Artificial Intelligence and Language Models in education and the impact on teaching

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Large Language Models (LLMs) are redefining many industries today. Easily accessible AI powered LLMs like ChatGPT are enabling the launch of groundbreaking technologies in personalized education, with platforms like Khan Academy planning to leverage their capabilities. The impact of LLMs on education became evident with the decline in revenue and share price of traditional ed-tech companies like Chegg. One thing is clear: AI LLMs are here to stay and it is vital for students, educators, and parents to understand and appreciate their capabilities, advantages, and drawbacks

💻 How does an Artificial Intelligence Large Language Model work 🧠

Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered Language Models (LLMs) analyze large data sets to learn speech patterns, context, and language structures. When a prompt is given, it gathers relevant information and then presents it as a human-like response or engages in conversation by using its learned speech patterns

🤘 Advantages 🚀

The use of AI and LLMs in education is still in it’s infancy. Even in it’s early stages, advantages of using this technology include personalised learning, greater efficiency and accessibility, and improved teaching and learning experiences

📜 Personalised learning

One of the great advantages of AI and LLMs in education is their ability to provide personalized learning experiences. By engaging with students in a conversational way, they can offer targeted feedback and assistance. It’s like having a knowledgeable friend with access to the internet. This conversational and personalized approach promotes interactive learning, student autonomy, self-paced progress, and a deeper understanding of the subject matter

🌎 Efficiency and accessibility

AI and LLMs can make teaching more efficient by automating administrative tasks, such as creating basic lesson plans and creating questions for a specific topic. This frees up valuable time for educators to focus on more impactful aspects of their lessons, such as designing engaging activities and providing individual support to students. This time saving is significant enough to make it a key technical skill for any private tutors. AI-powered tools can also facilitate accessibility for learners with special needs, offering real-time language translation, text-to-speech capabilities, and customizable learning interfaces

🤖 Augmented teaching and learning experiences

Intelligent systems powered by AI and LLMs offer interactive virtual simulations that allow students to explore complex concepts in a safe and immersive environment. LLMs act as virtual mentors, providing knowledge and guidance in a conversational manner. This can be particularly beneficial for students who may be hesitant to express their creativity or interests due to fear of judgment, such as those being bullied or marginalised. Interacting with LLMs allows them to freely explore their ideas without fear of criticism, and develop their creative thinking skills. Additionally, LLMs can help students develop critical thinking skills by offering alternative perspectives and new approaches to solving problems

🥴 Challenges 📉

As AI and LLMs become widespread, challenges in education emerge, such as the risk of overreliance, reduced human interaction, the need for training and adaptation, limited personalised memory between engagements, and the potential exposure to false information

🦥 Potential for overreliance

As technology becomes more integrated into our lives, we tend to become increasingly dependent on it, and the same holds true for AI and LLMs. These language models play a significant role in assisting us with finding and synthesizing information. Search engines allow us to locate information, but we have to process and synthesize it ourselves to make it relevant to our specific needs. However, AI powered LLMs have the ability to find, synthesize, and tailor information for us. This convenience can be problematic because some individuals may rely too heavily on these models, resulting in a potential loss of critical thinking and problem-solving skills. This is particularly true for young students who are still developing these skills. This makes finding a balance between utilizing technology and promoting creative and independent thinking especially important

🚫 Lack of human interaction

While AI powered LLMs offer numerous advantages, they cannot replace the invaluable benefits of human interaction in education. Emotional support, mentorship, and personalized guidance are crucial aspects of the learning process. From my own experiences as a student and a private tutor, a significant portion of education revolves around social and emotional development. Skilled educators have the ability to recognize social and emotional cues in their students, enabling them to provide additional support and mentorship as needed. Establishing a strong teacher-student relationship and fostering a network of human educators can be just as, if not more, beneficial than the actual academic content itself

When students solely rely on AI LLMs, they may miss out on this. Younger students may also miss the opportunity for early human connections that aid in the development of social and emotional skills. Proponents of AI LLMs in education must understand the importance of human interaction in education and not solely rely on AI LLMs, as they cannot fully replace the multifaceted support and guidance provided by teachers and educators

🐱‍👤 Training and adaptation

Many educators lack confidence in utilizing AI LLMs in their classrooms. To address this, educators require training, professional development opportunities, and clear guidelines to develop their skills in using these models effectively. Institutions should actively encourage educators to explore and experiment with these models during their free time to gain a better understanding of their capabilities, which they can later use to guide their students

Institutions should also provide support for the transparent and responsible use of AI LLMs. This enables educators to leverage their trusted positions to educate students on safe and appropriate usage, as their students will inevitably engage with these technologies anyway. Institutions may also discover significant benefits in offering structured educational programs to teachers and educators, aimed at enhancing their understanding of how AI LLMs function and how they can be seamlessly integrated into classroom instruction

🦠 No personalized memory

AI and LLMs lack the ability to retain information across interactions, unlike human beings. Each conversation with an AI LLM is treated as a separate and independent interaction, preventing them from remembering strengths, weaknesses, and previous discussions. This limitation becomes especially evident in educational settings

Human educators, on the other hand, can gradually build a deep understanding of a student’s strengths, weaknesses, and tendencies over time. By engaging with a human tutor, students benefit from a continuous learning experience where the tutor can recall previous discussions, track progress, and provide personalized assistance based on their accumulated knowledge of the student. This approach creates a supportive learning environment that goes beyond imparting information and cannot be replicated by AI LLMs

🙊 False information

Unlike search engines that immediately show you the source of information through website links, AI LLMs often don’t do this. Occasionally, AI LLMs may provide responses containing false information, but they do so with unwavering confidence. This is a problem because AI LLMs sound intelligent, and can confuse users if their responses are not verified. Hence, when utilizing AI LLMs, it becomes crucial for users to prioritize human fact-checking of the generated responses. It is likely that AI LLMs of the future will reference their sources of information. Presently, users can already request sources in their prompts, but it remains an important consideration to bear in mind

📝 Ethical use in small group education sessions 🐣

AI and LLMs offer promising opportunities, but ethical concerns must be addressed. These concerns include data privacy, algorithmic biases, and the potential replacement of human interaction. Additional considerations include plagiarism, and maintaining academic integrity

Instead of completely banning or disregarding AI and LLMs, educators should take proactive measures to establish clear guidelines and regulations. Established guidelines should promote responsible and transparent use of the technology. They should prioritize student well-being, privacy, and academic integrity while emphasizing informed consent and minimizing risks related to data collection and storage

To ensure the ethical and responsible integration of AI and LLMs in small-group education sessions, the following strategies can be employed:

👩‍🎓 Human-centred approach

As mentioned earlier, even with the integration of AI and LLMs, the human element in education continues to be vital. Educators play a crucial role as mentors and supporters of students, and it is important for them to actively engage in the teaching process. Rather than using AI LLMs to replace their presence, educators should use them to enhance and complement their presence in the classroom

🔢 Transparent use of data

When using AI and LLM-based platforms, it is crucial that everyone involved understands the data that is being collected and how it will be used. Educators should obtain informed consent from students and their parents, and ensure transparency regarding data privacy and protection. Personal data matters and anyone using AI LLMs should regularly review updates to privacy policies

🗺 Equity and accessibility

While AI and LLMs have the potential to bridge educational gaps, there is a risk of exacerbating existing inequalities. Not all students have equal access to technology and high-quality internet connections, which could lead to a digital divide. If AI LLMs are being used, schools and policymakers must ensure equitable access to them, ensuring that disadvantaged students are not left behind. Additionally, the algorithms and datasets used in these technologies must be carefully scrutinized to avoid perpetuating biases or discrimination

👨‍🏫 Academic integrity

There’s a risk that people might misuse AI LLMs to present AI-generated content as their own, which is plagiarism. This raises concerns about the fairness of academic achievements and the development of critical thinking skills. To address this, schools should create clear guidelines on how to use AI LLMs properly. These guidelines should emphasize the importance of being original, giving proper credit, and using the tools responsibly. Students need to understand what’s allowed and what’s not, and the consequences of misusing AI LLMs. By having clear rules in place, schools can maintain academic integrity and ensure that knowledge is gained ethically and responsibly

🙏 Closing thoughts 🌙

AI and LLMs hold tremendous potential to transform education through personalized learning experiences, increased efficiency, and improved teaching practices. As technology grows out of its infancy, it’ll be interesting to see how the challenges and ethical issues are traversed in the educational space

It is my hope that educators and institutions do not resort to outright rejection or prohibition of AI LLMs. Currently, these technologies do not pose a threat to educators or humans. Instead, they have the potential to enhance various tasks by automating mundane responsibilities and working in collaboration with both students and educators. The reality is that people will continue to use these technologies regardless of their acceptance. It is the responsibility of educators and institutions to prepare students for the real world, and prohibiting the use of AI LLMs may even be a disservice to students for this reason

Instead, educators and institutions should embrace the adoption of AI and LLMs in the field of education. Similar to the integration of mobile phones, the education system should adapt its assessment and teaching methods to accommodate the use of AI LLMs. High education has already made a shift towards higher-order processes of implementing and applying information, recognizing the accessibility of information through mobile phones. Similarly, education should acknowledge the existence of AI LLMs and take a leap towards teaching and assessing at even higher levels of cognition. This means assuming that mundane administrative tasks can be automated and placing focus on editing and refining the output generated by these models

A future where people can express their creativity for the greater good is exciting, and building the future starts with education. By promoting the clear and responsible use of new technologies now, we can reap exponential rewards through the mastery of these systems in the years to come. Put it this way, when you’re trying to build a future that excites you, it’s nice to have computers laying the bricks while you focus on the design