Artificial Intelligence (AI) –What impact will it have on education?

Technology is changing our world at an astonishing pace! Its sweeping changes can be found everywhere and they can be described as both thrilling, and at the same time terrifying. Although people in many parts of the world are still trying to come to terms with earlier technological revolutions along with their sweeping social and educational implications – which are still unfolding, they have been awoken to the reality of yet another digital revolution – the AI revolution.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology refers to the ability of a digital computer or computer-controlled robot to perform tasks that would otherwise have been carried out by humans. AI systems are designed to have the intellectual processes that characterise humans, such as the ability to reason, discover meaning, generalise, or learn from past experience. With AI technology, vast amounts of information and text can be processed far beyond any human capacity. AI can also be used to produce a vast variety of new content.

In the field of education, AI technology comes with the potential to enable new forms of teaching, learning, and educational management. It can also enhance learning experiences and support teacher tasks. However, despite its positive potential, AI also poses significant risks to students, the teaching community, education systems, and society at large.

What are some of these risks? AI can reduce teaching and learning processes to calculations and automated tasks in ways that devalue the role and influence of teachers and weaken their relationships with learners. It can narrow education to only that which AI can process, model, and deliver. AI can also worsen the worldwide shortage of qualified teachers through disproportionate spending on technology at the expense of investment in human capacity development.

The use of AI in education also creates some fundamental questions about the capacity of teachers to act purposefully and constructively in determining how and when to make judicious use of this technology in an effort to direct their professional growth, find solutions to challenges they face, and improve their practice. Such fundamental questions include:

• What will be the role of teachers if AI technology becomes widely implemented in the field of education?
• What will assessments look like?
• In a world where generative AI systems seem to be developing new capabilities by the month, what skills, outlooks, and competencies should our education system cultivate?
• What changes will be needed in schools and beyond to help students plan and direct their future in a world where human intelligence and machine intelligence would seem to have become ever more closely connected—one supporting the other and vice versa?
• What then would be the purpose or role of education in a world dominated by artificial intelligence technology where humans will not necessarily be the ones opening new frontiers of understanding and knowledge?

All these and more are daunting questions. They force us to seriously consider the concerns that arise regarding the implementation of AI technology in the field of education. We can no longer just ask, ‘How do we prepare for an AI world?’ We must go deeper: ‘What should a world with AI look like?’ ‘What roles should this powerful technology play?’ ‘On whose terms?’ ‘Who decides?’

Teachers are the primary users of AI in education, and they are expected to be the designers and facilitators of students’ learning with AI, the guardians of safe and ethical practice across AI-rich educational environments, and to act as role models for lifelong learning about AI. To assume these responsibilities, teachers need to be supported to develop their capabilities to leverage the potential benefits of AI while mitigating its risks in education settings and wider society.

AI tools should never be designed to replace the legitimate accountability of teachers in education. Teachers should remain accountable for pedagogical decisions in the use of AI in teaching and in facilitating its uses by students. For teachers to be accountable at the practical level, a precondition is that policy-makers, teacher education institutions, and schools assume responsibility for preparing and supporting teachers in the proper use of AI. When introducing AI in education, legal protections must also be established to protect teachers’ rights, and long-term financial commitments need to be made to ensure inclusive access by teachers to technological environments and basic AI tools as vital resources for adapting to the AI era.

A human-centred approach to AI in education is critical—an approach that promotes key ethical and practical principles to help regulate and guide practices of all stakeholders throughout the entire life cycle of AI systems. Education, given its function to protect as well as facilitate development and learning, has a special obligation to be fully aware of and responsive to the risks of AI—both the known risks and those only just coming into view. But too often the risks are ignored. The use of AI in education therefore requires careful consideration, including an examination of the evolving roles teachers need to play and the competencies required of teachers to make ethical and effective use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) technology.

While AI offers opportunities to support teachers in both teaching as well as in the management of learning processes, meaningful interactions between teachers and students and human flourishing should remain at the centre of the educational experience. Teachers should not and cannot be replaced by technology—it is crucial to safeguard teachers’ rights and ensure adequate working conditions for them in the context of the growing use of AI in the education system, in the workplace, and in society at large.

Mr. Daniel IGHAKPE; [email protected]; 0817 479 5742. FESTAC Town, Lagos.