AI and the Art of Reasonable Risk-Taking
Some advice to help you just get started
Last week I presented a webinar sponsored by the Dordt University Grad Studies department. The title of the webinar was “Developing a Better Imagination for Artificial Intelligence in Education.” The main idea: we all already have some kind of imagination for what AI is, and how we think we ought to respond to it.
To make an analogy about emerging technologies, I shared a couple of stories about my early experiences with the World Wide Web in the mid-90s. I also told about a discussion I had with colleagues at the Christian school I was teaching at in the early 2000s, when our hallway conversation turned to, “What are we going to do about this World Wide Web thing?” There were four basic responses:
“We have to ban it!”
“We ought to throw open the doors and embrace it!”
“Can I just hide my head in the sand and pretend it doesn’t exist?”
“Maybe I can keep learning about this, and take some reasonable attempts to use it for teaching, and actually teach my students how to use it ethically and responsibly?”
Maybe you can see where I’m going with this?
Honestly these are basically the same reactions I hear from many folks with regard to artificial intelligence in education today as well. My argument is that banning it is misguided, but so is a wide-open embrace. Ignoring it is a singularly unhelpful approach. So I think we need to find ourselves in a place where we can explore with curiosity, and help our students carefully consider when, how, and why they might use AI as part of their work—and their lives beyond their work as well.
Engaging with students on this topic is certainly hard work! I believe—I hope!—it is joyful work we get to undertake. But maybe you find yourself in either the “we need to ban it” or “can’t I just ignore it?” camps? In that case, I want to encourage you to practice the Art of Reasonable Risk-Taking with regard to AI. Approach it with curiosity. Even if you don’t use it as part of your teaching practice, exploring AI a bit to learn more about how it works, what it can do, and what the limitations are will help you to be more thoughtfully informed about it. Then you’ll be better able to engage in the conversations about the place of AI in education more fully.
How can you do this? My sincere advice is to pick an AI chatbot—ChatGPT seems to be a popular place to start—and try a few prompts to the AI to see what you can learn.
Not sure what to try? Here a few just-for-fun prompts you might use as you explore. Feel free to adapt the ideas here to your interests to help figure out what an AI can do!
What are some fun things you can help me with?
Can you explain how you work in simple terms?
What’s something surprising you can do that most people don’t know about?
Can you help me make a simple meal plan for the week?
I’m planning a trip to New York City—what are some must-see places?
What are some fun and free activities to do with kids on a rainy day?
Can you help me write a friendly email to a colleague?
Can you write a short story about a dog who saves the day?
Explain photosynthesis to me like I’m in 5th grade.
Can you quiz me with 5 multiple-choice questions about Canada?
These are just a few ideas to get started. There are also a ton of things you can do with AI that could be a support for your work as a teacher. I’ll share more of those in a future post.
One more suggestion I have for you, if you’re interested in learning more about AI in education, and other emerging technologies. I’m teaching a graduate course this summer ambitiously entitled “Emerging Technologies” that is intended to do just that: help educators learn more about what these tools are, how they work, and how to judge when/if/how to use them in their own teaching practices. You can take it as a one-off course for professional development (3 graduate credits), or, you know…think about a Master’s degree in Educational Technology. :-)
Here’s a short video that will tell you more about the course and how it works:
Particularly if you’ve never played around with an AI chatbot before, I hope you’ll be willing to take a reasonable risk to try it out! And if you do, leave a comment here to share about your experience.
What are you wondering? Or what advice do YOU have to offer other educators about your experiences with AI? Please leave a comment to keep the conversation going!
Dave’s Faves
Here are three things I’m absolutely loving right now that I hope you might love too…
Dave’s Fave #1: Having a dog in our house again
I introduced our furry friend in my last edition of this newsletter, but I’ll just reiterate what a joyful delight it’s been for us to have a dog in our family again. Oliver is just what we needed!
Dave’s Fave #2: “Caterpillar Roadshow”
If you are interested in science, culture, and the human experience, you will almost certainly enjoy the Radiolab podcast. They always have interesting stories to share, and the recently episode is a great example. Radiolab sometimes shares fascinating stories from other shows, like this one, which originally was released on the Signal Hill podcast. This is the story of a renowned American entomologist (someone who studies insects) who receives a letter from a young Japanese boy who wants to replicate one of her famous experiments about whether butterflies remember things that happened when they were caterpillars. (A fascinating study in it’s own right!) This leads to years-long back and forth about the science of butterfly memory and how to study it, culminating in a trip to Japan. I won’t spoil the ending for you, but if you like butterflies, or scientific enterprise, or even just heartwarming stories about kids sending fan letters to famous people, I think you’ll really appreciate this one. You can find Radiolab on all the podcast apps, and here is the link to this episode on their website: Signal Hill: Caterpillar Roadshow.
Dave’s Fave #3: Wild Spirit
With my love of The Oh Hellos, The Paper Kites, Lord Huron, and Hollow Coves, perhaps it’s no surprise that Spotify has figured out my preferences, and suggested The National Parks to me a year or so ago. I’ve been listening to their latest album, Wild Spirit, on repeat over the past couple of weeks. If acoustic folk rock with a fiddle sounds like it could be your thing, check ‘em out, and drop me a comment to let me know what you think!
The Last Word!
Are you feeling that springtime energy, friends? It has been such a joy for me to get outside to ride my bike and to walk my furry friend. We’ve still had some chilly days in Northwest Iowa as we slide into spring, but we’ve also had plenty of days lately in that 55-70° range (13-21° Celsius), which feels glorious to me.
This brings to mind an Emily Dickinson poem I remember reading at some point in high school English, entitled “A Light exists in Spring.” I share it here with you now, with the hope it inspires that same springtime kind of joy in you—the beauty of the ephemeral!
A Light exists in Spring
Not present on the Year
At any other period -
When March is scarcely here
A Color stands abroad
On Solitary Fields
That Science cannot overtake
But Human Nature feels.
It waits upon the Lawn,
It shows the furthest Tree
Upon the furthest Slope you know
It almost speaks to you.
Then as Horizons step
Or Noons report away
Without the Formula of sound
It passes and we stay --
A quality of loss
Affecting our Content
As Trade had suddenly encroached
Upon a Sacrament
Dave, I agree with your general approach to AI. As a writer and editor, one of my favorite ways to use ChatGPT is to ask--"What are alternative words to ___ in the following sentence? ____________" Sometimes I know that there is a better word out there but it doesn't come to mind. ChatGPT often helps me find it!