I read something today on LinkedIn that made me think a lot more about how education needs to let go of the past and embrace reality – and perhaps, maybe even get future-thinking!? I would settle for at least embracing the present. AI has been exponentially improving in the weeks and months since it became the “next big thing.” Like Mr. Bauschard says in his LinkedIn post, “AI will keep getting better/more extensive, but education keeps on acting like AI is the enemy.”

As so many people who are using AI have already pointed out that calculators freaked out math teachers long ago. Google and other search engines freaked out English and social studies teachers. Google Translate freaked out world language teachers… but yet, nothing changed the way students were taught in the classroom. We preached as ed-tech coaches that students Googling answers meant that teachers were asking students the wrong questions, and yet we see the same types of questions being asked.

Look, I get it. We are smart teachers that have degrees – many with advanced degrees, more often than not. We were taught with our desks in rows, no technology or social media, everyone was mostly compliant, and we had a lot of old textbooks and mimeographed worksheets. (Ahh, smell that purple ink!) We grew up, and “we turned out fine.” Maybe… But this isn’t about us any more – if teaching was ever about us. Our students are the ones that will be entering the workforce in 2030 and beyond, not with the skills from the 1980s or 1990s that we’re teaching them. Our students will become the last picked for the global game of life because we are still neglecting to use the tools of today and tomorrow, to update how, what, where, and when we teach.

The World Economic Forum stated that the top ten skills on the rise were:

  1. Creative thinking
  2. Analytical thinking
  3. Technological literacy
  4. Curiosity & life-long learning
  5. Resilience, flexibility, & agility
  6. Systems thinking
  7. AI & big data
  8. Motivation & self-awareness
  9. Talent management
  10. Service orientation & customer service

(Source: World Economic Forum, Future of Jobs Report, 2023.)

So seeing this list, I have to wonder and ask of anyone reading this: Can AI spill these things onto a screen for a student? This is not a copy & paste & turn it in type of exercise… and school (and the future of work) should not be either.

I am going to repeat… I am neither an AI-pioneer nor self-proclaimed AI in education expert. I do not want to be. I just want school to be meaningful, engaging, based in reality and maybe based in a little sci-fi/future. Like Mr. Bauschard stated in that LinkedIn post, education cannot keep running away from AI with the belief that it this static thing that isn’t always learning to improve. I guess AI has us beat in that aspect too – are we always willing to learn to improve?

These opinions are mine and do not represent my employer or its employees. It may, however, reflect some past ones.

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