AI continues to develop at a breakneck pace and as its capabilities evolve, so does the public’s understanding of what it is and how it is going to impact their lives. A year ago, I set out, as I do, to embrace the emerging technologies and learn as much as I could. I installed a stable diffusion server on my PC and delved into generative art. Some of the earliest work, using online tools, appear on the site. Other efforts were more hobby oriented and creative.
I also experimented with AI assisted writing, which I used on a few occasions as a test in a travel blog I have. I toyed with AI generated poetry, lyric writing, and even music generation. I was able to create interesting, as well as very uninteresting unintentionally very dull or ugly things, lol! Throughout the process, I discovered what the reality of the state of AI was, what it could do and what was beyond its capabilities at the time.
I found that there is an art and science to prompt generation and refinement. To truly create something great requires a skillset that encompasses the use of English in creative and yet precise ways. It requires learning a vocabulary or terms to elicit the response desired. The product that is generated is certainly derivative from the work that the AI model has been trained in, but at the same time unique and clearly has a fingerprint from the person who is creating the work… if done skillfully.
If not, then the writing is lifeless and dull. The art is repetitive, derivative, and lacks the spark of life. Poetry and song lyrics lack heart. AI can build great frameworks but is best fleshed out with a human’s touch. To do so requires even a better knowledge of English… to be able to read, comprehend, and sort out what is good, what is effective, what has the fire of a soul behind it and to be able to edit and rewrite accordingly.
If I were teaching now, that is the message I would send home to my students.
I would not curse the better tools; I would instead acknowledge that the tools are a part of our ecosystem and teach them to become masters of these new tools instead of slaves to them. I would also make sure that the way I implement formative and summative assessments gauge true knowledge and the ability to use it. For English, I would increase the use of oral assessments in support of their written work and ask them to not only defend their work but to think beyond the written work. I would do this in large group, small group, and individualized settings.
Some teachers may wonder what magic grants all this time to do assessments in this way. I assure you that this is not some sort of “unfunded mandate” (to borrow a political term). Using skills that I learned by teaching using methods outlined Teachers College Reading and Writing Project (TCRWP or “The Project”), and specifically sticking to an 8–10-minute direct instruction period followed by roughly 40 minutes of small group work and one-to-one work, there is constant assessment at the individual and group level. The assessments made during those interactions can be recorded, scored, and utilized in gradebooks to fulfill assessment requirements. The true benefit is that the teacher has a far more informed knowledge base of each student’s skills and areas of weakness.
AI as part of the ecosystem is here. It will be used. It should (IMHO) be embraced. However, the skillful educator will adapt and guide students towards best practices in using these tools and update their assessment processes to focus on accurately gauging student understanding and performance beyond what these tools provide.