AI and Learning

Theme: AI and Learning¶

Transformational Learning (Most of this from Twin Sparrows)¶

AI Tutors
- Bridge Educational Gaps based on inequalities like income, geography, etc.
- Can AI replace a human in terms of encouragement, emotional support, and mentorship?
Adaptive Learning
- Adapted to emotional, intellectual, and cultural differences.
- Focused on rapidly chaning curriculum for a changing world.
- Changes Pace as needed
Personalized Curriculum and support
- Focused on adapting to each students unique strenghts and weaknesses
- Makes educational topics accessible based on student’s experience
- Can take student driven educational excursions that traditional classrooms and teachers can not.

Cautionary Theme¶

Does it bridge Inequality gaps and democratize education or just make inequalities worse?
- Who gets access? When?
- Will wealth factor in to the quality of the AI?
- Energy and resource distibution gaps would have to be solved to make this trully equitable and possible.
Over reliance on AI
- Instructors and students become lazy
- Parents become lazy and withdrawn
Need for Human connection and mentorship
AI could cause students to avoid critical thinking
Current forms of AI are not truly creative, so creativity loss is possible as basic knowledge narrows.

Big Questions¶

If learning is personalized, is there a need for the in-person/classroom dynamic?
- PROS
  - Students not held back by fixed curriculum
  - Self paced progress at individuals speed
  - Could use individual’s strenghts to bolster understanding
  - Income and geography may be moot (Accessible and Scalable)
  - Could enhance teachers and address teacher shortages
  - Continuous assessments can be performed to adjust teaching and strategy
    - Increases retention and engagement
  - Could provide specialized support to students with disabilities
- CONS
  - You may lose collaboration, communication, empathy, and teamwork
  - Learning to navigate social dynamics like relationships and conflicts could be lost
  - Inspiring mentorship would be lost, thus creating an educated population with no raison d’etre
  - Seems like We are a LOOOONG way away from emotionally supportive AI
  - Can AI provide human like debate, discusssion and creative problem solving? This is yet to be determined.
    - Deeper thinking and creativity may arise out of collaborative learning
  - AI is prone to creator bias (Can this be fixed?)
- A Hybrid Model Seems more Realistic to me
  - AI -> psersonalized assessment, lesson plans, and skill building
  - Teacher -> mentor, creativity, critical thinking, and social skills
  - Classroom -> collaboration, connection, discussion
Are the skills we focus education on today pertienent to an AI driven world?
- Skills like repetition, test taking, and memorization seem less important since AI can do all of these things faster
  - So this would affect careers like coding, legal research, finance, and even mathmatics to a lesser degree
- Skills like socialization, creativity, critical thiking, adapting, and collaboration become more valuable then knowledge based skills
- Should we be developing new skills, if so, which ones?
  - AI Literacy (limitations, bias, how to use it, and how it works)
  - Critical Thinking (How to ask questions, how to seek answers, how to evaluate content (especiall AI content)
  - Non Linear thinking (creative solutions to problems from diverse and different experiences - this may arise organically out of classroom collaboration)
  - Emotional Intelligence skills (empathy, leadership, relationships)
  - Cultural awareness, negotiation, and persuasion skills
- How long will even these new skills be pertienent?
  - Even without AI, no skill is relevant forever, so teaching adaptability is key
  - NEEDS: Education to support -> Constant re-skilling, curiosity and adaptability, AI as a tool not a crutch
If AI adpats and caters to each student’s whimsical needs, does critical thinking still take place?
- If so how?
  - Possibly: I can imagine, but I haven’t actually seen such an AI yet.
  - Assessments would have to be full mind and body, possibly requiring Human-AI fusion -> Cyborgs.
- If not, how can we balance a world of AI driven education and still promote critical thinking?
  - AI that adapts too much:
    - Avoid giving difficult challenges.
    - Students won’t learn as effectively as the struggle is important to long term memory.
    - Students may not learn critical thinking and always lean on the AI for ideas and answers.
  - So what’s the balance?
    - Blend AI with Human-Led activities
      - Could this go too far?
    - Active Learning: Question and Analyze the AI responses
    - Building something hands on (Even if that’s putting together things from AI or training the AI itself).
    - Ask for conflicting viewpoints and analyze those
    - Simulate real-life challenges individuals or society faces.
    - Focus on emotional intelligence, collaboration, and critical thinking skills supported by AI learning
What other risks can come with relying too much on AI?
- Do we take the AI Human Fusion too far and augment ourselves?
  - Will augmentation become necessary to stay relevant.
- Deep understanding or laziness
- Decision making problems
- Misinformation spread via bias and even fraud
- Narrowing creativity when the source material/model is all the same for everyone.
- Anomie
- Jobs
- Privacy
- Accountability