Reflection Post 4

This past week in EDCI 336 we got the opportunity to speak to Cari Wilson. She had amazing insight on AI and engaged our class into very interesting and challenging conversation on the use of it in classrooms. The topic of AI is one of the most controversial to date. There’s always been a fear that AI will take away jobs from humans, this most likely won’t be the case for teachers for the time being. However, the use of AI in teaching is a very important conversation.

As a student myself I have dabbled in the use of AI. I have found ways to use it which are very helpful, e.g. helping me create a study plan and help me study as if there one someone else questioning me on the topics. It’s use can be abused and often used to do the work for students. Cari mentioned how as elementary school teachers we won’t have to worry as much as secondary teachers regarding the use of AI in our classroom since less schoolwork is done individually and on a device. This is true, but it’s also important to teach our students how to properly use AI at a younger age. This way they won’t abuse the power of it and can see the benefits and disadvantages to its use. In my L2P school the librarian has held a AI workshop with the grade 6 classes to inform them about proper use. I don’t have much information about what it entails but it could be something to look into in the future.

Cari mentioned how certain countries have seen the advantages of AI and have created certain programs that create it more accessible, she specifically mentioned the United Arab Emirates which has made the advanced version of Chat GPT available to all it’s citizens. I wonder how this could benefit our own education if a similar thing was accessible in Canada. From what I’ve seen of the use of AI in university, I don’t think it would be beneficial due to the amount of cheating and plagiarism. Perhaps a newer generation who are educated on AI could use it beneficially. As future teachers it will be our job to ensure our students are informed and ready for a life where AI plays a big part.

Another point that she made that I think directly tied to the use of AI as elementary students was using it to create stories in the classroom. In contrast to the idea of AI being used for malicious academic cheating this is a positive way to use it in classroom which can stimulate children’s imagination. Letting students come up with characters, setting etc. then having AI make it into a story book. In my L2P classroom they had a drama class where they discussed different elements in a story and the final project involved some sort of their own story making, I believe the use of AI could be a great addition to a unit such as this one!