With the advent of new technologies that mimic human behavior, an important question arises in educational settings. Can AI be used beneficially, or does it hinder the ability of students to learn? In the modern world, AI is no longer confined to theoretical ideas or sci-fi movies- it’s becoming prevalent in everyday life. From various personalized learning and teaching tools to essay generators, AI is transforming the way that students learn and teachers teach.
According to IBM, AI (artificial intelligence) is a type of technology that allows for the imitation of human learning, creativity, and problem-solving abilities. As technology progresses, AI continues to develop even further, now being able to make detailed recommendations to users and generate virtually anything. However, with this comes the risk that AI could potentially replace the need for human intelligence which could cause problems for schools.
English teacher Mrs. Byrne explains that “AI isn’t necessarily a threat to teaching, but is rather a tool to help.” This emphasizes how AI cannot replace teachers. The human elements of empathy and inspiration that teachers provide play a large part in teaching, which AI cannot replicate. Rather, AI assistance can be valuable for teachers to provide ideas. Mrs. Brust, the Marketing teacher, states that she used AI to “structure and formulate projects [she] had in mind for the class. It did a great job laying out the instructions and rubric for [her], then [she] was able to adapt it to what [she] wanted exactly.” AI assistance is helpful as a starting point for the development of projects, but it shouldn’t be mistaken for replacing human thought processes altogether.
For students, the use of AI poses a larger threat to their learning. The computer science teacher Mr. Reiber explains AI doing the work for students in high school with the analogy that “It’s like doing a pushup. You’re doing things for practice to make you stronger and what you produce is the sweat; nobody will pay money for that sweat. So, if AI does all the work for you, you’re not doing the push up; you’re just collecting the sweat.” The importance of doing work in high school is that students gain skills and are taught to work hard. When AI is used as a replacement for thinking critically and independently, students don’t learn anything; instead, they just receive good grades, which will not teach them real skills.
Nevertheless, AI can also assist students when they are learning. Mrs. Byrne says that students can use AI beneficially by “Asking it to help generate research questions and plugging in essays or other work to get helpful feedback.” When used in the right way, students can enhance their learning and its effectiveness. Through various features of AI such as personalized learning, immediate feedback, and accessible support, AI can create a more efficient and engaging learning environment for students.
Overall, there is no one answer to whether AI is beneficial or detrimental; that is in the hands of the user.
