Welcome to my weekly reflection. This one is going to be a mish-mash of various musings on course content – I can’t pull out a particular theme to my thoughts from this week, so I figured I’d just put them all down together, stream-of-consciousness style (bonus: that way, you can tell that I haven’t used AI to write this reflection!).

First, I’m still kind of reeling from our discussion about the potential environmental impacts of generative AI. I found it really interesting hearing what generative AI chatbots had to say about the environmental impacts of their servers. This felt kind of dystopian – I’m picturing a culminating scene in a sci-fi movie. Maybe the protagonist is about to shut down a chatbot’s server, but the chatbot has gained enough sentience to fight to stay alive by lying to people. I obviously don’t believe that Gemini and ChatGPT are lying about the extent of their environmental impacts. However, is it far-fetched to assume that the information AI chatbots provide on their carbon footprints might be an underestimate? It would make sense for these chatbots to be programmed to purvey a favourable view of AI – that would be good for business. It was interesting that when Randy asked various chatbots bout their environmental impact, they highlighted the other household appliances that take up water and electricity. I might be getting a bit too critical here, but… Anyways, I’m much more inclined to believe the research out of Western University that Nathan shared last week.

Side note: book recommendation

Speaking of sentient AI, I strongly recommend Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel, Klara and the Sun. I think it’s a great read for teachers. It takes place in a near-future world where wealthy children have AI companions to help with their social, emotional, and cognitive development. Klara and the Sun explores questions like, “What does it mean to love?” And “Will AI ever be able to replicate human emotions?” And like much of the science fiction and dystopian genres, it grapples with the consequences of unchecked technological innovation. 5 stars from me! And I believe it’s under 200 pages, making it tackle-able over reading break!

Klara and the Sun is also soon to be a movie starring Jenna Ortega and produced by Taika Waititi (two of my faves!): https://www.screendaily.com/news/taika-waititi-says-klara-and-the-sun-will-be-coming-this-year/5213005.article

I am glad that researchers are narrowing in on the impacts of AI on natural resources and ecosystems. I wonder what the challenges of studying AI might be. I imagine that it is exceedingly difficult to conduct rigorous academic research into a field that is shifting so rapidly. I remember trying out ChatGPT in December 2022. My roommate at the time was studying software engineering, so I had an “in” … I feel like I was slightly ahead of the curve in terms of testing out and adopting generative AI. The GPT-5 series we have today is a COMPLETELY different beast than ChatGPT 3-4 years ago. It wasn’t until recently that generative AI could search the web and incorporate accurate and up-to-date information. Even in the past few months, the technology has taken leaps and bounds. It must be difficult to pin AI down and study it – I talked about this in a reflection for my Language and Literacies class, which you can check out below. We had to read a fantastic article by Nomisha Kurian about conversational AI, mental health chatbots, and children’s literacy. Worth a skim, especially for future teachers!

CBC – environmental impacts of AI (video)

A great video for kids.

To close, rapid fire – here are my thoughts on generative AI, its environmental impact, and our free will:

Do we have any choice about using GenAI?

Yes and no. Yes, we can actively choose whether we put our work into Gemini or MagicSchool or ChatGPT – no one is making you do that (except, maybe this class when we did the AI Workbook – haha!). However, I do think we as teachers have a duty to understand how AI works and how our students are being exposed to it. I want to prepare my students for safety and success in our increasingly artificially intelligent world, and I would be doing them a serious disservice by shuttering AI out of my classroom.

Can we avoid its use?

Increasingly, no. AI is pervasive, and even if we’re not using it, someone else is – whether that be our colleagues, administrators, students, or the sources that we trust to get our information from (news outlets, academic articles, even search engines with that annoying “AI Overview” function).

Will the tech giants solve the power and water overconsumption?

My pessimistic answer is NO WAY! I can’t envision a world where public concern/outrage about AI’s environmental impacts will outweigh the profit motive for tech companies. People know that AI is using so much water and power, but that’s not stopping us. Plus, in big affluent cities in the Global North, we aren’t seeing the impacts of AI servers directly. To make tech giants take real action to mitigate their environmental impact, people would need to mobilize by boycotting AI. And I don’t see that happening, because (a) generative AI is so convenient, good for productivity, and fun, and (b) most AI users aren’t seeing the negative impacts of their AI use in a meaningful way.

That’s all! I’m excited to continue my learning journey about AI!

For this week’s reflection, I want to discuss universal design for learning (UDL) in the context of educational technology, especially generative AI. I am already quite familiar with UDL – from my background as an educational assistant, as well as from our PDPP courses thus far (e.g., ED-D 301: Learners and Learning Environments). So, what we’ve been covering is mostly review / consolidation. That is, except for the ways that we can use new tech to UDL-ify our practice. I’ve been loving considering UDL in the context of AI, so, the theme of this reflection is…

Employing AI to reach students of diverse abilities and interests

I’ve previously mentioned that I am SUPER EXCITED about the potential UDL applications of generative AI. Differentiating lessons and materials can be a huge hurdle, especially for early career teachers. I want to be able to meet every student where they’re at, and provide the optimal challenge that they need to learn and thrive. I think that AI could help.

I thought it would be a fun exercise to take the UDL checklist that was linked in this week’s course materials, and brainstorm/test out ways that generative AI could be used to fulfill it. I also included some prompts you could use as inspiration.

Universal Design for Learning Checklist

Make Expectations (objectives, rubrics, grading) explicit from the start

• Use AI to rewrite objectives in student-friendly language
• Example: Ask ChatGPT, Claude, or Gemini, “Rewrite this learning objective in simple grade 3 student-friendly language”

Multiple means of engagement

• Use AI to personalize activities and texts to student interests
• Example: “Rewrite these math word problems to feature characters from the popular Netflix original, KPOP Demon Hunters”

Multiple means of representation

• Use AI to create concept maps, analogies, and story-style explanations. I recently discovered NapkinAI, which is great at creating visual concept maps (sometimes ChatGPT sucks at this – it still struggles with generating text and images together).
• Example: “Explain photosynthesis three ways: a story, a diagram description, and a sports analogy.”

Include alternatives to the text (e.g. website, article, video, audio summary, or lower reading-level text

• NotebookLM makes great podcasts/audio summaries from written texts. It could be a great resource for kids who struggle to decode or tackle big blocks of words.
• In my AI Workbook assignment, I tried out using ChatGPT to translate a text into a lower reading level. This is an area where it thrives.
• MagicSchool also has a text leveller tool.
• Example: “Rewrite this article at a grade 4 reading level and include key vocabulary definitions.”

Include checks for understanding to shape instruction

• Use AI to create exit tickets, poll questions, and think-pair-share prompts.
• KahootAI makes great quick quizzes to check student understanding.

Provide access to class notes in various formats (e.g. outline, graphic, study cast)

• Use AI to convert notes into Cornell notes, graphic organizers, study guides, and flash cards.
• Tools like Quizlet use generative AI to transform notes from and into many forms!

Thanks for reading!

After lots of reflection and experimentation this week, I still have mixed feelings about generative artificial intelligence and its role in education.

It’s that easy! GenAI applications for teacher productivity

I think that a huge piece of GenAI’s allure for teachers is its convenience. In our AI workbook activity, I used MagicSchool to create a pretty thorough inquiry-based science unit in minutes. MINUTES! Burnout is a major issue, especially for early-career educators. GenAI could ease the burden on teachers by automating time-consuming tasks. This kind of support could free us up to spend more time and energy supporting students socially and emotionally – something that AI can’t do!

UDL and personalized learning

I’m also excited about GenAI’s potential to assist with Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and personalized learning. I love the idea of using AI to tailor lessons to students of different abilities, learning styles, and interests. One of the greatest challenges of teaching is meeting all students where they are and providing the right level of challenge for each learner. In that sense, AI feels aligned with concepts like Vygotsky’s Zone of Proximal Development. GenAI could help teachers scaffold. I tried this out with Magic School by getting it to simplify a text about biomes to a lower reading level. I think this is a great application of GenAI – using it to simplify text helps to remove an unnecessary barrier for students who have trouble reading.

Critical thinking?

One of my biggest worries is the potential decline in critical thinking and creativity. I often catch myself leaning on AI to complete tasks that I am fully capable of doing on my own. If I, as an adult, am susceptible to this habit, I worry even more about how it might affect students. Since GenAI is so convenient and pervasive, both students and educators could become dependent on it… what might that dependency mean for the development of writing skills, creativity, and critical thinking?

A study out of MIT suggests that using ChatGPT for writing tasks may reduce brain activity, mental engagement, and critical thinking! Paritcipants who relied on ChatGPT also produced less original work compared to those who used a search engine or wrote without assistance. And it appears that these results were not very reversible – people who’d relied on Chat in the past but were no longer using it STILL showed poorer critical thinking skills. There is still ongoing research into this, but it raises concerns about overreliance on AI, especially for students who are still developing as thinkers and readers.

FAKE NEWS?!

I’m also concerned about misinformation. AI has become alarmingly good at generating text, images, and even videos that look just like the real thing (see: creepy Sora videos like the one below). Without strong media literacy skills, students may be particularly vulnerable to believing or spreading false information. This makes explicit instruction around misinformation and AI literacy absolutely essential.

Fake video of a dog spewing water at a nice older gentleman created using Sora (it wasn’t me – I promise!)

What about the environment?

I’m also conflicted about the environmental impact of AI. Large-scale AI systems require a lot of resources (water and energy). I said this already in my AI Workbook assignment, but at times, using AI to create teaching materials feels hypocritical to me. I want to teach my students about the climate crisis and help them build a sense of connection to the land, so I feel uncomfortable knowing that my use of AI is contributing to the problem. This tension is something I haven’t fully reconciled – and I honestly don’t know if I can! For example, I’m feeling guilty about how much water I probably wasted creating a cutesy AI-generated photo of me in Sweden for my Inquiry blog 🙁

Back to pencil and paper?

I work as an EA on call, so I’ve gotten to see a wide range of approaches to AI use in classrooms. Some teachers have responded by going fully analog for certain subjects. For example, an English 8 teacher I worked with restructured her course so that the summative assessment, an essay on The Outsiders, is now handwritten in class rather than taken home. I understand the intention behind this shift – it’s getting hard for teachers to see if students are cheating/plagiarizing with AI. However, I’m not convinced that outright banning GenAI (or designing assignments to make AI use impossible) is the best solution.

AI Literacy

AI is obviously not going away. I want students to learn how to use GenAI properly, safely, and ethically so that they are prepared for the world they are entering. This means teaching responsible use rather than avoidance. Students need to understand what AI is and how it works. We need to be clear that even though interacting with AI may feel like talking to another person, it is not a substitute for human connection. Students should be encouraged to reach out to real people when they need help or support.

My mum is a teacher at Ridgeview Elementary School in West Vancouver and a former colleague of Cari Wilson, who has created excellent AI literacy resources for K–12 students. My mum recently shared one of Cari’s AI lessons with her Grade 4 class, and I’m hoping to get a copy of it from her. I’m also excited to attend Cari Wilson’s professional development session, Student AI Literacy Lessons, through Focused Education Resources in February.

Overall, I’d say that I’m both excited and terrified of the applications of generative AI, in the classroom and beyond.

Touring the Pacific School of Inquiry & Innovation (PSII) was an enlightening experience. So, I want to centre my first reflection around inquiry-based learning – specifically, the (pretty radical) model that Jeff Hopkins and his colleagues have developed at PSII.

Pacific School of Inquiry & Innovation

Do we need to reimagine education?

We need to reimagine education. The current model has kids slipping through the cracks. Not everyone’s support needs are met, and gifted students are often not challenged. Once you’ve learned something, it’s done, and we don’t leave a lot of room for deeper exploration, creativity, or extension.

On top of that, the world is changing rapidly, so of course the ways we prepare young people to interact with and make sense of the world must change as well. We are living in a time shaped by rapidly evolving technologies (case and point – AI!), accompanied by a renewed importance of communication and face-to-face skills. Our learners are inheriting unprecedented global challenges, e.g., the climate crisis, political instability, and the lasting impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.

PSII felt a lot like a real-world workspace. Walking through the school had the same vibe as touring this AI startup that some of my peers from high school created… it was cool to see small groups of students chatting and plotting ideas on a whiteboard, others hunched over computers developing code, and still others poring over books in the library. Encouraging project-based learning is obviously a great way to prepare kids for how work gets done in many fields (especially corporate jobs) – I can’t think of anyone who reads a textbook and gets tested on their retention for a career! With the unprecedented access we have to information today via search engines and generative artificial intelligence chatbots, this kind of learning is redundant – you can just look it up if you forget! Instead, we need to give opportunities for students to discover and practice skills that help them tackle projects and problems.

Obstacles to shaking it up

One major obstacle teachers face when trying to reimagine education is interacting with existing systems. What is the use of teaching differently if students are just going to pass into typical lecture- and test-based learning in high school and university?

We need to recognize the greater forces at play – unfortunately, students still need to do well on tests to get into universities, and need high GPAs for grad school, internships, and jobs. We are operating within a competitive, capitalist, individualistic society, where grades still have consequences. I think all the time about how I got offered a scholarship to UVic essentially just based on my high school average (arguably the least interesting part of my high school experience). Of course, I want my students to find success in the world we’re in.

A challenge of shaking up education is that other systems are slow to shake alongside you. Other teachers at your school, or schools in your district, might be hesitant to adopt changes, and then your students could end up at a disadvantage.

That being said, things are definitely moving in right direction. For example, universities like UBC are including a personal profile in their application – this would be a great place for students to showcase their discoveries and growth through the inquiry projects they engaged in throughout their time at school.

I think we need systemic change at all levels of the education system – unfortunately, the ability of a single teacher to shake up how we educate the next generation is limited. But, if we work together, we can get there – Jeff’s work at PSII and with teachers around the world is a success story!

Concerns and excitement

One concern I have about an inquiry-based approach is whether students might miss key foundational skills. How does inquiry-based learning work when helping young students develop literacy skills? What about math?

I also wonder if, when learning is so self-directed, students might only study what they are already interested in (or in other words, comfortable with) and not push themselves to try things they might actually end up enjoying or being good at. I would like to learn more about how teachers in inquiry schools balance student vs autonomy and making sure all students are challenged (think Vygotsky’s zone of proximal development).

At the same time, I am really excited about the freedom, and choice this model offers. The student buy-in at PSII was amazing. Students seemed more accountable for their learning when they got to direct it. It also felt much more like the real world. Learning was active, collaborative, and meaningful, rather than passive and performative. I have a little bit of experience with inquiry as a student… my Grade 5, 6, and 7 teachers were huge proponents of inquiry-based learning and I LOVED it – especially because it gave young me a chance to explore my specific interests. I found a couple of my old inquiry projects and you can peruse them if you’re curious to see what inquiry in a 2010s classroom looked like 🙂

• https://prezi.com/npnisjno_jga/an-inquiry-into-the-daily-life-of-the-vikings-grade-7-socials
• https://prezi.com/-6-r6ocdibup/grade-6-inquiry-project-how-might-global-warming-and-rising-sea-levels-affect-quality-of-life-worldwide/
• https://prezi.com/llvaf9g8jo5u/grade-7-passion-project-the-impact-of-vegetarianism/

I’m excited to learn more about inquiry and bring it into my own classroom soon! That’s it for now!