Professional Development Reflection

Event Overview

    The professional development event, Integrating AI into the Creative Classroom: Exploring Ethics, Critical Thinking and Creation, took place on February 14th from 1:15- 2:30 pm in a hybrid conference.  In this event, we explored various AI machines that we currently use, the need to be critical of AI outputs, our worries about using AI in the classroom, and we explored practical classroom applications. There were dedicated times for educators to connect with each other and also have a chance to try out these AI tools first hand. At the start, the facilitator took a poll to see what grade range most of us teach to then tailor the session to our needs. Most of the educators were middle and secondary school teachers. The facilitator then tailored the session and AI tools for this grade range while we had a breakout session discussing what we know about AI, how students are using AI, and how educators are using AI. After the facilitator introduced the tools, Adobe Image Creator, Magic School, and ChatGPT, she then explained the bias that emerges from these tools. She guided us on how she would prompt critical thinking skills for secondary students, and how to introduce these critical thinking skills to middle school students. Afterwards, she then guided us through how we could apply various assignments to our students allowing them to be creative, critical of stereotypes, and how to prompt AI tools to fight against these biases, especially in image creation. 

Personal Reflection 

I felt that the workshop was most valuable to be an educator addressing the current needs of students. As a grade eight educator, many of my students are using AI tools and are trusting it blindly. Some of my students have used it for their writing assignments and have included quotes that are not correct or in the work. As AI is a recently developed tool, I did not receive education on it during my Bachelor of Education, and did not have any professional development so far on how to use AI in the classroom, or if it was good practice to do so. In this workshop, the facilitator was able to answer all of these concerns and provide me with district policies and district approved tools that I could use in the classroom. I found the session was very beneficial as she allowed us to have time to explore these tools, ask questions about them, and also modelled how to use them in the classroom. As participants, we were given an assignment on Magic School, and I got to experience the student side of an assignment while the facilitator showed us the teacher screen. By carving out time for us to practically use these tools, I feel confident to use them in my classroom and not have additional work to do before introducing it to my students. 

Professional Practice 

The workshop was most valuable to my practice. My students have good critical thinking skills for assessing online sources, however, they are thinking of AI as a neutral, non biassed tool. I was at first unsure of how to teach my students these critical thinking skills as I barely use AI myself. I personally feel that AI is cheating, thus I have very limited exposure to it. The workshop gave me the skills to start these critical thinking skills that will then be developed in secondary school. 

Furthermore, the workshop had changed my opinion about AI tools in the classroom. As previously mentioned, I felt that AI tools were a way for students to cheat and not use evidence to formulate an educated thought. The facilitator raised the argument that teachers in the past have resented the idea of using online resources because of copy and pasting essays, certain textbooks because students could copy from the textbook, and even the calculator because it would limit students’ mental math abilities. After reflecting on this comment, I realize that my students are going to use AI at some point in their lives and it is important for me to set them up with skills they will need in the future. To have an innovative classroom, I need to embrace new technology and teach students how to use them in a productive way. Through this workshop, I realized that AI does not take away all critical thinking, but rather it replaces it with a different type for critical thinking, which students need to develop this skill in class. The problem of using AI is that students, and many adults, do not have the critical thinking skills when using the tool. An innovative way to address this need in the classroom is to introduce AI tools in the class, and promote the development of critical thinking while making creative images, songs, and more.  

Professional Practice Artifacts 

Although the facilitator presented many assignments and lessons that I could do with my class, there are two that I think will introduce critical thinking well for this age level. One of the assignments, Historic Rap Battle, would be a creative way to introduce critical thinking. In the grade eight curriculum, students are introduced to historical significance and why individuals and events are significant. In this unit, students have selected a historical figure and they were to evaluate the significance of that person. They were to become mini experts on their person and cross reference their research to make sure it was accurate. In the AI tool, Magic School, there is a chatbot that will create a rap battle between two historical figures. To introduce critical thinking while using AI, the next project for students can be to create a rap battle and see how accurate the results are. In partners, they can select the person that they became mini experts on, evaluate how accurate the information is, and highlight the mistakes. When this was done in the workshop, we were able to notice key mistakes for Terry Fox. Students can then use this script as a jumping off point to re-write the mistakes the AI tool made, and then perform their revised rap battle in front of the class. This assignment introduces students to critically think about AI and also allows them to be creative by writing a rap battle for their final presentation. 

Another assignment I can present to my students works well with the language arts and careers unit that was recently completed and using Adobe Image Creator. In the curriculum, students are to analyze various texts, draw conclusions, and raise questions. For texts, students have been shown a series of advertisements and they have been tasked to identify biases in the advertisements and provide evidence for how they drew these conclusions. These advertisements had more obvious messages, but it was a good introduction to visual critical thinking. With Adobe Image Creator, students can further this skill. Students have to make an advertisement for the upcoming craft fair. Using their knowledge about bias in media and how to make a successful advertisement, students will prompt Adobe Image Creator to generate an advertisement for their product. Students need to prompt the generator to include an advertisement technique of their choice and make sure it is free from bias. To achieve this, students need to critically think about the output that it has generated. When generating images in the workshop, all the individuals were all white, and when asked for diversity, the next generation replaced the white individuals with all black individuals. However, the prompt was to add diversity. The program assumed it meant racial diversity, which was arguably not created as it did not produce people from multiple backgrounds. Furthermore, it was also important to compare how the black individuals were generated compared to the white individuals. Were the other changes potentially biased? This would be a good example for the students to start these critical thinking skills. Providing guiding questions such as, what type of people does Adobe generate for the ad, how can you prompt it to be inclusive, think about various stereotypes, how can you prompt it to avoid these stereotypes? After they have their final advertisement, students will include all the images Adobe Image Creator produced. Students need to reflect on why this tool generates that first image? What biases might the coders have that produced this result? Students can then reflect on the skills learned and how they will be critical of AI in the future. Furthermore, students need to provide all the prompts they used in order to properly cite their image. By making their citation, it reinforces the idea that the work that is produced is not theirs, and they need to provide credit for where they got this information or image from. 

Recommendation

    In this professional development workshop, I have learned how to become an innovative and creative educator when addressing the usage of AI in the classroom. AI is a tool that students will use in the future and need to have the skills to use properly and critically. I would recommend this workshop for all middle and secondary school teachers, especially those who teach english and social studies. As educators, we must provide students with the skills to be successful in their lives outside of school. Critical thinking skills are at the core of these subjects, and AI is a great tool to build on these skills. It is an innovative and creative approach for students to experience critical thinking skills in a real world and practical application. Furthermore, the workshop provides teachers with the chance to make their own assignments and a Google Drive folder of various resources and assignments others have done. Even though the session was shorter compared to other workshops, the guidance, resources, and ability to ask questions and share was immensely valuable to become a current, innovative, and creative educator.