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“The technology is just a tool. In terms of getting kids working together and motivating them, the teacher is most important.”
Bill Gates
Happy New Year! I hope you enjoyed the holidays and found some opportunities for rest and recreation. I used this slower pace to catch up on some educational reading. I was drawn to several articles, but I decided to highlight one from the January edition of Education Week.
Ingrid Guerra-Lopez’s article, AI Won’t Replace Teachers—but Teachers Who Use AI Will Change Teaching, stood out to me. Artificial intelligence is more than just a buzzword; it has quietly worked its way into our everyday lives. There is the overarching fear that the work of human beings will one day be carried out by robots, rendering some careers redundant. But can it replace teachers?
I am old enough to remember when cutting-edge classroom technology consisted of an overhead projector and a television. During my tenure as an educator and administrator, technology expanded: internet, computers, email, interactive smart boards, and iPads are all now part of the learning environment. Ingrid points out that each time new technology emerges, the discussion of it replacing educators follows. Could these tools eventually make classroom teachers redundant?
The article disagrees wholeheartedly with this sentiment, making the point that AI can be a useful tool for educators, much like the overhead projectors and iPads of previous generations. It can help in the development of lesson plans, support differentiated activities, organize digital resources, and summarize assessment data. It can streamline many of the day-to-day tasks that occupy the valuable time of teachers and administrators. She asks the reader to view AI not as a substitute teacher but as a classroom assistant.
The author drives home the concept that technology can make us faster, but only wisdom makes us better. AI can never replace the human dimensions of education. If AI is used to support the work of teachers and administrators by providing more time for interaction with students and staff, then it may help enhance the human dimension of the work.
Like it or loathe it, artificial intelligence is here to stay. I’m not a "technology guy," but I am attempting to engage with AI more in my professional life. I’ve started to use AI to help me organize survey data, develop questions, and summarize concepts. I will run this document through Copilot to review it as part of the process. But then I will give it to Christina, a human being, who will organize my thoughts in a way no computer ever could. To me, AI is a tool to support the work we're doing—not replace us in the process.
Dave
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