It's always great to chat with colleagues and exchange thoughts and ideas about our mutual professional field. I was lucky to talk to Emily Heaps, a University teacher, and share my thoughts on current trends in adult education and education in general.
Unsurprisingly, we both started talking about AI, as this is one of the topics most discussed by professionals in very different fields. Emily expressed her concerns about her learners overusing the tool and the lack of university policies, which don't allow teachers to control this level of plagiarism properly. We both agreed that it is necessary to develop tools to make it technically easy for the teacher to scan students' works and check whether AI was used.
I shared Emily's fears as I saw how my 10-year-old son has already started using AI to complete some of his school tasks. Overall, we agreed that AI represents a great temptation to young and adult learners, as kids don't know how to master this tool ethically yet. Adult learners are usually so overwhelmed with everyday chores at work, home, and family life that using something quick and easy to complete some tasks is seen as a huge relief and helper. All this raises the question of whose responsibility it is to teach learners productive, ethical, and mutually respectful ways of using artificial intelligence in the learning process.
Emily and I agreed again that AI's rapid spread puts an additional burden on an educator. We need to think twice before creating Assignments so that it is harder for students to use AI to complete them. We need to educate ourselves to be ready to face the challenge and understand the tool properly. We need to move as fast as possible to keep up with the tech industry if we want to achieve the best in our work, and with the current pace, this marathon is not the easiest challenge for teachers.
With my fingers crossed, education professionals will soon see a balanced solution. Coexisting with artificial intelligence is inevitable, and educators should actively communicate their fears, hopes, and suggestions.
Here's the link to Emily's blog: https://emilyheaps.wordpress.com/
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