Teachers welcome AI tool into the classroom, with pleasing results
The developers believe it’s a misguided notion that the effectiveness of AI tools must be assessed and it misunderstands the role AI plays in education.
One of the most-read School News articles of 2023 was about a pilot study for a new AI Teacher-Aide trial.
Thousands of readers were interested in the trial of home-grown AI technology designed to provide teachers with quality resources in less time. We followed up with the developers, Paul Matthews, a high-school History teacher and Jacob Skierka, a lawyer-turned-teacher, both from Tasmania.
“We both have a long list of colleagues who have burnt out over the years, and we saw an amazing opportunity for educators when AI burst onto the scene in late 2022,” explains Matthews. “We founded MyTeacherAide with the vision of creating a user-friendly AI tool that helps teachers save time, be more creative, and have a bigger impact in their classrooms.”
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The pilot study attracted over 500 Australian educators.
100 percent of respondents said AI had helped reduce stress and manage workload. “We were amazed by this result, given that over 70 percent of Australian educators report having an unmanageable workload,” said Matthews.
“I created an entire unit in a day! Including lesson plans, assessments, rubrics, unit overview, and a parent letter. This would have taken my whole summer holidays!” – Jane – Secondary Maths teacher, Victoria
Matthews and Skierka explain that teachers are asking for tools that allow them to do more evidence-based practices more often for more learners, and so that is what they set out to develop.
“88 percent said they would be more likely to differentiate for their learners when using MyTeacherAide. This is my favourite piece of data. The needs in our classrooms are more diverse than ever, and so often teachers just don’t have the time to differentiate like they want to.” Paul Matthews
The Risks of AI
A raft of AI tools are heading onto the market, and many state education departments are in the process of developing and testing their own AI programs including NSWEduChat and EdChat in South Australia.
School News wanted to know what some of the risks associated with AI are that educators need to be aware of from non-sanctioned AI programs.
“Schools need to be careful of getting burnt by inflexible, unresponsive, and tacky AI providers,” warns Matthews. “Schools need to understand who they are dealing with when they decide to explore AI. Errors are another thing schools need to watch out for. AI tools will often present as confident even when they’re operating on limited data. The Australian Curriculum is a great example of this. If you ask some generic AI tools to plan a lesson with links to the Australian Curriculum, it throws in all sorts of mixed, jumbled, non-existent curriculum standards. I call them ‘frankenstandards’ because they’re often a mix of different, semi-related curriculum descriptors.”
Related article: More Time for Teacher with Expansion of AI Tool Trial
Controversial opinion
When asked how the effectiveness of AI could be assessed, Matthews’ response was somewhat surprising.
“I know this sounds controversial, but I think it’s a misguided notion that we have to assess the effectiveness of AI tools,” he explains.
“It’s coming from a good place, but it misunderstands the role AI plays in education. AI is not a practice that we need to measure; rather, it’s a tool we can use to do evidence-based practices for more learners.”
He uses the example of text differentiation. “There is a mountain of evidence to support the fact that text differentiation is good for our learners, adjusting the length and complexity of a text. Our classrooms are more diverse than ever, so we can’t expect all our learners to be at the same reading level. But if it takes me 40 minutes to differentiate a 10-minute reading, I’m just not going to be able to do it very often. Now, with AI, I can adjust one text to five different reading levels in under two minutes. That’s my vision for AI, doing the things we know work more often for more learners.”
The rapid development of AI tools offers a glimpse into the future of education, where technology acts as a powerful ally for teachers. While concerns about reliability, flexibility, and the potential risks of unregulated AI tools remain valid, the pilot study results highlight the immense potential AI has in reducing workload and promoting differentiation in the classroom. As AI continues to evolve, educators must critically engage with these tools, ensuring they complement and enhance evidence-based practices to meet the diverse needs of learners.
