Using A.I To Plan My Teaching Units? | The Downside

Feb 3, 2024

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Kas

A.I technology has hit many industries with a bang! Honestly, who would’ve thought we would be able to utilise such amazing, almost futuristic type technology- right now?

Forbes Interviewed 500 American educators, a whopping 60% currently use A.I websites in their teaching and planning.

AI technology has already been integrated into many industries for some years now, but rarely has it been able to be utilized by the everyday person (or student!). The education industry has had to adapt very quickly to this chance- students having access to this technology and the implications it could potentially have on their learning, as well as teachers starting to dabble in A.I supported curriculum planning. A lot is happening and it is happening very quickly.

There are currently two schools of thought in education right now.

1) Trying to identify its use in student work and limit it to avoid plagiarism and students taking shortcuts.

2) We also have schools learning how to utilize it to prompt learning and to successfully integrate it into the curriculum so students can use A.I as a tool rather than a crutch.

long-term, successful integration into teaching and learning may be the only viable solution, as trying to prevent it can only last so long.  

Whilst we are unsure of the long-term effects of the world using A.I technology in education-related tasks for students, we have no choice as educators but to learn about A.I, so we can identify it in our student’s work and also in the right circumstances use it to benefit their learning.

From a teachers perspective A.I is now being used to plan units of work in some schools by educators. Thus we now ask the question, is it good for our long term teaching ability to rely on this technology ?

Here are 3 concerns I have with over-reliance on A.I lesson planning technology.

We Will Lose The Skill To Interpret The Curriculum to Suit The Needs Of Our Students

When creating units of work, one thing that helps me develop my knowledge and understanding of my curriculum area is reading and implementing the Australian Curriculum into those units. The ability to read the curriculum, understand it and then interpret it, to create a unit of work that caters to the needs and interests of your students in addition too addressing the outcomes of the curriculum is a critical skill. It is something that we never fully master, as our students change each year and over time so does the curriculum. This ability needs to constantly be used in order to understand the curriculum well. If done regularly, you will develop into an expert in your teaching area.

If we rely on A.I to do a lot of this interpretation or create the bulk of the units, we can never fully understand the content, how and why we sequence lessons the way we do, and it also limits us from addressing the cross-curricular needs of our students….. even potentially other school focus areas.

Like any skill, we need the repetition to refine our teaching and planning abilities. This process helps us sift out what works and what doesn’t. It allows us to be active and involved in the learning and sequencing of our lessons.

Imagine if we are asked by peers, leaders and parents about how and why we are teaching what we are teaching? We can only answer that honestly and effectively if we have created the lessons ourselves and understand the thought process behind it.

We Reduce Our Capacity For Creativity And Uniqueness In Our Teaching Approach

Creativity is seeing what everyone else has seen, and thinking what no one else has thought- Albert Einstein

A.I. uses content from a variety of sources that has already been created. In a sense regurgitating old material and potentially never truly being on the cutting edge. Most importantly you are the person in your school setting, you know your students!! That’s such a powerful advantage of creating quality learning. All learning should start and end with the student’s needs first- and not all students just those in front of you. Those who you have the responsibility of taking care of and educating.

A.I. technology can’t do that as the content it delivers is re-used from other sites and it is not catered to the needs of your students.

Of course, you can adapt it …. but dare I say it… that’s just being lazy….?

AI tools use existing data for content, so this means they cannot come up with fresh ideas. AI tools make it hard to come up with new content covering the latest trending ideas and topics. (Tech Target, 2023)

We Become Administrators Rather Than Creators

One of the biggest challenges I had as a relief teacher was coming into a classroom and having to teach content I didn’t plan. It’s really hard to teach something that you have not created yourself as you wont be well versed it in, not really fully understand how it should be delivered or how it was intended to be delivered. You also may not be able to answer questions about it if asked.

A bit like cheating on a test, you may get the result but if asked about how you got your answer … you may not have much to say!

Relying on A.I It is very similar-

We run the risk of just rehashing old content, content we don’t understand and one that is generalised. We administer it to our students and then that’s it. We don’t develop that unique magic ability that makes us professionals, that ability to create something from scratch about a basic topic and turn it into an interesting and fun sequence of learning experiences, which our students become engaged in, passionate about and thus learn from. Students need to love to learn, they need to enjoy the process of learning and that can only be done by delivering quality content and delivering it in a way that is fitting for their needs and also plays to your strengths as a teacher. This cant be achieved if we outsource our planning.

Eventually, we need to learn how to utilise A.I in our profession to benefit teacher and students, whilst not letting it diminish our wonderful qualities and special abilities that make us the educators we are.

What are your thoughts? Let me know and if I’m wrong and if you’ve found a way to achieve that happy medium between A.I and planning quality content- let me know!! I’m keen to learn how this can be achieved !!

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