Research reveals that the use of AI-powered chatbots in education, such as Microsoft’s “Cobalt” and Google’s “Bard,” holds significant potential in schools. However, experts in Germany assert that their use should be accompanied by stringent regulations. The Permanent Scientific Committee on Educational Policy in Germany emphasized the need for preconditions and regulations to ensure responsible usage of AI tools for educational enhancement.
Recommendations include a swift transitional phase involving systematic experimentation with these tools within a culture of error recognition. The committee also highlighted the associated risks and obstacles. It emphasized that while AI should support educational processes, ultimate decision-making and responsibility for the final product should stay in human hands. Teachers need to be equipped for this, and training programs should be rapidly expanded to address this requirement.
The research suggests restrictions on the use of AI tools that generate text, such as “ChatGPT,” in primary schools and minimal utilization in the early years of secondary education. Instead, focus should be placed on developing children’s reading and writing skills. From the eighth grade onwards or mid-secondary education, periodic use of AI programs to reinforce writing skills may be suitable, while text production without these tools should continue. Close monitoring of AI usage is deemed necessary.
Education experts contend that AI programs are particularly suited for providing support when learners possess high levels of technical, digital, writing, and reading skills. Consequently, they should be employed with older students and university learners. The goal is to have a “constructive use” of this technology. Developing reading and writing skills in the early school years should be done without relying on what are known as “big language models” that make tools like ChatGPT and Bard possible.
Previous statistics estimated that around 20% to 50% of students use AI, such as ChatGPT, for writing texts, finding information, and translating texts. However, data on the actual number of children using AI for their schoolwork is limited. The prevalence of AI poses many overlooked opportunities for teachers, including aid in lesson planning, setting exams of varying difficulty levels, and adapting teaching materials based on students’ performance levels.
Despite concerns that AI might lead to job displacement in certain sectors, researchers are convinced that it cannot replace a human teacher’s experience. Since the buzz surrounding ChatGPT in late 2022, chatbots have made significant strides. Nonetheless, these chatbots still produce texts with entirely fabricated facts and challenging-to-identify errors. Students need to learn how to assess content quality, accuracy, and reliability, and how to control the process by articulating precise queries to chatbots.
This necessitates critical and analytical thinking, specialized knowledge, and skilled use and testing of AI tools as a new proficiency. As such, teacher qualification is vital, as the dynamic development of tools places specific demands on them. According to the committee’s recommendations, it is the teachers’ responsibility to utilize AI for text production and performance appraisal, for instance.
AI also poses challenges to traditional testing methods, necessitating revisions in light of the increasing use of AI tools that can instantaneously respond to any article query. The researchers propose differentiating between test segments that don’t require AI and those for which AI tools could be used. When using such tools, not only the final text should be evaluated but also reflective communication with students about the solution and the outcome.
In many schools, the conscientious use of chatbots is expected to become a crucial skill in the future, alongside other subject areas.
The potential for AI in education is vast when utilized responsibly and in conjunction with robust regulatory frameworks. By cultivating these burgeoning technological capabilities in harmony with established educational principles, the educational landscape can further evolve to empower and enrich the learning journey, benefiting students, teachers, and educational institutions alike.
