Narrative Goldmine

Education and AI

12 min read

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Type
  • Note
Status
  • stable
Generated
  • by: process:vault-migrate/1.0 · at: 2026-09-22T12:41:58.55607396Z

Wait!

  • Positives. AI is potentially very good at continuous, patient, optimised delivery of education, especially where there is a paucity of skilled teachers. This is a equalising force.
  • Negatives. AI is inherently a closed system, and training people within a closed system which is just a mashup of prior knowledge may have a deleterious impact on the peak creative potential of individuals.
  • Solution. We need to be intentional about a hybrid model, where practitioners bridge the things that AI cannot provide.
  • This is about to be a major new page. It is currently a mess right now but it’s next on my list as of Sept 24.

AI in Education and AI

AI’s will demonstrate potential in personalised learning and administrative efficiency in educational settings, nobody will use it. Challenges and uneven adoption across institutions due to budget constraints, lack of expertise, and ethical concerns. Individuals who can will use major platforms like OpenAI for education, centralising innovation, and raising privacy and equity issues. Discussions will have to start on AI literacy, and collaborative approaches to ensure ethical and effective AI integration in education. Strategies for educators, technologists, and policymakers to foster an environment where AI benefits learning outcomes and is accessible to all. I think the Rabbit is something I would buy for kids?! (lol, that didn’t work out) — working/pages/Soon-Next-Later (AI futurology).md

Mollick

Product research programme

  • I’m working on an InnovateUK-funded programme in a lab in MediaCity. We have money to spend on training people.
  • You have followed this link because you’ve been specifically invited to this WhatsApp group, where we can lightly kick ideas about. You don’t need to say anything in the group. You can come and go as you please. It’s mainly friends and family at this stage. You likely know everyone in the room a bit, but anyone can invite anyone they see fit, so bear in mind it’s a public forum to a degree.
  • I want to deliver pragmatic, useful tools for teachers, which save time on the organising and admin side of the job, freeing up more time for work-life balance. I have a lot of tricks but I don’t know how to apply them to your domains.
  • I am going to run a short and brisk seminar series. The sessions will be 45 minutes, likely starting at 4pm. Likely just four or five of them, on a weekly cadence. Probably Nov/Dec. Might be more early next year.
  • Nothing is yet decided; I want to find the most convenient fit for teachers at all levels.
  • I would initially like to investigate what the open problems are for educators when engaging with AI, and when talking about it to students and colleagues, etc. I need to know what you think the problems are.
  • I want to do at least one group chat between us in Teams, Zoom, or Google or something, and as many 30-minute one-to-one sessions as people can give me to capture specific challenges. These are all optional, and we’ll figure out how to do all that in the next few weeks.
  • Once the programme is developed, you’d be welcome to join the formal sessions delivered from the lab. You can promote them in your institutions as something you have had a hand in building, and disseminate the online material as widely as you like.
  • If there’s appetite, we might push to physical sessions and there’s potentially a bit of (self-reporting into your institution) clout to be had as the council and unis get more involved.
  • The material will eventually end up on these pages and website, which is mine. You can have a look about if you like, but it’s a distraction to be honest at this stage—everything is a bit too raw to be useful.

Proposed sessions

  • These are not the final product; they are opening gambits, just to give an idea of my thinking. This is where I would like suggestions.

Session 1

  • How to use my knowledge and tools, in your own time at your own pace, if you want.
  • About AI. Myth busting.
  • The Shadow Of The Shape Of The Thing – defining the problems of AI in educative settings.
  • Feedback and questions.

Session 2

  • Socratic uses and the moral mazes.
  • Pragmatic uses, and the secret cyborg problem.
  • Overview of specific tools.
  • Introduction to techniques.

Session 3

  • Deep dive on power techniques.
  • Workshop 1 – Prompting techniques.

Session 4

  • Workshop 2 – Diagrams as code.
  • Closeout.

Tips for now

You should be using Perplexity.ai which gives references. That’s basically 90% of what you need to know right now.

My custom tooling looks like this, I hope to open it up to you all over time:

Screenshot 2024-09-02 125400.png

Mess

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Socratic Engines

Khanmigo

  • https://open.spotify.com/episode/7EBXdFqRGw6PKDrDnadaid?
  • Current Capabilities:

    • Khanmigo is an AI chatbot tutor created by Khan Academy. It is built on GPT-4 and fine-tuned by Khan Academy to be an education-focused AI.

    • It can have natural language conversations and explain concepts Socratically, especially for maths and other Khan Academy course content.

    • Khanmigo provides feedback on writing assignments based on rubrics set by teachers. It works collaboratively with students in an ethical way, not writing essays for them.

    • It has some memory and note-taking abilities to track student progress over time.

    • Khanmigo can act as a teaching assistant, helping teachers with grading, progress reports, lesson plans. This saves teachers time on repetitive tasks.

      Key Features:

      • Designed specifically for education and avoids inappropriate content.

      • Won’t cheat or make things up like ChatGPT. Anchored in Khan Academy content.

      • Has guardrails for under 18 users like notifying parents/teachers of issues and keeping conversations transparent.

      • Gives better maths explanations than ChatGPT.

      • Provides a holistic student profile to teachers over time.

        Vision:

      • Scale up to provide a digital tutor for every student and teaching assistant for every teacher.

      • Expand beyond just Khan Academy content to be an always-available guide and companion for learning anything.

      • Add video conferences, deeper memory/continuity, guardian features for internet use.

      • Provide multi-year narrative and support students’ mental health/happiness.

      • Help “invert the labour pyramid” so more people can participate as knowledge workers and entrepreneurs.

        Class Companion Puts AI To Work Helping Teachers Help Students (forbes.com)

AI in Education

  • 🌍 Current Educational Landscape:
    • AI Tools: GPT-3.5, ChatGPT, and similar models are now integral in educational settings, offering personalised tutoring and assistance in creating learning materials.
    • Historical Parallel: The introduction of calculators in classrooms parallels current reactions to AI. Initial resistance gave way to widespread acceptance and integration, suggesting a similar trajectory for AI in education.
    • 🧑‍🏫 Teacher’s Perspective: AI is redefining the role of educators, shifting from content delivery to facilitation of deeper understanding and critical thinking. Teachers are leveraging AI for lesson preparation, reducing administrative burdens and enhancing the quality of classroom interactions.

Opportunities and Innovations

  • 🔑 AI-Enhanced Pedagogical Techniques:
    • Flipped Classrooms: AI can provide customised content for students to study at home, enabling more interactive and problem-solving activities in class.
    • Personalised Learning: AI’s adaptability can cater to individual student needs, potentially reshaping the one-size-fits-all education model.
  • 🌱 Growth in Creative and Critical Thinking:
    • AI aids in brainstorming and idea generation, fostering creativity in students who might struggle with these skills naturally.
    • By challenging decision biases and encouraging diverse perspectives, AI acts as a catalyst for developing critical thinking skills.

Challenges and Considerations

  • 🚧 Potential Pitfalls:

    • Over-reliance on AI might hinder the development of essential skills like problem-solving and critical analysis.

    • AI-generated content can contain inaccuracies, requiring careful review and validation by educators.

      🔍 Ethical and Practical Implications:

  • Concerns about AI’s potential for plagiarism and undermining the integrity of educational assessments.

  • Ethical use of AI, particularly concerning data privacy and potential biases in algorithms, remains crucial.

Practical Implementation and Strategies

  • 💡 AI-Assisted Teaching Methods:
    • Example Generation: AI can produce diverse examples to illustrate complex concepts, enhancing student comprehension.
    • Distributed Practice and Assessments: AI can facilitate ongoing knowledge reinforcement through quizzes and exercises, tailored to individual learning progress.
    • Connection of Concepts: AI’s ability to link new ideas to existing knowledge aids in deeper learning.
  • 🔄 Evolving Role of Educators:
    • Teachers are increasingly acting as curators and validators of AI-generated content, focusing on enhancing student engagement and addressing individual learning needs.

Future Directions and Reflections

  • 🔮 Anticipating Future Developments:
    • AI’s capabilities in automating content creation and administrative tasks suggest an imminent shift towards more personalised and efficient educational models.
    • Ongoing advancement of AI tools like GPT-4 and image generation technologies like Midjourney indicates a rapidly evolving educational technology landscape.
    • 🤖 AI as a Collaborative Partner: Emphasising AI’s role as a tool to augment, rather than replace, human educators is key to harnessing its benefits while maintaining the essential human elements of teaching.
    • 💭 Creative Considerations: AI can be an ally in overcoming creative blocks and fostering a culture of innovation and expression in educational settings.

Concluding Insights

  • The integration of AI into education is not just about adopting new technology; it’s about reimagining the learning process. As AI continues to evolve, it will challenge traditional educational paradigms, offering opportunities for more personalised, engaging, and effective teaching and learning experiences. However, this journey necessitates careful navigation, balancing the innovative potential of AI with the timeless values of human interaction and ethical responsibility. The future of education with AI looks promising, but it requires a thoughtful, adaptive approach that prioritises the enrichment of the human element in learning.

MollickSmash

  • Drawn extensively from Ethan Mollick who has a Substack called One Useful Thing.
    • AI as a Learning and Teaching Tool:
    • AI, particularly GPT-4, is being effectively used as a tutor and learning aid for students and as a class preparation tool for teachers.
    • It offers adaptive, useful instruction, enhancing learning while reducing busywork.

Challenges and Opportunities:

  • The rise of AI raises concerns about cheating and its detection. This is, and will likely remain, undetectable.
  • However, it also opens doors for innovative teaching methods and aids in simplifying complex topics.
  • This is analogous to the calculator moment; we should step in, not away from this moment.

AI in Classroom Settings:

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