TrainDL at Teaching Tuesdays - What do we learn from the ChatGPT hype?
In the wake of the Corona state of emergency, there has been an intensified search for the right way to deal with digital learning; this is also the case at the "Teaching Tuesdays". The TrainDL project was recently involved in this event series.
The school network at the Center for Teacher Education (ZfL) at the University of Cologne has been organizing the "Teaching Tuesdays" since 2020; a series of educational events on the subject of online teaching and digital education. At each of these "Teaching Tuesdays", various aspects of digital education are highlighted in digital lectures, workshops and exchange forums, and experts are invited to present their experiences in school practice or their research.
On March 07, 2023, one such Tuesday was dedicated entirely to the use of Artificial Intelligence in teaching and learning. First, Beatrix Busse, Prorector for Teaching and Learning at the University of Cologne, presented a publication highlighting text-generating AI systems such as ChatGPT in relation to educational contexts.
This was followed by the presentation of Viktoriya Olari, researcher of the TrainDL team at Freie Universität Berlin. In "AI & Data Literacy: or what remains of the hype in the era of generative AI?" she broke down the rapid boom of AI technologies into seven key ideas. One of them - "AI is everywhere and it is no longer only relevant for computer scientists" - also directed attention to school education. Here in particular, she said, AI technologies are profitable: and yet the acquisition of data and AI skills is often considered far too little.
The TrainDL team is currently addressing this need for action by implementing workshops to test activities designed to introduce new technologies to teachers in all STEAM subjects. Here, too, an important aspect is educating participants about the hype surrounding AI tools and learning from it.
To learn more about all seven key ideas, watch the entire session here. Viktoriya Olari's presentation "AI & Data Literacy: or what remains of the hype in the era of generative AI?" starts at 27:18.