Hardly a day goes by without reports on how teachers are struggling to cope with students using AI and how AI may damage how we teach and learn but, if the attendees at this year’s SXSWEdu conference took anything away from the event it was that AI offers educators an enormous opportunity to rethink how we teach in the age of AI.
AI is after all just the next iteration of technology and education has survived many iterations of technology before. From slates, blackboards and chalk to wall-sized dynamic screens and wi-fi connected tablets, education has embraced new technologies.
Of course, in the early stages of any new technologies there are teething problems and friction between what is now possible and how the current teaching paradigms work. The difficulties of cookie cutter essays created by online Large Language Models (LLMs) are just the next iteration of essays copied and pasted from Wikipedia and educators are learning how to manage this process. But what of the opportunities AI can offer?
AI as a tool for education
Educators are rapidly learning that AI can offer them another tool in their armoury to help them make their lessons more engaging, more accessible and more relevant to their students. Rather than a crude sketch on a whiteboard, teachers can use AI generated animations to demonstrate complex concepts – AI can rapidly produce this material in ways that the teachers themselves could not. After all, whilst a picture can speak a thousand words that does not help the teacher who cannot draw let alone produce a 30 second animation.
AI LLMs can also help produce rapid bullet point summaries of lessons, develop quick multi-choice questionnaires and most importantly help to prepare simplified or restructured content suitable for students with Special Education Needs (SEN). SEN students often need additional support or materials adapted to their requirements and using AI as a tool to produce this material helps ensure that they are not disadvantaged in the classroom.
If AI can be used as a tool in these ways, then the teacher has more time available to do the actual teaching.
The human factor
If we look at AI as a tool, then it becomes something to embrace rather than fear. Power tools on their own cannot build a house – they need the human to use and control them and the same is true of AI. Educators need to maintain a level of control over the AI – both in managing the creation of the content and vetting and checking the outputs. In the end the human factor is essential to guide AI to deliver accurate, useful, usable outputs.
Fighting against the tide
All new technologies encountered resistance. John Philip Sousa complained loudly about how pre-recorded music would destroy live music and the use of word processors was thought to be damaging to the art of writing but, as with all technology, the world learns to manage the new potentials and understand the opportunities and limitations. AI will not replace teachers, but it will help teachers teach.
AI and the GÉANT Community
The GÉANT community has long recognised the opportunities for AI in research and education, both in the management and development of our networks and services but also the wider R&E context. As a result, GÉANT instigated a Special Interest Group (SIG-AI) in June 2024 to explore the potential applications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) within the context of Research and Education Networks (NRENs). The group marks its second anniversary in June 2026 and has been instrumental in enabling knowledge and experience sharing across the community. https://community.geant.org/sig-ai/
In addition, GÉANT has launched the AI eAcademy to support learners from around Europe develop their AI skills to benefit from the opportunities AI provides.
