Bill MacKenty

AI Is a Language Microwave

An article in The Atlantic adds to our important conversation about chatGPT and education. My (non-chatGPT generated) reaction below...

The article, written by Stephen Marche, addresses a few points about chatGPT in contemporary education. A quote in the article underlined some ideas I appreciated

The existence of AI will change what the world values in language. “The education system’s emphasis on [cumulative grade point average] over actual knowledge and understanding, combined with the lack of live monitoring, increases the likelihood of using ChatGPT,” the study on student use says. Rote linguistic tasks, even at the highest skill level, just won’t be as impressive as they once were. Once upon a time, it might have seemed notable if a student spelled onomatopoeia correctly in a paper; by the 2000s, it just meant they had access to spell-check.

Herein, I think, lay the thing; that we [professional educators] should return to a more basic, foundational practice; that our adaptation to chatGPT, especially as it applies to assessment of student work, must be more basic. How do we know our students know? How do we know our students understand is within the context of varying levels of knowing, so it's not just just drill-and-kill, but rather a more nuanced approach to assessment, Bloom's taxonomy is always a helpful framework to understand how we think about learning. . That chatGPT (and its ilk) requires giving students assignments which tease out what they really think and know.

The article is well put-together and I'd say an important part of the road to our understanding of LLM's and learning.

ASW school use of AI

My school (American School of Warsaw) has developed an excellent guide for use of AI in education

Click here for a PDF guide for use of AI in education. I believe this is an excellent first take on AI in the classroom. I will of course let you know about my school's efforts to better handle this tricky topic.

Exciting changes in IB computer science

A new IB computer science curriculum is being released! Read more about it here....

The Overview is here: https://www.ibo.org/university-admission/latest-curriculum-updates/computer-science-updates/

The subject brief is here: https://www.ibo.org/globalassets/new-structure/university-admission/pdfs/dp_comp_sci_subjectbrief_en.pdf (local copy here: dp_comp_sci_subjectbrief_en.pdf)

Gifted Education and Technology

Gifted kids are different.

They score high on standardized tests, and show exceptional aptitude in music, arts, reading, writing, or mathematics. The instruction for these students is different - often very high level content with a focus on high-level understanding (not so much remembering details, but talking about the applicability and synthesis). For example, instead of naming all the nations in Asia, there might be a talk about why the nations are where they are. Often times, gifted programs are not beholden to bureaucratically imposed standards of instruction. 

I happen to work in a school serving these students, and I’d like to spend a few blog posts exploring technology use with these populations.

Technology is a means to an end

an end in itself

Gifted students should know how to use technology. This is a pretty good list.  So, in gifted education, there should be time for specific technology instruction. There should also be classes for computer science; programming, logic, etc…

Students should also use technology to enhance primary content. For example, if a math teacher is explaining symmetry of different geometric shapes, the students could use geometers sketchpad to create and manipulate these shapes - perhaps applying them to shapes they might encounter in real life.

These are 2 classic domains of technology in education; learning about technology and using technology to support primary content.. All schools should include technology in these 2 domains. However, what should be different in the gifted education realm?