Lesson planning for all subjects, creating student behavior support plans, grading, teaching—all in addition to raising her three young children: Jessica Reed has considered giving up her elementary school teaching career hundreds of times, overwhelmed by her workload.
Like many other teachers, artificial intelligence has enabled him to do his work better. Although she always checks the information the Eduaide.AI program suggests for planning her lessons, she appreciates that the tool gives her a guideline for what to teach and when.
“I really wanted to devote this summer to exploring some of these AI tools and how they can help me with my planning and management tasks. I was able to plan most of my school year this summer in a very short amount of time,” she says from her home in Muskoka, Ontario.
The time saved by artificial intelligence has helped her feel less guilty. “(In the past) I either sacrificed the time I spent with my family by scheduling my classes in the evenings and weekends, or I spent time with my family and felt like I was letting my students down” , she testifies. I felt like a loser no matter what I did.
When Ms Reid shared her insights and some resources on social media, some people reacted negatively, accusing her of setting a bad example because if students did the same, it could be seen as cheating.
A worry Ms. Reid brushes aside. “The role of the teacher and that of the student are very different. I have earned my role as a teacher. “I’ve already attended the education system,” she adds. These children are still on their way to school. I have mine ready.
Personalized educational content
For her part, Kasi Humber, a French teacher in Truro, Nova Scotia, began experimenting with artificial intelligence after the release of ChatGPT in 2022, an AI-based language model that can write essays, solve complex math problems, and write code in seconds.
Ms. Humber began using technology to fill out her credentials. This allows him to enter information and create organized spreadsheets with notes and comments for students.
She then used AI to provide reading material tailored to the level and interests of her students.
“Just making sure I’m giving them things they want to actively read has really helped with their reading comprehension,” she notes.
Learn to use AI properly
Denis Tanguay, a high school computer and workshop teacher at the Conseil des écoles catholiques françaises d’Ottawa, is still figuring out how to use technology in his classroom. And while he hasn’t yet used the technique for his own lesson planning, he will allow students to use ChatGPT to enhance their presentations.
“We don’t have to be afraid of the tool, but we have to teach the students how to use it properly,” he says. It is a reality and we cannot ignore it.”
Mr. Tanguay would like to see more guidance from education officials on teachers’ use of technology. However, many educational institutions have yet to formalize their policies on the use of AI, which has caused uncertainty for some.
Sarah Eaton, an associate professor at the University of Calgary and an expert on AI education, says school boards and provincial education departments should consider professional development for teachers so they learn more about AI. AI and detect when it is being used for fraud purposes.
She adds that teachers should try to embrace the new reality children are living in.
“Children under the age of five (…) will never experience school without artificial intelligence in their everyday life,” she says. It would be quite irresponsible for us as educators to turn a blind eye to this phenomenon.”
TO SEE | CEGEP and university professors are concerned about the overuse of artificial intelligence