TEACHING & LEARNING

"WHO'S DOING THE LEARNING?"

In my previous post in this part of the newsletter, I addressed the question: ‘Who’s doing the thinking?’ In part, that article was prompted by thinking about the students in my class, and also the modern threat of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to our students. Here I want to expand on those thoughts a little, and think about learning in the age of AI. 

As I mentioned in that previous article, thinking is something that only a person can do. Learning, on the other hand, is a little more complex. It is clear to anyone who has used ChatGPT or Claude (or any other platform) that it is possible for these programs to ‘learn’ after a fashion. You can train them to give you the types of responses you’re after, how to present that information, and which sources you prefer. All impressive, and useful stuff, which can save us time and help us in any number of ways.

However, it’s a what that has learned, not a who.

This acquisition of knowledge develops no moral reflex, there is no emotional intelligence cultivated, and there is no insight into what this might mean for its life (after all, it doesn’t have one of those). It’s data, not character that has been built.

This is why learning for our students is so important, for it’s more than merely data in a machine.

One of the things here at BHCS that lies at the heart of who we are is our desire for students not merely to know about things, but for that knowledge to be transformative in their lives… the last phrase of our vision is literally ‘Transforming Lives’. As a school, we are focused on our students learning English, Maths, History, PE, and all the subjects, but we are also keenly interested in who they are becoming through their educational journey. For us, this is the central thing - that the lives of our students, and all our families, might be transformed. 

That’s something that will never happen to AI.