This week, I had a great discussion with Amanda Foo and her fellow teachers from Juying Secondary School. They have formed a Professional Learning Team (PLT) focusing on creating guidelines for the ethical and effective use of Gen AI for secondary-level English Language lessons. I conducted a Gen AI workshop for Juying last year, and it was great to catch up with my fellow educators.
I was more than happy to share, and here’s a short slice of what I said:
It might seem perplexing that I teach fundamental (aka old school) skills in strategic communication and I also teach people how to use Gen AI. Both appear to be opposed to each other, and Gen AI seems to be displacing fundamental skills. But I am very clear on this as someone who is comfortable with both the digital and analogue modes:
- Without having a strong foundation, you cannot be great at your skill of choice.
- Foundations are built with constant learning and practice – the old school way.
- That means practicing deliberately and improving constantly. For example, in English – learning vocabulary, then stringing words into effective sentences, then creating a compelling paragraph. Research has shown that it takes about 10 years of deliberate practice to become great at your skill.
- Building your foundation also requires memorisation of the basic building blocks.
- For example, if you can’t spell “efficient”, it’s because you didn’t memorise it. This is different from the idea of “rote memorisation” where students memorise essays and regurgitate them without gaining true learning.
- So, while I always say we should embrace Gen AI, I also say that we should put technology aside (not just Gen AI, but devices in general) when foundations need to be built step by step, and imprinted on the human brain.
- We cannot stop kids and adults from using Gen AI at home; but within the classroom, we have to understand the process of human learning and be very aware of how technology in any form can short-circuit the process without instilling true learning.
In a world where Gen AI can generate professional-grade text, visuals and music in mere seconds, the greatest threat to humans is that we give up the hard work of thinking and learning. The end result is that we cannot become experts. And if you are not an expert, you cannot direct and evaluate Gen AI output. Your future job depends on your ability to manage, not just use Gen AI.
When I moved to academia in 2023 after 25 years in the media and the IT industry, I had to go deep in pedagogy (a word I now have deep respect for, because teaching well is so hard!). The more I learn about the art/science of teaching, the more I am convinced that we educators need to embrace BOTH the traditional ways of learning and the new ways of using technology. There are times when we must not mix them, and we must know why.
I encourage all educators to keep experimenting with Gen AI while holding true to our first principles.