Over the past week I have had the opportunity to have been part of the MALAT Virtual Symposium and I have found the experience to be packed with interesting ideas that are crucial in understanding how technology and education connect in our rapidly paced world. This is the initial activity of LRNT521 course and it was a great way for me to become familiar with the ideas, methodology and resources that are part of this exciting program. Since my background coming into this program has been primarily focused on the education side of things, it was very interesting to see how these discussions would connect with my own educational understanding and pedagogy.
Regarding the Virtual Symposium sessions that I attended, I noticed a trend in a couple of areas that I found intriguing. Firstly, it was apparent that the idea of adopting technology into educational settings was generally met with optimism (and in my opinion a curious sense of trust) by most educators and students. (Johnson, N. 2024) While I do also feel a certain level of optimism regarding the implementation of technology into learning environments, as an educator I have seen many examples over the years of technology causing hurdles for students; such as in critical thinking and creativity. Secondly, the main technology that was considered to have the most impact on educational experiences was generative artificial intelligence. While I agree with the general sentiment that this technology is very impactful and will create a paradigm shift in education; the extent of how positive that impact will be essentially remains to be seen. In the research paper “Generative AI and the future of education” Lim, Gunasekara, Pallant, and Pechenkina comment on the topic by saying “the diffusion of Generative AI at scale could potentially spell the end of some assessment types such as essays. After all, if a Generative AI tool like ChatGPT can offer detailed and human-like responses to advanced essay questions, then what is the role of human learning and insight in responding to these types of assessments?” (Lim, Gunasekara, Pallant, Pallant and Pechenkina 2023) Considering that GAI is in its infancy its impact on the educational arena is currently difficult to gage and it could be years before either the true value of this technology can be understood or the proper training involved in implementing it will be available.
Dr. Nicole Johnson’s presentation of “Digital learning trends in Canadian post-secondary education: A time of digital transformation” was the first Virtual Symposium that I attended. Dr. Johnson explained to her audience the results of the Pan-Canadian digital learning surveys and brought up some interesting questions regarding digital learning trends. I was particularly interested when she asked the question “is there a demand for technology use in teaching and learning?” (Johnson, N. 2024)and then watched as she proceeded to point out evidence that indeed demonstrated that there was an enthusiasm for technological integration among the educators that were surveyed. Beyond this observation she pointed out that students were even more interested in the adoption of technology use in the classroom saying that “students at their institution(s) are feeling positive toward technology use” (Johnson, N. 2024).
This topic deliberation however led me to ask the following inquiry; “when we consider implementing technology into educational situations is the technology designed to be educational in nature, or are we just trying to use existing technology in a way that creates an educational experience out of it?” Dr. Nicole Johnson responded by saying “Generally speaking, your learning management system providers are designing that with an educational experience in mind. Now, the level of training that happens for faculty and how to effectively use the learning management system. That varies from institution.” (Johnson, N. 2024).
I felt that this was a fair response considering the wide and general extent of the topic. Dr Johnson correctly points out factors like ‘staff training’ can indeed create large discrepancies within institutions, although this logic does create further questions regarding the implementation and learning effectiveness. How are these training challenges resolved or to what extent are they changing the educational experience? Moreover, this response leads me to consider what ways are the given “educational experiences” (Johnson, N. 2024) meant to be delivered? When we consider implementing technologies like the famous ChatGPT, the educational experiences for students can vary wildly. Such is found to be the case in paper conducted on the topic called the Impact of the Implementation of ChatGPT in Education: A Systematic Review”. (Rueda, Cerero,and López-Meneses. 2023)
Sources
Brewer, M. & Heyman, J. (2024, April 11) “Using Generative AI in Centers for Teaching and Learning – Approaches, Challenges, and Opportunities.”
Johnson, N. (2024, April 8)“Digital learning trends in Canadian post-secondary education: A time of digital transformation.” https://bit.ly/NJohnstonMALATVS2024
Montenegro-Rueda, Marta, José Fernández-Cerero, José María Fernández-Batanero, and Eloy López-Meneses. 2023. “Impact of the Implementation of ChatGPT in Education: A Systematic Review” Computers 12, no. 8: 153. https://doi.org/10.3390/computers12080153
Weng Marc Lim, Asanka Gunasekara, Jessica Leigh Pallant, Jason Ian Pallant, Ekaterina Pechenkina, “Generative AI and the future of education: Ragnarök or reformation? A paradoxical perspective from management educators.” The International Journal of Management Education, Volume 21, Issue 2, 2023
AI images were created using https://midjourney.co/
Good comments. Vince. This a really good example of critical examination and reflection.
As you point out–and as we will see as we move through the course together–the impact of digital technology on the educational enterprise has been mixed and somewhat unclear. This is why it is so important that we practice critical thinking as we read the claims and prognostications regarding AI and other technologies that are applied to educational endeavours.