A few thoughts on ChatGPT and education

 A good friend shared a link to this rather startling video:  Introduction to AI Prompts for Educators: Using ChatGPT Preview of the AI for Educators Course, KP Education Systems.. It sparked a conversation about education and the impacts it may have on education. I will not bore you with the details…

The more I read about ChatGPT and other powerful AI programs, the more divided my opinion about them becomes. (I have NOT actually tried them.)  I ask myself, are these simply tools like spreadsheets or spell checkers or databases that automate tasks and should be used to reduce time spent on mundane, routine tasks so more time can be spent creating and problem-solving? Or are they truly plagiaristic bots that eliminate the need for human thought at all? I see arguments for both views.

For me, plagiarism has never been the result of malicious behavior by students, but by poor assignment creation by teachers. My old admonition is "if you don't ask for creativity and originality, you won't get it." One of my favorite workshops to give was Are You Punishing or Preventing Plagiarism? which was a hands-on extension of the article Plagiarism-Proofing Assignments published in Kappan. (Some workshop resource links are no longer working.) At the heart of my argument was that all assignments need an element of the personally relevant. Otherwise, the best you can hope for is a paraphrasing of others' ideas. AI amplifies the need for personal relevance. 

Mike Eisenberg and I addressed general tech's role in information literacy many moons ago. (See Computer Skills for Information Problem Solving.) But of course this was long before ChatGPT and its ilk. But in summary, info lit skills usually include the ability to:

1. Articulate the problem and identify the information needed to answer it.
2. Know information sources and locate relevant information.
3. Select and evaluate the information in those sources.
4. Organize, synthesize, and draw supported conclusions from the information.
5. Communicate findings and conclusions to others.
6. Evaluate the product and process.

I see AI as being very useful for skills 2, 3, 4, and 5, but human input is still essential in steps 1 and 6. I don't know enough about AI to be much more specific. One thing that concerns me is AI's ability to judge the quality/accuracy of the information it finds with all the mis- and dis-information now available online. Even before information became political, we stressed the importance of evaluating its accuracy (authority, timeliness, bias, etc.).

AI exacerbates the need for us as educators to re-think our purpose in asking students to write. Is it to demonstrate the ability to write a 5 paragraph expository essay with standard organization, transitional sentences, thesis, and conclusion regardless of topic? Or is it to help strengthen the learner’s ability to communicate original ideas? As Simek likes to remind us, "Start with the why." 

In using AI as a tool for teachers to create learning materials, I say go crazy. (Much of the video linked above covers this.)  I wonder just how many teachers actually create their own rubrics, assignments, etc. and how many simply rely on publishers' teacher guide materials. In my district(s), we encouraged sharing teacher-created support materials (lesson plans, etc) as a good use of our Learning Management System. You got four 5th grade teachers all teaching a single learner outcome, there seems to be no reason why each should do their own thing but instead divide the work. And use ChatGPT as a worker too.

I often think about my kids and grandkids and what they will need to know and be able to do in order to keep from being replaced by AI. I doubt my son-in-law as a minister can be replaced. But I worry my son who is a graphic artist (which to me seems the height of creativity) might be at risk. To those poor souls to whom I have offered career advice over the years, I encourage them to not just be good at what they do, but to aspire to lead/manage those who are good at what they do. Or be the programmer of the program that creates programs.

I am looking forward to the era of totally self-driving cars. I would love a kitchen that buys my groceries and cooks meals that are the healthiest for me. Perhaps an entertainment system that accurately suggests or even creates shows I enjoy (instead of spending way too much time scrolling through Netflix and then winding up watching some old movie anyway.) Or a writing tool that writes books or articles just for me. (Goodreads and GoogleNews are heading this direction.) But then I also ask myself if life would not be pretty boring without the attention needed while driving a winding mountain road or discovering a new author writing in a new style. Would AI ever have recommended I go see the Barbie movie - which I thoroughly enjoyed? 

What perhaps excites me the most is that this advanced AI stuff will force conversations about what exactly it means to be human. Perhaps our stupidity is what will separate us from AI in the end. Now wouldn’t that be ironic if the only way we can tell an original human work is by its grammatical errors? 

MN school library organization is alive and active!

Information & Technology Educators of Minnesota (ITEM)

The graphic above was accompanied by this note:

Greetings ITEMList Members,

Over the course of this week, in waves, the following infographic is being sent to MN school administrators/directors, principals, and school board chairs. We hope this opens up a dialogue between leadership and their existing library staff (if they have any) or at least gets them thinking.

Have a wonderful school year! ITEM Leadership

How very good to see a beloved organization (ITEM) alive and assertive! I have been sitting on the sidelines more or less since my retirement. I had been an active member for 30 years, including serving as president, legislative chair, conference planner, etc. 

As with my day job, I consciously chose to step back from leadership in order for a new generation of leaders to emerge and apply their generation's outlooks and skill sets to professional challenges. And, as the infographic above shows, they have done so magnificently. As I remember, this is this first time dedicated funding for school libraries has been part of the state budget. Good work, ITEM members!

Is it OK to write when you have nothing to say?

I’ve always thought of writer’s block as a form of mental hypochondria. I’ve long had the ability to write something. The challenge has always been to determine whether that “something” was worth writing about. This has become more challenging since I’ve retired.

I’ve had a long and happy professional sideline of writing for professional publication. Over the course of my 40+ year career I wrote 149 articles, 246 columns, 7 books (plus 2 second editions), a children’s short story, a few published letters to newspaper editors, and over 3000 blog posts. (See links to most of these off my website https://sites.google.com/view/dougjohnsonweb/.)

Finding a topic for a column or article was never difficult because my job as school technology director and library supervisor rapidly evolved as technology kept sticking its snout between the pickets of established practice in schools. A new device, application, policy, or measurement needed to be considered every month, it seemed. What should teachers know and be able to do with computers on their desks? What kind of restrictions should be placed on student uses of technology? What is the role of e-books in school library collections? What is the role of the school librarian in the implementation of new technologies in schools? Each new question was fodder for a column or blog post; enough columns and posts could be organized into a book. I may well have bored others, but I rarely bored myself.

Changes as a result of technology came so fast and furiously that academic research and the formulation of best practices based on research could not keep up. We were all flying by the seat of our pants. My writings described action-based research and, well, maybe just making stuff up as we went along. 

Now over four years into retirement, my circumstances have changed. The problems and challenges I face today are personal rather than professional. I find myself in a huge demographic cohort - the aging. And AARP seems to know I need solutions to problems I didn't even know I had! Those writing about best financial practices, good health information, and practical travel advice are so numerous and diverse, I usually find there is little for me to add to discussions around these topics.

So where does that leave a writer who enjoys not just writing, but writing for a purpose? Perhaps the purpose has to change…

In “Why I Write for Publication” (2001), I concluded with one of favorite quotes from Fredrick Manfred:

…Open up and let go.

 Even if it’s only blowing. But blast.

And I say this loving my God.

Because we are all he has at last.

So what about it, boy?

Is your work going well?

Are you still lighting lamps

Against darkness and hell?

In writing to help improve education, I did feel I was in some small way “lighting lamps against darkness and hell.” Today, that darkness is more internal than external. I write because it gives me something to do. I write because it helps me clarify my own thinking on difficult topics. 

At my age, I also use my writing as sort of a mental well-being check. Yes, the doctor at my annual physical asks me to remember three words and draw a clock that tells a certain time. I tend to blow off occasional memory lapses (what’s the name of the actor who played…,) having had such slips for many years and knowing that most of my friends have brain farts as well. But writing tests another level of mental ability, perhaps something a little deeper. At least I hope so. 

Perhaps I already given the best rationale for writing when I tried to figure out why I blogged for so many years:

“As it's turned out, I've continued to write simply because it has been so dang much fun. I amuse myself on a fairly regular basis, and if when doing so I amuse you as well, so much the better. I love the comments - both contrary and supportive. And I enjoy the simple freedom of having no editor other than one's own conscience.”  (Why the Blue Skunk Blog?)

And it gets tedious playing solitaire all day, every day.