The rise of machines, with AI bots like OpenAI's ChatGPT replicating human-like text generation, compels us to question our education system's foundations. Is reflective or expository writing a valid assessment when AI can mimic average student work? The answer isn't straightforward. However, this crisis provides an opportunity to redefine our understanding of writing and its relation to thought.
The advent of AI challenges us to de-emphasize the mechanics
of writing, such as grammar, style, and syntax, that a machine can master.
Instead, we should focus on more complex aspects of writing that are inherently
human: original thought, artful language, and narratives that resonate with the
human experience. This shift, although jarring, is necessary. It signals not
just a technological revolution, but a cultural, intellectual, and educational
upheaval.
The AI revolution illuminates a harsh truth: traditional
education and assessment methods are no longer sufficient. The challenge is to
teach students not just to write well, but to think originally, create
artfully, and understand deeply. In the face of the machine, we must thrive in
domains that are distinctly human.
In this technological metamorphosis, we're compelled to
redefine our work and our value. Perhaps we are not merely creators, analysts,
or workers. Perhaps we are artists, thinkers, dreamers. And perhaps, in this
transition, we will find our survival and our redemption.
We must revisit traditional teaching methodologies,
challenging the efficacy of our current writing assignments. As educators, a
simple test can provide clarity: input your exact writing assignment into
ChatGPT. If the AI produces a B-grade paper, it's time to rethink.
One option is to replace the writing assignment with an
alternative assessment, such as oral exams, multiple choice, or short answer
tests. Another option is to transform the assignment to require students to
engage with AI, like ChatGPT. This approach would involve designing assignments
that test not just writing ability, but also the capacity to evaluate AI
outputs critically, discern the nuances differentiating human intellect from
AI, and incorporate these insights creatively. In response to ChatGPT,
dramatically raise your expectations of student writing, for now they have a
lot of help.
AI's advent should be viewed not as a threat, but as an
opportunity to explore new pedagogical frontiers. Our learning community is
leading this exploration into AI-integrated education, and we invite all to join this journey.
In essence, AI's rise can help us rethink education. We must
focus not just on subject mastery, but also on developing original thinking,
creativity, and nuanced intelligence. In the face of the machine, we can still
shine in our distinctly human domains, thriving in this technological metamorphosis.
The future of education, interwoven with AI, might look different, but it
promises a realm of possibilities, allowing us to redefine our unique human
value.
Like when Synthesizers arrived in music in the 1970’s. Folks thought there would be no more Orchestras and Bands, only one musician at a keyboard who could generate all the instruments. That never really took off, and now DJ’s and HipHop artists, those who least “need” an Orchestra, often use them in wonderful compositions. We now know that music depends on interaction between artists. Ensemble music didn’t die, and most Bands’ keyboard player just added more tools to their box.
ReplyDeleteIn Writing, I see a similar future. Screenplay Writers and Internet Journalists will probably often use the AI tools, to break writer’s-block for example, and Science Journal writers will be grateful for it. Meanwhile, many Poets, and Investigative Journalists, will probably not use it so much.
Algorithm-based AI in music was experimented with in the 1990’s, and soon most musicians gave up on it. To those who know, it sounds more Sussmayr than Mozart, more Ed Sheeran than Marvin Gaye…
Assignment: Combine History, Music, and AI this way -
ReplyDeleteIn the 1600’s/1700’s, famous singers were known for only one song each, their signature bravura piece. Princes and Dukes in Europe would hire 3 or 4 famous singers, then order their Palace Music Conductor to combine those songs into an Opera for their Court events, no matter how ill-matched were the storylines in each singer’s song.
Take the three voted most-popular songs in your class. Use AI to create a plot-path between the songs’ storylines, then (for example) change which order the songs are in and see how the AI makes a completely different plot-line. Or, have the students create a Coda at the end that combines the storylines. Imagine taking John Lennon’s “Imagine”, and somehow getting a plot-line from there to Metallica’s “Kill ‘Em All”, and thence to Taylor Swift’s “Haters Gonna Hate”. After reading the AI plot-line, the students could choose lines from it to emphasize in the Coda-song finish.
The end product will be something like how Shakespeare is used by modern theatre and movie producers - as just a starting point for the actors’ work, like music composers use synthesizers to create compositions intended for live players.
Perhaps soon we will see Jazz Bands using AI to take the audience’s prompting words and make instant-lyrics, just for that night’s performance.