Berlin Recently, high school students in Hamburg are said to have cheated with ChatGPT when they graduated from high school – the case is still being investigated. The AI writes text in a quality that is difficult to distinguish from text written by humans. There is a great temptation for pupils to use it to write presentations and term papers.
However, the German Ministers of Education, who are responsible for schools, are taking a leisurely approach to the AI revolution. In March, they had an expert explain to them what could be done with the technology in the classroom. The result so far is nothing more than a working group.
Elsewhere, educational politicians have long recognized the signs of the times. For example, Singapore’s Minister of Education, Chan Chun Sing, announced in parliament at the beginning of February that such programs would become more and more popular, so schools and universities should also be able to use AI programs like ChatGPT to improve learning improve. His house has already provided the educators with “instructions and resources” for this.
Responding to critical questions from lawmakers, Chan also promised educators would teach students not to over-rely on technological tools. It’s just like the pocket calculator: it didn’t make sure that students didn’t learn basic arithmetic anymore, he reassured the parliamentarians.
The private and free learning portal of the Khan Academy in the USA already shows how revolutionary AI can help with learning: “AI can offer every student a personal tutor and every teacher a personal assistant,” said founder Salman Khan recently in a lecture with the Title “How AI Can Save (Not Destroy) Learning”, which has already been downloaded almost two million times.
ChatGPT at school: not solutions, but hints
The examples of his “Khanmigo” program based on ChatGPT are amazing: The AI helper not only shows students when a calculation result is wrong – he also guesses and asks how they came up with it. In this way, he can resolve misunderstandings – as only a good private tutor has done up until now.
A student was asked to write an essay about the “Great Gatsby” by author F. Scott Fitzgerald. Despite the secondary literature, she didn’t understand the legendary billionaire’s peculiar behavior – until she asked him herself.
The private and free learning portal of the Khan Academy in the USA already shows how revolutionary AI can help with learning.
(Photo: Getty Images for The LA Promise )
Khanmigo slipped into the role of Gatsby and explained why he so often stared across the water at the green light on the other bank. “It was so real that she ended up thanking Gatsby for giving her his time,” laughs Khan. So you can talk to any real or fictional character.
And it does not contribute to the impoverishment of education and language, since it does not provide any solutions, but only gives hints, explains Khan. In this way, he can even involve shy students in intensive conversations.
>> Also read: How to recognize texts that were written with or by AI – or not
Khanmigo also helps with programming – and points out errors to users. “This is particularly important because there are far too few IT teachers,” says its inventor.
The bottom line is that AI can ensure that every average student becomes exceptional and every below-average student becomes above-average.
AI as a tutor for each student
AI will finally solve the problem that the learning psychologist Benjamin Blom formulated in the 1980s: In his studies, more than 90 percent of the students achieved the learning goal in individual lessons – in contrast, only 20 percent in group lessons. So far, individual lessons have not been affordable – now, thanks to AI, “every student has their own tutor”.
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Of course, there are also debates in the US about cheating in the classroom and the risks of programs like ChatGPT. But the example of Khan Academy shows how much the huge possibilities of AI for learning are stirring up the scene there. German experts also praised the recommendations of the US Department of Education from May as extremely positive, which explained in detail the possibilities and opportunities of AI in the classroom.
>> Read here: How artificial intelligence should save the state
The Kiel AI expert Doris Weßels, who advises the Minister of Education, also refers to the example of the Finnish Jyväskylä University School of Business and Economics, which formulated clear regulations for the use of AI language models on January 19: The use of language models is generally allowed there – even if work is not to be written entirely with it. However, they could help to improve your own texts or to find initial ideas for topics.
This means a rethink on the part of the teachers: they should not only inform the students well about the new possibilities, but at the same time design their courses and tests in such a way that a good grade cannot simply be obtained with the help of a language model. It should “not be possible to answer the tasks solely using a language model without thinking about the material”.
“Turning the Curriculum Inside”
This can be done “by closely linking the tasks to the learning materials or a lesser-known case,” is the advice given to the lecturers. They should also test them by “feeding tasks into a language model and checking whether it provides an acceptable answer”.
>> Read here: When the chatbot writes the homework
Weßels is something like the German AI pioneer for teaching. She looks far into the future. For her, the central question is: “What skills will our students need in ten to 15 years?” The teachers urgently need to discuss this with them, she recently advertised at the Re:publica digital conference in Berlin.
The Munich-based computer scientist Geländeejda Kasneci, who specializes in the interaction between man and machine, is also calling for the curricula to be “turned inside out”. Teaching today is “far too fragmented” – with the support of AI, it will be easier to teach “holistically” in the future.
An AI helper can not only show students when a calculation result is wrong – it also guesses and asks how they came up with it.
(Photo: imago images/Jochen Tack)
For example, to deal with a poem from the 18th century in connection with the politics, economy and culture of the epoch. To do this, however, the Ministers of Education would have to ensure that all teachers acquire a basic knowledge of AI, demands Kasneci, who is also co-head of the AI task force at the Technical University of Munich.
>> Read also: Advisors to the Ministers of Education call for greater digitization of teaching
Kasneci co-developed the AI tutor Peer (Paper Evaluation and Empowerment Resource). He uses large language models to support learners in writing German essays.
The AI can even read handwritten essays, analyzes them and makes suggestions for improvement – depending on the age and text type, such as fairy tales or news. Above all, Peer can tirelessly provide individual support – and can also be used by teachers themselves as a template for feedback. The individual help for the students also relieves the teachers massively.
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