A veteran educator is warning the government that the inevitable access to artificial intelligence (AI) by students will pose significant challenges for educators that could possibly lead to cheating on examinations and other school projects.
Romaro Lashley, who spent 30 years teaching at the Barbados Community College (BCC) and a term at the Government Industrial School, placed the government on notice while making his input during the first public consultation of education transformation at the Alexandra Secondary School in St Peter on Wednesday night.
The 64-year-old Mathematics teacher recalled a recent situation where one of his students sought to conceal his actions as he used his device and came up with the correct answer to a Maths problem.
Lashley told the panel of educational officials which included Minister of Education Kay McConney, Chief Education Officer Dr Ramona Archer-Bradshaw and Director of the Education Reform Unit Dr Idamay Denny, that technology has been ahead of those in education for a long time.
He noted that AI goes beyond calculating figures and was “giving intelligent essays or anything you want to talk about”.
“That has significant implications for us as educators. We are trying to hold the horse back…. Those days of just regurgitating facts or rote learning are done. Anybody can Google that, that’s no proof of education any more. Education [has] gone past that,” the experienced teacher suggested.
“So, when you give the child this research project and this essay, however highfalutin it is, [they] go home, and AI gives them a wonderful essay… and if he or she is smart, change up some things and make it look original and bring it in.”
Lashley advised education authorities that their response cannot be “don’t bring these instruments in school”.
“That is not the right approach,” he contended, insisting that technology can’t now be hindered. “What do we do, try to pull it back? No, you cannot force back technology like that. Eventually, like a volcano, it will erupt.”
Leacock recommended responses to such issues.
“One of the things I feel we could do is to beef up the weighting on oral responses. Stop putting strong exclusive emphasis on written answers and allow more room for oral answers. I am not saying all assessments should be on the spot. You could go and research, but when I want to hear you, talk to me because you have to be able to assimilate and properly digest, don’t care where you got it from, AI or wherever. If you want to make sense, you have to show me that you have assimilated that stuff. So oral examination should be beefed up as one of the responses to AI,” the veteran educator recommended.
(EJ)
