While the students of our French schools are preparing to go on vacation, and the school year has been marked by the arrival of generative artificial intelligence (IAG) tools such as ChatGPT in classrooms and study spaces, it is time to ask the question of its role in the field of education.
Is AGI a potential danger to academic integrity, or can it be seen as a valuable tool to strengthen teaching and learning? Throughout the world, opinions are controversial, even within the most prestigious institutions, and the arrival of ChatGPT has caused shock waves in the educational world.
First banned in schools in New York, at the University of Hong Kong or at Sciences Po Paris, the tool developed by OpenAI is still used massively by students.
These prohibitions raise questions while at the end of the school year, the IUT Charlemagne of Nancy arouses controversy, after a professor refused to correct a hundred copies, believing that her students had used ChatGPT too much. However, she did not penalize the students for their use of AI. Instead, the university plans to change its internal regulations to regulate the use of AI tools and penalize their misuse in the same way as plagiarism.
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The role of teachers is crucial
It is indisputable that generative artificial intelligence has the ability to offer students valuable support to perfect their spelling and help them in the development of complex sentences. All you have to do is incorporate a text of varying complexity into the platform, and it will produce a text that is more refined, better argued and above all free of any errors in French.
However, unsupervised use could lead to a decrease in critical thinking and knowledge acquisition. It is here that the role of teachers becomes crucial: their duty is to guide students in the use of these technologies, teaching them to differentiate a beneficial use from a harmful dependence on artificial intelligence.
Especially since if AI has a certain potential to establish a more mature relationship with the acquisition of knowledge and to reduce certain inequalities, it can also prove to be a precious ally for teachers, by providing them with tools to personalize learning and helping students progress at their own pace.
Train to use it wisely rather than prohibit
Integrating AI into the education system requires careful thought.
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In Hong Kong, an ambitious program will be implemented from the start of the next school year. While its content is still being finalized, it aims to educate middle school students from the city’s 450 public schools on the foundations of AI, its operation and its implications in society. Moreover, it will encourage them to develop their own AI projects, thus promoting a hands-on approach to learning. This initiative illustrates how education can evolve to prepare students for an increasingly digital and technology-driven world.
The need for reform of the education system
To train our country’s future graduates and workers, to remain competitive with emerging countries, the time has come to adopt a balanced approach to AI in national education. Rather than fearing it, we must welcome it and understand it. We need to train our students to use it responsibly and understand its impact on society. Only then can we reap the benefits of AI while minimizing its risks.
The future of education is already here, and it’s digital. The integration of new technological tools into learning methods is a complex challenge that requires in-depth reflection. It’s not just about having a binary approach and allowing it or banning it, but understanding how they can be used responsibly and constructively to improve the education of our citizens and ultimately have a positive impact on our productivity and therefore our economy.
It’s time for us to adapt and learn to navigate this new landscape with wisdom and foresight.
2023-07-07 15:29:38
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