Artificial Intelligence in School: Five Questions Educators Should be Asking
December 1, 2023
December 1, 2023
By Jesse Senechal, Mary Strawderman, Jonathan Becker, Chris Parthemos, Samaher Aljudaibi, and Oscar Keyes
一年前,ChatGPT的公开发布引发了大量媒体报道,猜测大型语言模型(LLM)和其他形式的生成人工智能(GenAI)可能对我们的教育系统产生的影响. Today, some observers are AI optimists, 声称这些技术将导致个性化学习的增强形式,可以提高学生的表现, 有效地解决学习损失和持续困扰我们系统的教育差距. Others are more pessimistic, warning of increased plagiarism, the potential of AI replacing educators, and threats to student privacy, among other concerns.
过去,以技术为中心的教育改革常常让我们采取观望的态度, but there are reasons that, as educators, we may want to learn more about AI. 在接下来的一年里,我们将听到更多凤凰体育买球这个话题的消息,我们应该考虑的一个因素是它的时机. 法学硕士和其他人工智能技术正被引入公立学校系统,该系统正面临着与大流行相关的心理健康挑战和学习损失带来的巨大压力, historic teacher shortages, and policy agendas that support private sector approaches to public education. 所有这些因素都为人工智能在教育领域的快速整合和扩展提供了肥沃的土壤.
In this article, 当我们在公立学校体验人工智能的推出时,我们会提出一系列问题. Our goal here isn’t 完整地回答这些问题,而是鼓励你开始问它们. 我们认为,对于那些在教室和学校工作的人来说,在法学硕士和其他形式的人工智能的使用上建立一个专业的视角是至关重要的, so that when opportunities arise, they can speak with professional authority about the benefits and risks. 美国教育部教育技术办公室最近的一份报告显示, 题为“人工智能与教与学的未来:见解与建议”,提出了在教育中开发人工智能方法的基本原则. Interestingly and, we think, accurately, the very first such principle is to Center People (Parents, Educators, and Students).
我们希望下面的五个问题能够帮助教师和其他教育工作者发展他们对使用人工智能法学硕士的看法, in ways that center their voices, and the needs of students and parents, in the upcoming debate.
Here are some key points, and we encourage all educators to learn more about how this technology works. 法学硕士是生成式人工智能的一种形式,它使用在大型文本数据集上训练的算法, typically scraped from the Internet. In the case of ChatGPT, the LLM is used to perform natural language processing (NLP) tasks, which enables the program to interpret, process, and generate human-sounding content in response to a user’s prompt. 法学硕士的输出是一个预测,程序本质上是在问自己,What would be the best (most predictable) next word?’ again and again. 这个过程一直持续到整篇文章(一篇读书报告、一首诗、一份食谱等).) is generated. 一种方法是把它看作一个非常奇特的自动完成功能,直到指定的写作任务完成才会停止. This process is why, for example, when you read output by ChatGPT, the writing can be so flat and generic. It is, by design, a generic response to a prompt. 响应也仅限于模型所训练的数据集的预测.
For this reason, using ChatGPT requires precise prompt composition in order to provide specific answers about specific issues; the more accurate and specific these prompts, the better the result. 同样重要的是要知道,法学硕士有某些人为设计的护栏,以防止不适当的内容产生. 你可以想象为什么在考虑到互联网(i.e., the training data for LLMs) is full of ideas that challenge social norms. 这些护栏因型号而异,在某些情况下已经被证明会损坏. 凤凰体育买球哪些护栏应该安装,哪些不应该安装,也不乏争论.
While this basic discussion of LLMs may be a good starting point, we encourage all educators to learn more about how these models work. 我们建议做一些研究——有很多针对非计算机科学家的人工智能法学硕士的伟大讨论——而且实际使用这些工具也很重要. If you have not already done so, 我们强烈建议建立一个账户,并尝试看看它能做什么和不能做什么.
询问法学硕士如何通过自动化课程计划等任务来支持你的工作, assignment design, grading, and parent communication. 许多法学硕士的提倡者称他们是高效的私人助理,因为他们可以制定计划, suggest effective teaching strategies, and tailor instructional materials to learning objectives. They can also create educational content, personalize it to fit individual learning styles, 并为残疾学生或非英语母语人士调整课程, promoting inclusivity. In instruction delivery and assessment, LLMs can provide personalized tutoring, assist in grading, and identify assessment biases. In parent and community engagement, 法学硕士可以制作外联材料,并通过将内容翻译成多种语言来促进与非英语家庭的交流. Moreover, LLMs can automate administrative duties like generating reports, relieving manual workload, and assisting in the development of educational policies and programs, fostering a more efficient learning environment
应该注意如何使用这些工具来支持学生,并了解学生如何使用它们. While many educators are primarily focused on plagiarism, some students have noticed that AI LLMs can support their self-advocacy, 帮助他们起草电子邮件或练习提出老师的重要要求. Others have used LLMs to provide direct support for learning: In language, for example, they can serve as a conversation partner, allowing practice of new vocabulary or syntax. In the liberal arts, 法学硕士可以让学生在与历史人物的假想讨论中“发言”, artists, or literary characters. LLMs can support writing as a partner rather than replacing student effort. This support can include helping to generate outlines, identifying sources or common themes in well-researched areas, and providing detailed feedback on spelling, grammar, syntax, and logic in early drafts.
As AI and LLM technology evolve in education, their applications are likely to expand, further transforming the practice of teaching and learning. In a time when teachers are overloaded with work, 重要的是,教师倡导人工智能和法学硕士方法,以支持学生的学习,并在管理和规划任务中创造效率, and ultimately make teaching a more sustainable profession.
While there are potential benefits, 我们鼓励你对学校使用法学硕士的对话持健康程度的怀疑态度, like ChatGPT. There are several key areas of concern.
First is privacy, for both students and teachers. 当用户输入可能包含个人撰写的文本或可识别信息的提示时, privacy is not guaranteed. 用户输入的数据与其他媒体或通信类型一起处理,以训练模型. The use of LLMs should comply with relevant regulations, such as the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), to ensure that sensitive information about students is not exposed. 这可能需要筛选任何文档或文本,以删除专有或敏感信息, such as student names and academic performance, prior to inputting them into the model. There are also concerns about the intellectual property of teachers. For example, a teacher may load a lesson plan into an LLM, and prompt it to adapt it for a particular student. That lesson plan is now part of the training data, and the ideas may be shared without teacher consent, credit, or compensation.
第二个担忧是法学硕士可能会破坏写作过程的教学价值. Writing serves as the backbone of our educational system, 从低年级到中学和高等教育的课程中不可或缺的一部分. 它不仅是组织学习经验的主要方法, 但书面作文也经常成为评估学生对某一学科掌握程度的核心工具. 除此之外,写作还发展了声音和视角,就像一面反映我们身份的镜子. There is certainly cause for concern because a student, with little effort, can prompt the model to write an essay on the causes of the Civil War, craft a poem mirroring Langston Hughes’ style, 或者给当地报纸写一封有说服力的信,倡导更严格的枪支管制政策. This not only raises fears about the potential misuse of LLMs for cheating, 但这也引发了更大的担忧,即这项技术可能会如何改变写作的过程和结果, potentially undermining its central educational value.
Finally, 我们应该考虑法学硕士和其他形式的人工智能可能影响师生关系的方式. We know from prior experience with new educational technologies (e.g., 移动设备),这些工具的好处往往被它们对课堂社区的影响所取代. LLMs add another layer to this problem; they’re designed to be conversational and engaging. Thus, 它们有可能把学生拉进屏幕,远离人与人之间的互动.
All education reform efforts should be considered through an equity lens. With AI and LLMs, there’s a wide range of questions to be considered.
As we’ve seen, new technologies can be unevenly distributed across educational contexts, perpetuating existing inequities. Given our current digital divide, it is not hard to imagine scenarios where certain, well-resourced schools have well-developed AI instructional approaches, while others, due to a lack of technological infrastructure, are left behind. Therefore, 保证不同学生群体的平等获取和适当使用变得至关重要. 这涉及在不同的学校和教室促进公平和包容的入学机会.
另一个关注股票的问题与这些工具生成的内容有关, 哪些可能会表现出偏见,反映出他们所接受训练的数据的世界观, or contain inappropriate content. This means that LLM outputs can include racial, gender, age, socioeconomic, and political biases, among others, which could negatively impact students. 在传统的课堂环境中,教师对课堂内容有一定的控制权. 当我们开始在教育环境中使用法学硕士时,我们可能会放弃一些控制权. 监测和评估法学硕士对偏见的反应,并让学生参与凤凰体育买球这种偏见的公开对话,可以更全面地了解技术的局限性.
In light of both concerns, 教育工作者需要考虑这些技术是否正在改变我们的学校,以解决公共教育中的成就差距和机会差距. 教育工作者可以站在解决这些问题的最前沿,提出有关法学硕士课堂使用及其对教学和学习过程中公平的影响的关键问题.
Growing awareness of AI and LLMs means policy responses, and we encourage teachers to engage in this conversation.
One starting point should be a review of existing policies to ensure, among other things, that any new policy does not conflict with a current one. Redundancy may be acceptable in some cases but, often, it is better to update existing policies rather than craft new ones. As one example, if there’s concern around generative AI and plagiarism, it may be that the issue is already addressed in a student code of conduct. If so, there may be brief language that can be added to make it clear how, if at all, 使用人工智能来协助书面工作而没有适当的归属可能被视为剽窃.
在新的政策和更新的现有政策中,语言应该清晰准确. 例如,学生使用生成式人工智能的政策不应局限于ChatGPT. 这是生成式人工智能的一个例子,但还有其他的例子,更多的例子将会出现. 因此,凤凰体育买球生成式人工智能的广泛和包容的语言可能更合适. 此外,需要通知学生和家庭新的或更新的政策. Any disciplinary actions around the use of AI should follow proper procedures, and due process always involves proper notification.
随着我们的教育系统向前发展,政策和战略的发展将影响教师的工作和他们与学生的工作, we encourage teachers to learn more about these policy discussions, who is involved, and what is on the agenda. As we have argued above, there are a wide range of issues that need to be considered, 重要的是,这些讨论应纳入以教师和学生为中心的原则. 这包括在教学和学习中使用法学硕士时定义教师的角色和责任, 培养教师的知识,将法学硕士道德融入教学实践, establishing processes to manage, monitor, and communicate LLM use and potential risks to students, and leveraging tools that enhance LLMs’ effectiveness and reliability.
Jesse Senechal是大都会教育研究联盟的负责人, 这是里士满地区学校部门和弗吉尼亚联邦大学教育学院之间的一项研究合作. 玛丽·斯特劳德曼(Mary Strawderman)是弗吉尼亚州立大学研究与创新副校长办公室的研究开发管理员. 克里斯·帕特莫斯(Chris Parthemos)是弗吉尼亚州立大学残疾资源办公室的学生无障碍和教育机会助理主任.
Some resources to expand your AI knowledge:
人工智能与教学的未来:见解和建议. 基于对教育和教育技术专家的广泛采访, this report by the U.S. 美国教育部教育技术办公室描述了人工智能及其在学校的潜在用途,同时鼓励教育工作者对机遇和风险进行批判性思考.
AI Is Going to Upend Public Education. Or Maybe Not. The education podcast Have You Heard presents an interview with Larry Cuban, 公共教育历史学家,撰写了大量凤凰体育买球以技术为基础的学校改革的文章. 库班认为,随着我们意识到人工智能的整合只会逐渐发生,目前围绕人工智能的炒作将会消退, and with unpredictable outcomes.
How AI could save (not destroy) education. A TED Talk by Sal Khan, the founder and CEO of Khan Academy. He argues that artificial intelligence has the potential, through individual tutoring, 改变教与学的方式,使学生的成绩显著提高.
在K12公立学校中平衡AI大型语言模型的收益和风险. Published by the Metropolitan Educational Research Consortium, 本摘要考虑了人工智能大型语言模型对公立学校的潜在影响,包括对教学和学习的影响, and considerations for school district policy.
The average pay of Virginia public school teachers in 2023-24 was $65,830. That is $4,260 below the national average of $70,090.
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