks and projects.
AI is Being Embedded in Microsoft Tools
Hugh demonstrated AI features in Word, Forms, Reading Progress and more. He notes this integration means educators can benefit from AI without leaving their favourite app or choice of software. AI is becoming a built-in assistant across Office 365. This means instant access to AI to help create emails, word documents or PowerPoints from within the software it self.
It is worth noting this version (the game changer version!) of Copilot is not free and is also unlikely to be provided for free within a M365 education package. Currently C2K tenants (educators and students) cannot typically access any version of CoPilot or any other generative AI tool on their school network. We might be entering a new era in education with a major disadvantage, let’s hope something changes on this in the near future.
In summary, Hugh Meenagh makes a case for cautious optimism about AI in education. With the right focus on privacy and equity, AI tools like CoPilot have the potential to help overburdened teachers and enhance learning. As prompting skills improve, he sees AI becoming an indispensable everyday aid for educators.
101 Creative Ideas to Use AI in Education
The online presentation introduced a crowdsourced collection of ideas in book format. The collection focuses on how to use AI in the development of teaching, learning and assessment in an ethical way. It was great to hear directly from those who collaborated together to create this really valuable resource. I’ve attached a copy below for you to read or download. This is a really great way of easily exploring how we can use AI in Education. AI usefulness will be exponentially linked to our own creativity and how we can imagine to use it. It’s nice that the good folks at ‘101 ideas’ have given us a head start in this regard!
These are exciting times, Generative AI is a fascinating and powerful technology that can transform education in many ways. I learned a lot from the conference and I hope you enjoyed reading about some of the highlights. Don’t forget to share and subscribe.
Just released!
Use of artificial intelligence in education delivery and assessment
Uk Gov Research Briefing
Published Tuesday, 23 January, 2024
Summary
Some really interesting and valid points raised in this UK gov report, particularly when voicing concerns of potential ‘digital divides’. Well worth a read.
- AI tools have the potential to provide different ways of learning and to help educators with lesson planning, marking and other tasks.
- Some policymakers and education experts predict that AI technologies, if properly implemented, could improve learning outcomes and reduce staff workloads in educational settings, including in schools, colleges and universities.
- Use of AI in education poses several challenges. In addition to general concerns about bias, safety and the use of personal data, many AI tools have not been developed with younger audiences in mind and could expose learners to inappropriate content.
- Some stakeholders have raised concerns that an over-reliance on AI tools could lead to the erosion of teaching, writing and reasoning skills, and may fundamentally change the educational experience offered to young people.
- Research suggests that generative AI tools such as ChatGPT are increasingly able to produce text capable of passing some exams, which risks undermining the validity of some assessment methods.
- Following a call for evidence, the DfE published a report on the usage of generative AI in education in November 2023 (see below). It found that early adopters of AI in education mostly held positive views of the technology, however respondents also expressed significant concerns.
- Stakeholders have indicated that the successful implementation of AI in education will require: evidence demonstrating where AI can be effective at delivering educational outcomes; training and guidance for educators; and further clarity surrounding the legal frameworks that control how AI collects and uses educator and learner data.
- They also indicate that there is a need to tackle ‘digital divides’, otherwise AI tools may not be available to disadvantaged groups and may therefore exacerbate inequalities.