AI can show you the world!

Good morning, human,

Hope you are having a Wicked start to your week! It’s a bit of a long entry this week, so grab yourself a tea/coffee and enjoy.

📚 Knowledge builders

• 24DaysOfAI → The wonderful Mark Anderson (@ICTEvangelist on Twitter) has begun a 24 days of AI countdown. Each day, Mark will bring you some new AI tools or platforms that are designed to be used by teachers to support the work that they do. There may well be something in the countdown that looks shiny, but remember to think about answering Neil Postman’s 6 questions around new technology:

  • Question 1. What is the problem to which this technology is the solution?

  • Question 2. Whose problem is it?

  • Question 3. Which people and what institutions might be most seriously harmed by a technological solution?

  • Question 4. What new problems might be created because we have solved this problem?

  • Question 5. What sort of people and institutions might acquire special economic and political power because of technological change?

  • Question 6. What changes in language are being enforced by new technologies, and what is being gained and lost by such changes?

🤖 Industry updates

• Where are we with AI and schools? → David Monis-Weston gives his thoughts on the current state of play of AI and schools after speaking to many within the Edtech and education community. I have used ChatGPT to summarise the article below.

  Introduction

  Artificial intelligence (AI) is poised to reshape education, though not as quickly or as radically as some advocates or skeptics predict. While technology offers exciting possibilities, it also presents challenges that highlight the deeply human nature of learning. This article explores the promises and pitfalls of AI and educational technology (edtech), drawing insights from a report involving diverse stakeholders in education.

  The Problem with AI in Education

  AI’s potential in education is often compared to studies like Benjamin Bloom’s 1980s work on effective tutoring. However, recent research underscores the challenges of scaling tutoring—even with human educators—let alone with technology. Attempts like those at Khan Academy show promise but face criticism for excluding the majority of students who don’t engage with the systems as intended. Moreover, tech-based learning tools frequently fail to account for essential elements of learning, such as dialogue, debate, and exploration, which thrive in classrooms under skilled teachers.

  Attention and Retention

  Screen-based learning often underperforms compared to traditional methods in terms of attention and retention. Yet, not all uses of technology are detrimental. Certain platforms enhance teaching by streamlining tasks like homework setting and marking, while also providing actionable insights for lesson planning. Furthermore, in specific subjects, technology serves as both a learning tool and a learning outcome, teaching students to navigate cutting-edge software and data manipulation.

  Human Relationships in Learning

  Despite technological advancements, human connections remain central to effective education. Teacher-student interactions and peer collaboration cannot be easily replicated by AI tools. The focus should shift from replacing teachers to integrating technology thoughtfully into classrooms, leveraging tools to complement—not disrupt—educators’ expertise.

  Barriers and Opportunity Costs

  Blindly imposing technology can lead to financial and operational burdens while disrupting established and effective teaching practices. Given current challenges in teacher retention and morale, schools should be cautious about adopting technologies that don’t offer clear, significant benefits.

  Improving Digital Infrastructure

  A key obstacle to meaningful edtech integration is the lack of robust digital infrastructure in schools. Leaders require better training and support to manage complex IT systems effectively. Addressing these foundational issues is essential to harness the full potential of AI and edtech in education.

• Can AI bridge the gap between imagination and world building? → What was Jerusalem like in the time time of Jesus? What does a ‘medieval’ English village look like? What did San Fran look like after the great earthquake? I have long been a big fan of the idea of world building (building up pupils’ mental representations of places across time) in the classroom. For many of the humanities subjects, I believe that it is something experts take for granted. We have seen the historical documentaries so when we hear about Ancient Egypt our mind can conjure accurate representations of the past that many pupils just cannot.

  When teaching Castles in KS1, I have always used or pointed to this website where you can take a virtual tour of different castles and experience life in a village circa the 10th century.

  Now, World Labs can generate 3D worlds from a single picture. There are many examples if you follow the link above, including being able to ‘step into paintings’. If/when something like this does become available to educators, providing it is accurate, I really do think it could be a great tool to help them create mental representations of the past.

✨ Fresh prompts

1. Use the Camera → More of a feature than a prompt per se, many AI apps provide access to the camera which allows you take pictures and interrogate those images with the use of AI. For example, you could when marking work, take a picture and ask the AI if the question is wrong and what the misconception or error that was made. You could tag each photo with a pupil number and when you have finished marking a particular question, ask which pupils had a similar error or misconception. Use in Copilot app. Here is an example:

   

   The picture of a pupils work from TES

you are an expert in assessment in primary mathematics recently pupils have completed a mathematics assessment and you want to check what the errors and common misconceptions may have been made in this particular question. Take your time and use chain of thought reasoning to explain the error.

The output:

As ever, thanks for reading and keep on prompting! Mr A 🦾