DIGITAL LEARNING
I gave his work a total of 18 / 22 . My new virtual best friend gave precise granular feedback on every part of his essay and far more than I could ever give when marking 30 student essays at a time . It gave the student breakdown marks of 2-5-4-5-2 = 18 / 22 . I was amazed and mightily impressed !
“ Write me a UCAS recommendation for Josephine based on her brag sheet and my markbook ”.
“ Make me a 10 slide PowerPoint on the use of SSRI ’ s for treating depression ”.
Endless opportunities … However , none of these examples are replacements for face-to-face teaching . So perhaps the debate is binary after all - but binary in terms of the use of AI inside the classroom ( no thanks ) and AI outside the classroom ( yes please !). This new distinction reassures me as a teacher , if not for long . The latest GenAI at the time of writing is ‘ GPT omni ’, which uses mobile phone microphones and cameras to interact in a scarily human-like way with the student . It detects tone of voice and facial expressions . It can tell if you are sad , and if you are being sarcastic , it will be sarcastic back . Some romantically inclined users are apparently becoming increasingly dependent on the warm , funny daily chats they have with their new ‘ partner ’.
You may think I am digressing from the world of education , but I don ’ t think so . Could the student mobile phone become their teacher ? Imagine GenAI software placed inside a human looking body , which can move around the classroom . This part is actually very easy . It is then programmed to teach IB Psychology . It is programmed to answer student questions with perfect knowledge of the course . It marks student work before the bell goes . It churns out spreadsheets of progress and writes weekly reports . The students start to warm to their virtual ‘ Mr Campbell ’ who is actually much funnier than the real one , and he grips them with amazing stories of brain damage and multiple personality disorders . Parents evenings work really well too !
Never at Sevenoaks School , you might say . But imagine another school where there is no maths teacher , or a low-income country with no money for teachers at all . Home schooling . Girls in countries where school is banned . The edges of the educational world start to change little by little ; the temptations and benefits become increasingly real and tantalisingly close for all educators . Who would want to be left behind ? This creep now becomes normalised ; it is no longer seen as ‘ weird ’ or second rate . Cost savings alone would be a tempting benefit with teacher wages being by far the biggest expense of all schools . My student told me he would prefer AI to mark his essays in future if the feedback was more detailed than his teacher could offer , especially if it was instant and reliable . Why wouldn ’ t he ? I was briefly offended at his comment but then my eyes open wider .
To finish I will suggest how else education might change in the short term . Individualised learning I think will be big in the future , where AI knows exactly where students struggle and in which specific areas , so that teaching can be tailored accordingly . This is not new , but AI will dramatically change the effectiveness of this individualised learning strategy . Teachers using AI to mark student work will be a huge time saver . Students will then probably get AI to mark it first before submitting it so they can keep improving it . Will teachers be needed at all during the marking process ? The temptation for students to use AI for coursework will be too great for some . Rapid fire school deadlines may inadvertently create a pressure too great to withstand . Ten hours or ten seconds ? The perceived risks of getting caught will lessen as they use AI creatively to hide their tracks . Schools will try harder to spot breaches and a cat and mouse game will ensue . Students will always win . If so , does this mean the end of coursework as we know it ? I think it will .
I plan to ask AI to write the code enabling a small battery powered rover wearing my favourite tie to teach psychology to my students . A couple of cameras and microphones . Face detection and a level of emotional intelligence similar to my own . It will buzz around the classroom delivering perfect content , answering questions , encouraging good work and marking their essays in real time . Will I be delighted with that bot , sit back with a cup of coffee , impressed beyond imagination ? Or will I have an urge to destroy this new dystopia ?
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