To read or not read - that is an AI question

The story

In a catch up with the Wise Welsh Warrior, Dan Bowen last week, he told me a story of his son recently being given a novel to read by a teacher at school. It was not a book that he was in the least bit interested in reading. Likewise, the issues it was meant to highlight did not resonate with him. 

Given his disinterest in the assignment he had been tasked with but wanting to succeed, he used the Original Gangster of Chatbots, GPT, and asked for a summary of the book chapters. He then asked further probed the Chatbot to suggest the main issues the book was raising. He used this along with further research, writing an analysis that earned him a B+ grade on the work. 

So, what does this tell us as educators?

Question 1

First of all, there is the issue of students been given a book to read. How much agency does a student have in this process? How much should they have? Would it be better to give students choice? Is the requirement for all students to read the same book, actually designed for the teacher to more easily assess the work as they then have knowledge of the text and what to expect in the commentary? Although, I appreciate the efficiency in this decision, is that actually at the expense of engaging and inspiring a learner? 

Influencing the decision to have all students read and analyse the same book, is likely to be the underlying issue(s) the teacher wants the students to focus on. Such decisions may also be curriculum or syllabus driven. Yet, surely, there are other books out there that cover the same or similar issues. Whoever is making the decisions on what the key issues are, eg feminism, solidarity, etc, could students be given the opportunity to find their own book that relates this? Furthermore, surely the skills are in the depth and quality of the analysis not in the knowledge of the book. Therefore, a strong piece of analysis work on any book should be able to cover the assessment criteria.

Hence, there is a strong argument for redesign of the task, for thinking differently about what the point of the assessment, what it is meant to achieve, and the negative by-products of design choices made in its current construction. The ease with which AI has accentuated such issues that were, previously more easily swept under the rug, can be a difficult reality to face but it is imperative that it is recognised and addressed.

Question 2

Secondly, how much has Dan’s son lost in not reading the book? Is the reading of the book that important or, as he demonstrated by the approach chosen, is there a different/more effective/more efficient way of performing a text analysis that has some or the same validity? I know that having someone give me a summary of Dahl’s Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Robert’s Shantaram or Wolfe’s Electric Kool-Aid Acid Test, would have no way been an adequate substitute for the originals for me. Yet, we are back to agency and personal preference here. I wanted to read those books. I loved and still love those books. I cannot say the same for other books that do not resonate with me. 

In this case, the grade he has received, suggests that he has lost little in terms of achieving the aims of the task but the question is where there is more that he will never know about. I can still recall lots of Chaucer’s Miller’s Tale that I was ‘made to’ study in English Literature. I doubt whether I would have chosen to read that voluntarily if the task was more open ended. 

Thus, there are dilemmas and decisions that AI in this form brings to the surface, in terms of what is lost by, essentially, shortcutting processes. It is one thing to talk about AI improving efficiency, but when the subject matter is more than just about going through or understanding a process, are there creative elements, deep understandings, unintended appreciations/learning that use of AI in this context removes?

Summary

These points are intended to shine a huge spotlight on the deep and complex discussions education at all levels needs to have. These need to look at some of the more simpler elements of the ways we have traditionally done things right through to the….well….everything really. The emergence of AI in an easily usable and viral form forces a mirror that reflects back on systems and practice that education cannot hide from. Let’s embrace this chance to accept the new now and use what it reveals to improve as many areas as we can in education.