Michelle Dennis
Rules around technology in schools should be principal based. Students need to know the why of the rules they adhered to in order for them to accept and adhere to these rules.
When preparing students for a changing world, we need to go a step further and look at the world in the classroom by teaching students deep thinking skills. Students will be using tools that don't exist when they are in a classroom, so we can't teach them to learn only by rote... this will lead to inflexible thinkers.
Explicit conversations about the risks of using 'fun' tools that may take their data is critical.
As educators, we learn best from conversations. Reach out through Linkedin:
Dr Catherine Ball
Intelligence is subjective. She worries about the repercussions of the unforeseen usages of AI, like the use of it by people to help manage their mental health
We need to start looking at opportunities to engage with the lexicon, as a lot of the terminology for AI leaves people cold.
IA is more appropriate... Intelligence Augmentation
A human using the tool is the system we will have moving forward. AI is reliant on who people say they are on the internet, and no-one is their true selves on the internet.
We generate content that is based on who we want to project.
"The 'metaverse' hasn't gone away, it has just adapted to the tech of the time. Autonomous agents have added to what is now the 'syntheverse'."
AI will enter our physical space using augmented reality. The experience is visceral.
There is a fine line between amazing things and problematic things. As educators we will be a part of building the ethical frameworks that will shape the future use of technology.
Augmented reality will evolve with the size of tech just like the mobile phone did from the 80's (bigger tech, smaller interfaces)
Framework takeaway
Apply this to any new technology:
Cybernetic principles - humans using technology in an environment to solve a problem
Cybernetics thinking:
- What is the problem?
- What is the environment?
- How can a tool solve the problem in this environment?
Terraforming like dams from the stone age are an example of cybernetics.
Shinzo Abe - Society 5.0
- How to we use technology to make trains run faster?
- How can we take technology to help extend the quality of our life?
People are projected to live longer (into their 120's... how is your super? ;)
The rise on analogue knowledge in a digital world
Do you follow Google Maps? Then you are already doing what computers tell you.
Gen Alpha is going to be living in a world where potentially a quarter of the global carbon footprint will come from data storage and AI.
Adobe and Sustainabil
Social media is the most pernicious longitudinal study we have done on the mental health of our young people.
Catherine also spoke to the great potential of personalised preventative medicine
Australia has a key role to play in quantum computing. Learners today who are sophisticated thinkers will be a part of that future. The rise of AI in Quantum computing is going to take this to a different level that we will see in the coming years in domestic applications.
Curly Questions
A: The language to use generative AI is different to what students are used to verbalizing. AI does not understand metaphors or context, and requires using roundabout ways to get the output you want. When we don't learn this skill set, it makes it hard to adapt to changing technologies.
If the whole concept of school is an investment in the jobs of the future, then AI has to be recognized as a part of those jobs
A: The fashion industry and the waste that goes along with that is going to be changed forever by generative AI taking the place of manufacturing samples, fabric and dye wastage. There is so much power in that to make positive change.
A: It's very important to acknowledge that AI should not be used as the basis to further understanding, rather than be the whole solution. In a classroom environment, AI cannot be expected to be accurate, so it should be understood that nothing that comes from a prompt can be expected to be fact. AI is also an amalgamation, so students should learn that AI is not geared to create original ideas.
Bonus question: Thoughts on Social Media management for young people
Where social media reinforces that everything should be perfect. It is so important for young people to be taught that what they see (is perfomative) is not reality.
If you are making a platform, you should (put safeguards in place to) make it safe for children. It is getting easier to slip into scary places that children should not be.
Audience Q: Can most of our fears about AI in schools be fixed by better assessments that document the creation process of the end work? For example, provide behind-the-scenes videos?
A: Messy thinking and a safe space to do it is incredibly important, so while recording effort and evolution of thought is a way to record authenticity, it could also lead to students being afraid of risk taking in their learning development.
Brett Salakis
Thoughtful use of immersive tools can lead to instant engagement. Use the QR code below to immerse yourself in Brett's Acknowledgement of Country:
Brett joined to talk about effective ways to show student understanding through using Adobe Podcast (Beta).
Enhance speech makes the diabolical challenge of doing voice-based projects in a classroom environment much easier. In a noisy classroom, a teacher can do a 'pulse check' where they have their students do an Adobe Podcast sample where students record a summary of what they have learned, without it picking up the ambient noise of the other students responding around them.
Direct assessment can guarantee authentic student voice and assessment without having to send students home with homework or shoo them out of the classroom to try to make a recording.