Schools are unprepared for the impact of ChatGPT on teaching and learning – but rather than banning AI they need support to harness its potential, according to computing teachers.
Research conducted by BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT through its Computing at School (CAS) network found that 62% of respondents said technology like ChatGPT will make it harder to mark students’ work fairly.
The majority (56%) of the 124 computing teachers taking part did not think their school had a plan to manage the incoming use of ChatGPT by pupils. 33% said early discussions had taken place and a further 11% said a plan was being formed.
ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) that can answer questions in a seemingly natural way and is trained on a massive data set. It has been shown to be able to create passing grade answers at university level but it is fallible, BCS said, pointing out that a recent public demo by Google’s own AI service Bard produced a wrong answer.
Over three-quarters of computing teachers (78%) rated the general awareness of the capabilities of ChatGPT among colleagues at their school or college as ‘low’ or ‘very low’.
But 45% were confident ChatGPT will improve teaching in their school over the long term, in areas such as helping to plan assignments and support students with research techniques.
Embracing AI
Julia Adamson, managing director for education and public benefit at BCS, said: “Assuming these generative AI programmes remain freely accessible, teenagers are going to use them to answer homework assignments – just like adults will come to rely on them at work.
“Computing teachers want their colleagues to embrace AI as a great way of improving learning in the classroom. However, they think schools will struggle to help students evaluate the answers they get from chatbots without the right technical tools and guidance.
“Calculators used to be banned from exams but are now mandatory. We need to bring machine learning into mainstream teaching practice, otherwise children will be using AI for homework unsupervised without understanding what it’s telling them.
“Another danger is that the digital divide is only going to get wider if better-off parents can pay for premium services from chatbots – and get better answers.”
The CAS network has published its ChatGPT for Teachers guide, written by a computing teacher, as part of its free library of resource materials.
