Principal's News

Artificial Intelligence and its impact on education

Research tells us that students of today will enter a world that is very different to their parents. As technology continues to evolve, our students need to be flexible, adaptable and creative in the way that they view the world. As educators, we also need to model being open minded and respond with curiosity and optimism to new technology. 

Today, it’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) programs like ChatGPT and DALL-E that are shaping the future of work and education and challenging the way that we teach and assess student learning. I believe that it has the potential to revolutionise the way we learn, communicate, and solve problems in the 21st century and beyond. 

In its first week of launching in November 2022, ChatGPT attracted more than one million users and by January this year, that figure was closer to 100 million.  Due to its popularity, this latest innovation of Artificial Intelligence has also attracted headlines, debating the pros and cons of ChatGPT and its potential impact in schools.

ChatGPT is a generative artificial intelligence, meaning it uses machine learning algorithms to generate original responses to prompts that you give it. It does this using a combination of statistical patterns and semantic understanding of language, based on its ‘training data’ – vast amounts of textual data it accesses on the internet. Essentially, it draws on textual patterns to predict what words would be used to answer a prompt on any given topic.

It has broad functionality: research tool, language translator, tone analyser, language modeller, text summariser, and content generator - on virtually any subject, in any writing form, and any style. And its ‘Chatbot’ function mediates your interactions with it – it holds the context of your exchanges, enabling remarkably sophisticated and nuanced conversations between human and machine.

For today’s students, AI technology will become increasingly commonplace in all facets of their lives. The Victorian Education Department put an interim ban on ChatGPT while it analyses the implications of the emerging technology. “Access to ChatGPT at Victorian government schools has been blocked from department servers and devices as an interim measure,” an Education Department spokesperson said.  Education ministers from every state and territory agreed “to develop an evidence-based best-practice framework to guide schools in harnessing AI tools to support teaching and learning”.  Some of Australia’s leading universities have also taken a dim view of the AI tool, with the University of Melbourne warning students who use it in their own work, risk facing penalties for academic misconduct.

Dr Lucinda McKnight, Deakin University senior lecturer in education, said it was highly likely the government’s ban on ChatGPT in state schools would be lifted before the end of the year. Leon Furze, a consultant to Independent Schools Victoria, said schools in the independent sector were exploring how ChatGPT might be used in the classroom, and trying to update their digital technology policies around it.  The organisation that runs Melbourne’s Catholic schools has advocated for utilising artificial intelligence in education, encouraging teachers to embrace the chatbot and noting that students already use AI in their daily lives.  “With greater teacher understanding and supported experimentation, governed by good policy to manage risks, AI could potentially improve teaching for stronger thinking and deeper learning,” Danielle Purdy, general manager of learning technologies at Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools, wrote in a column on the organisation’s website.

At Shelford, we are encouraging our teachers to access Chat GPT, to understand it and monitor its usefulness. They may be using it for planning, brainstorming and generating ideas. There are additional benefits in lesson delivery and assessment – virtually instantly, it can generate ideas for lesson plans, questioning methods and thinking routines, as well as rubrics and assessment criteria, and comments for assessment and reporting.

For students, the benefits include its use as a revision tool, a creative outlet, a generator of sample essays and responses, and as a provider of immediate feedback on student work.  One of the key benefits of ChatGPT is its ability to adapt to a wide range of tasks and contexts. If students need help with homework, want to chat about current events, or need advice on a personal issue, the response given to the student is customised for that student, who can then ask follow-up questions for further depth or explanation, a stark difference to students using traditional search engines. 

However, we understand that some parents may have concerns about its use at home.  One common concern is the possibility of ChatGPT being used to cheat on assignments. Many assessments are completed in class time (VCE Unit ¾ CATS). While we acknowledge that this is a possibility for a longer form assessment task, we take steps to prevent it by setting tasks carefully, emphasising the importance of academic integrity and providing guidance on how to use ChatGPT ethically. There are also AI detection tools, which while they have some limitations, do help mitigate cheating risks.

Another concern is the potential for ChatGPT to replace human interaction and learning. We understand that students need a balance of both human and technological interaction to thrive, and we strive to use ChatGPT in a way that complements, rather than replaces, traditional learning methods.

We also understand that some parents may have concerns about the privacy and security of their child's interactions with ChatGPT. At our school, we take the privacy and security of our students very seriously and use appropriate measures to ensure that personal information is kept safe and confidential.

Finally, we encourage parents to ask questions and share their concerns with us regarding the use of ChatGPT at home. We are committed to working collaboratively with parents to ensure that ChatGPT is used in a way that is beneficial and supportive of student learning.

The convergence of AI and humans working together is the future, and our students need to be familiar with the tools. Teaching them the skills to safely and effectively leverage these new technologies is the next big challenge for our educators.  Overall, we believe that ChatGPT can be a valuable tool for enhancing student learning and communication, and we will continue to analyse and consider carefully its use responsibly and ethically in our educational practices.

Katrina Brennan

Principal