This month’s topic is “Reliance on AI is an admission you’re out of control.” There is an enormous amount of buzz and controversy around AI, and everybody seems to be “trying to get there first.” At present, we could say that half of AI is good and the other half is risky—and we’ll explore what that means as we discuss the various topics this month.
Everyone begins their professional career with education, so education is the foundation of any career. AI is posing a considerable danger to education today, both from the standpoint of teaching and from learning.
The Student Standpoint
The basic threat to education from AI is to learning itself.
The whole purpose of education is for the student to actually learn a subject and then (hopefully) be able to apply what they’ve learned. Students study and are then asked to demonstrate their understanding through writing an essay, answering test questions or demonstrating application in some other way. The vital point, though, is the demonstration of understanding.
Today, that understanding can be skipped entirely through the use of the internet. A student can actually request an AI application to create an entire thesis on a particular subject. The student simply adds their name to it and turns it in. In such a case, the student didn’t have to understand a thing. They could obtain a high score on their thesis—which might even be their final exam—and this positively affects their grade point average, which is supposed to reflect their level of achievement of skills and knowledge.
If they can answer test questions by querying an AI application, such as being tested remotely, they can pass the test the same way, perhaps even perfectly.
What happens when students who have been “educated” in such a way finish school or university and head out into the world? They have no education or understanding of how to apply themselves in the business world. They will fail completely.
The Teacher Standpoint
On the other end, teachers and professors are desperately trying to get their jobs done and educate students. They know that students can and are cheating by pulling stuff off the internet. To counter this, educators are seeking ways they can use AI to catch students cheating.
What does this mean for teachers? Normally, teachers spend a great deal of time creating lesson plans and devising methods (or utilizing known methods) of relaying those lessons to their students. When the day is over, they then spend considerable time grading papers and tests.
Now, however, the time educators would spend actually teaching is being eaten up attempting to counter students’ use of AI rather than teaching. The job of a teacher has now switched from “How can I best teach my students?” to “Can I catch them cheating?”
Wrong Culture Creation
Fifty years ago, the education culture consisted of students obtaining an education and teachers and professors working hard and putting in many hours to bring that education to students. The culture has sunk down to students attempting to cheat and not be caught and educators doing everything possible to catch them and keep them from cheating.
Through whatever means, the education industry needs to be rescued from this trap, and put back on the rails of really providing quality education to students.
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