Teachers building powerful and long-lasting educational experiences.
GUEST COLUMN | by Paul Satchwill
YORCK PROJECT DIRECTMEDIA / PUBLIC DOMAIN
For centuries, the classroom has traditionally been perceived as a setting for didactic lecturing to quiet rows of students– and for good reason. Just look at Laurentius de Voltolina’s 14th century depiction: a teacher lecturing behind a podium to a room of distracted, disengaged students. Over the last 30 years, however, the classroom learning experience has swiftly evolved. In 1996, the Internet became a concrete reality that teachers and administrators had to grapple with. The days of physical research in libraries and sifting through catalog cards simply vanished. Instead, students were granted unchecked access to an incomprehensible amount of information. Those in the education world were called upon, willingly or not, to navigate this fierce current of change. I experienced this shift during my own years of secondary and post-secondary education from the late 2000s to the mid-2010s.
Now as a Teacher
Now, as a secondary teacher, I am once again finding myself face to face with a technological evolution, this time through generative AI. It is exciting, intimidating, and completely uncharted. In light of these developments, teachers and administrators are responsible for proactively leading the way, ushering students into the future by setting a bold example themselves.
As leaders in the classroom, rarely do we find ourselves walking into the unknown alongside our students. We are comfortable leading students to places we have been ourselves, but seldom do we experience new challenges with them in real time. To lead the charge with generative AI, then, school staff must be confident in using these tools first. That being said, hesitations surrounding this technology must be addressed and the benefits of these resources made clear.
AI Will Not Replace Us
Most importantly, generative AI will not replace teachers. Although technology is becoming smarter and more interoperable, the most impactful learning moments remain interpersonal. When approached with excitement instead of fear, teachers can use generative AI as an assistant to supplement and enhance existing curriculum, expand upon and strengthen standards-based content, and generate new and exciting content for the classroom.
Teachers can bring their expertise and knowledge of each individual student into conversation with AI to build powerful and long-lasting educational experiences with only a few keystrokes, freeing up time to focus on what they do best: inspire students. Additionally, those hesitant about the usage and implementation of AI fear that it only introduces students to a means of cheating. Quite the opposite, generative AI can be a powerful companion for creativity and idea generation for our learners. For this to happen, though, they must be equipped with the right tools to use it responsibly.
Inspiring Powerful Conversations
Similar to teaching in the days of the early Internet, generative AI can inspire powerful conversations with students about appropriate usage. Instead of banning these tools in the classroom, teachers should model using AI and provide real-world opportunities to explore the potential for integrating it into one’s workflow.
‘Instead of banning these tools in the classroom, teachers should model using AI and provide real-world opportunities to explore the potential for integrating it into one’s workflow.’
While there will certainly be trial and error, generative AI can be a boon to support student learning as well as the teaching of non-cognitive learning skills. In an age when mental health concerns are rising, these tools can be integrated into the classroom to revolutionize how students learn soft skills like persistence, resilience, creativity, and critical thinking.
By using adaptive learning platforms that utilize growth mindset feedback, for example, teachers can guide students through experiences designed to help them become the best versions of themselves. Generative AI makes this an accessible reality for students and teachers using a hybrid human-AI approach. Generative AI not only positively affects students, but can also take the mule out of teaching by completing time consuming administrative tasks. Grading, drafting emails, creating handouts, and presentations can all be completed by using generative AI as an assistant. In using these tools in our own professional lives, we can inspire students to use them creatively in their work as well.
Ready or Not
Ready or not, we have found ourselves in the dawn of an edtech renaissance. Rather than approaching the changing tides of education with fear and doubt, teachers can choose to embrace these changes, walking alongside students as we explore the potential of generative AI together.
In the exciting, unknown, and rapidly changing landscape of education, we must be stewards of success and agents of change; students look to us for guidance in times of uncertainty such as these. It is in their best interest, and ours, to embrace the tides of change and move forward into an exciting future, one we will build together.
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Paul Satchwill earned his Bachelor of Science in Secondary English Education from Indiana University in 2015 and completed his Master of Arts in English from Ohio University in 2021. He currently teaches Honors and Dual Credit English at Batesville High School in Indiana and serves as an adjunct professor at Ivy Tech Community College. Connect with Paul on LinkedIn.
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