Major evolutions in technology are often hard to pin to a specific time or place, but this is not the case for artificial intelligence. Although AI has been around in various forms for decades — including Microsoft’s Clippy and Google’s autofill feature for online searches — its recent evolution has made it impossible to ignore.
“When we talk about AI today, what we’re really talking about is post-Nov. 30: the rollout of generative AI, and ChatGPT as the first one out of the gate,” says Mark Schneider, director of the Department of Education’s Institute of Education Sciences.
After the rollout, K–12 leaders and IT experts found themselves divided on how to use generative AI and whether to even allow it. Some educators encouraged the use of ChatGPT in the classroom, while others tried to ban the tech.
Today, around 33 percent of K–12 teachers, staff and administrators use generative AI for classroom tasks, but only 15 percent feel prepared to oversee its use in the classroom, according to an Imagine Learning report.
LEARN MORE: Generative AI gets dangerously smart for education.
However, some organizations are working to make the technology more accessible and suitable for K–12 education. Merlyn Mind released the first large language model for education this summer. And Schneider notes that school districts can’t afford to miss out on this trending technology.
“Is it even possible to say no? How can you say, no, you can’t put ChatGPT on your school Chromebook, but when students go home, there it is at home,” he says.
To avoid widening the digital divide on student access to AI, schools must embrace the technology, he adds. He shared three ways it can be used to improve teaching and learning.
1. Individualize Instruction with AI for Affordable Tutoring
Individualizing instruction is one of the best ways educators can use generative AI tools in their classrooms, Schneider says.
“I want to be clear, this is not individual instruction, this is individualized instruction,” he says. “Individualized instruction is the feedback, the tutoring, the mentoring, all tailored to the needs of that individual student.”
Using AI for individualized instruction can help students learn in the ways that work best for them and at their own pace while still working with others in the classroom. It can also help bring down the cost of tutoring. “We know tutoring works,” Schneider says. “We also know that it works because it’s individualized. But right now, it’s mostly humans, and it’s just too expensive.”
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