Now is the turning point of using technology to enhance learning in schools. Unable to do so will leave you in the dust in the era of artificial intelligence. Now is the time for educational institutions to level up. The face of education will have a new turn—leverage technology, specifically artificial intelligence or you’re outmoded.
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Introduction to the Disruptive AI
Now you’ve seen a disruptive technology, ChatGPT and its cohorts, take education at its core. It’s like giving your opponent a left hook that ends it all.
Despite much hullabaloo going on in the news, the academe, industry, business, among other sectors of society, I’m so glad to know that we have leveled up technology to such a level that learning becomes more efficient.
The launching of ChatGPT in November 30, 2022 stirred virtually everyone. What? A robot programmed to respond like a human? How is that even possible?
But it’s already out there, changing the internet landscape, which has already revolutionized how people communicate and get information to navigate the complexities of life.
We have in our midst a human invention that’s almost unimaginable. It just delivers what you ask it—from simple statistics to even personal concerns on health, relationships, among others you can imagine.
Using Technology to Enhance Learning, Not Repress It
Teachers have no choice but to innovate and make use of this technology, improve skills in writing using well-known grammar and spelling software applications like Grammarly and ProWritingAid.
There is actually no cause for alarm with these technologies because, as a user, and if you’re confident enough that you already have honed your skills in your area of expertise, you can still do better.
What I mean is that although AIs can be very efficient and effective in doing routine tasks, these technologies could not replace COMMON SENSE. And developers recognize the difficulty associated with this characteristic that only humans possess.
Well, perhaps at this point. It should really alarm us if robots obtain a level of common sense on par with humans.
While using artificial intelligence like the latest much hyped ChatGPT, I notice that responses to questions still are very much structured. It lacks the randomness that humans respond to questions.
This observation comes if you use these technologies. I can sense that an output is robot generated when I read one.
Then maybe, perhaps, my observation is something that developers will put into consideration in programming the chatbots.
How ChatGPT Works (and Not Work)
Developers of language models like ChatGPT-4 solicit feedback from the users. That’s because it’s not perfect. It’s subject to human reflections and insights. These technologies require evaluation.
There are always hits and misses. It’s not always absolutely correct!
I’ve seen to that as I challenge it with difficult tasks to do, like writing an svg code to show “a bald eagle logo in svg format (svg stands for scalable vector graphics, an extension for a graphic file). It just gives me a plain black circle with a J-shaped white thing that I could not discern (Figure 1). Perhaps this is one of its “hallucinations.”
I went to Dall-E to request what I want. I did. But it’s not what I wanted to see.
In one instance, when I asked ChatGPT-4 to write a 1,000 word article, it did. But in the last paragraph, it just keeps on repeating itself. At least three times. Perhaps, it already has nothing to say after a few paragraphs and its programming made it repeat its answer to reach the 1,000-word goal.
And, as the limitation of the language model says, ChatGPT-4 answers questions within its database of two years ago. It just answers based on what it knows until 2021, but not after that.
That’s because when I asked it why Silicon Valley Bank collapsed, it honestly said that it does not have information about the bank’s financial performance and added that such bank would not collapse. But the bad did get bankrupt.
But this limitation is not true to the language model used in the Bing search engine that used OpenAI’s ChatGPT language model. It can say something about Silicon Valley Bank’s collapse. It can even inform you of the positive outlook on the stock market in 2023.
Technology Enhanced Learning: The Power of Leverage
Despite the limitations mentioned earlier, however, I recognize the power in your hands if you leverage this technology in your task. In my case, that’s teaching. No, perhaps a better word is mentoring. Still, no.
The best use way forward in enhancing the learning experience of students is to use this technology to facilitate learning. The facts are already there. But we have to verify as responsible facilitators and curators of knowledge.
As experts in our field, our big role for now is to leverage this technology—use it, but make sure that you curate it. We are now curators, not just mentors.
I’ve been doing this as I browse for useful materials on the internet. You have to select diamonds from a pile of questionable stuff.
When materials are not available, particularly those relevant to the local setting, I create or develop materials suitable for my students.
Exercise more our ability to CURATE learning materials. That’s what I’ve learned with all this technology at our fingertips.
In fact, AI reduces our work time. We can do things faster now than before by using technology to enhance learning among students. The preparation of instructional materials is easier.
I’ve prepared 30 educational videos in less than a month. That’s not possible without the aid of cutting-edge technology. You can see that on my new video channel in Humix.
AI Enhanced Learning Remains a Viable Option
The bottom line is: You cannot stop technology in its tracks. You cannot stop flowing water. It’s out there in the open for you to take advantage whether you like it or not.
The developers of the AI that are disruptive are themselves products of human education or learning. Without schools, these technologies would not have arisen.
It’s the creativity of the users that made them possible, using the learning they got from schools that prepares students to undertake these projects. That is, without the need to follow the direction that society places on them.
You don’t need a PhD to become innovative. You just need a creative, imaginative mind that hungers to find solutions to human needs. And of course, the basic knowledge of coding and higher-level computing skills are fundamental requisites. Using technology to enhance learning by yourself is now possible.
Whatever the motivation, self-fulfillment or money, people diligently work towards their goals, harnessing their knowledge and skills.
ROI Can’t Make Companies Stop AI Development
For well funded large language model (LLM) projects like ChatGPT, there is a need for them to recover their investments. While the LLM’s algorithm is available for everyone with the required skills to build on, the precursor needs to make a return on investment (ROI) on their investors.
Why will Bill Gates spend $10 billion to develop the language model? Now we can see the results. ChatGPT is integrated in the Bing search engine that rattled Google as it threatens the core of its very survival: Chrome as the King of Searches for so many years.
With ChatGPT integrated in Bing, it’s now much easier to find answers to your questions with accompanying references to verify the answer. What a nifty way to get on with life.
You find what you want in seconds, not browse and spend more valuable time for relevant articles as we usually do in Chrome. Or become forced to view all those ads instead of the information that you want when you search for information, not to buy.
We’re not always buying something when we sit and type in our search box. We need information first. We cannot just buy something if we do not know about these products and compare them.
Perhaps Google realized that so those lines of products I usually see when doing a search are gone. Besides, I came to like Bing as it helps me find the information I want faster. I’m not sure yet if it’s a good decision, but I’ll see how my productivity goes for several weeks, perhaps.
Final Resolve in Using Technology to Enhance Learning
As a professor, I will leverage this new approach: using technology to enhance learning of students. I save time, and my students get the best, curated information they need to keep up with the lessons.
It’s just a matter of time before we finally realize that our choice is to adapt, not plainly stop something from happening. Just like our concern with climate change.
© 2023 April 15 P. A. Regoniel
