Using AI Tools in Education to Generate Discussions on Learning Fundamentals

The Day Begins

You’re an educator and one of your corny colleagues has just cheerfully said to you, “Happy hump day!” (Whatever that means.) You repeat the phrase to them without knowing the slightest reason why, perhaps because although you strive to show kindness, deep down inside you’re becoming a cog in the machine and you know it.

You reach the classroom and take a sip of your glorious hot Americano with no sugar or cream. And, you move with optimization and preparation in mind. Class is set up, you sit back to take in the nice view while you sip your caffeine and see the kids peering in curiously through the door window.

A loud fucking bell rings! No it’s not a fire alarm, it’s just an annoying sound that let’s everyone know lessons are supposed to begin.

Now…

Young learners are rolling into class. A group of them clearly have not slept, showered in days, their clothes are wrinkled and they do not have their materials ready.

What do you do?

Do you directly jump into the fundamentals?

Or, do you show them a brief AI video clip on fundamentals and allow them to have a discussion about it first? (Then, ask what

they think.)

Learning Producers, Inc., has a Youtube channel!

Time to Practice

After guiding a few dejected young learners to consider the concept of taking care of themselves, you feel pretty damn good. No time to pat yourself on the back just yet, it’s 9:00am and you’ve been entrusted to teach them writing during this block of the morning.  Except, now we have a different group of young learners, who, although clean, well rested, and prepared, frankly just don’t give a shit.

It’s not really a big deal in the grand scheme of things (I guess?) However, one learner in particular is having a challenging human experience. We will not go into his personal history because well, privacy, stop being so nosy! All you need to know is that a sad and tragic experience happened in his life, that would devastate even the strongest of adults. So, in the morning, instead of writing, this young boy slams his head onto his desk and tunes out.

The other little learners look at you, as the room is quiet; they are writing but a person slamming their head on the desk is difficult to ignore. His classmate reaches over and compassionately tries to calm him down. Surprisingly, they are not irritated and seem to understand that pain is a giant obstacle.

The noise, is still a distraction. The class is a shared space and as we mentioned, their parents and community are depending on you to make sure these little squirts practice how to string sentences together. You take another sip of your Americano. This is week nineteen of this behavior. Sometimes he rides it out after a few seconds, other days he keeps banging his head for a couple minutes at least.

What are you going to do?

Do you intervene immediately by explaining an idea to him?

Or, do you show him a short AI video on the writing process and have him talk with a friend about essay topics?

This visual scaffold was created using Stable Diffusion Automatic 1111 and Deforum.

The Future Is Now

We can throw our hands in the air and accept schooling for what it is. We can debate about what “should” be done about textbooks, educators, grading, standardized tests, ideological agendas, etc., until we’re drained. Or, we can choose to refuse to live in a world of “shoulds”. Let us build new resources, systems, and approaches to education with AI tools. (Yes, AI; it hasn’t grown into the Terminator just yet.)

I’m pioneering this vision, with or without you.