Unanswered questions about AI learning
The HSC, fortunately, is still an exam that requires a student to sit at a desk and write essays in most subjects to answer a question posed by the examining board in that subject (“Schools Block AI Program,” 22. January). Fortunately, this process depends on the individual student’s ability to answer the questions in real time at this location.
Most of a teacher’s work with students consists of reading the written answers and correcting them. In recent years, teachers who have identified a potential violation of plagiarism rules have pasted the sentences into a Google search and often found the source of the copy and then raised the issue with the student. How will they do this with such sophisticated software?
The brave new world of AI will bring new challenges to all forms of teaching and assessing what is learned. The NSW Department of Education’s decision to put this software behind a firewall is an excellent idea.
Robert Mulas, Corlette
Private schools will allow students to use ChatGPT in their assignments “because students need to learn how to use today’s technology,” while government schools take the opposite approach and don’t allow the use of AI. Just another gulf to widen the inequality gap in educational opportunities between public and private schools.
Frank Paterson, Mount Annan
The Ardern lesson may not apply here
Parnell Palme McGuinness posits common sense (“PM needs to learn from Ardern that kindness isn’t always the key,” 22 January). The New Zealand experience is relevant. Governments have limited options. Progress is a question of balance – the state can only provide the basic requirements for success. Individuals and communities must lead.
Graeme Troy, Wagerstaffe
Albanese and Ardern “share a mistrust of the private sector”. What a surprise; not all of us. From banks, insurance companies, real estate agents, car dealerships, tradesmen and builders, we are all burned. If McGuinness is implying that the private sector is trustworthy and beyond reproach, she must be living on another planet. Such caution is to be welcomed, as McGuinness well knows that it is the private sector that provides the many public services that are paid for by the government, such as elderly care and NDIS.
Rodney Crute, Hunter Hill
Certainly, Albanese and Ardern both use direct language, are excellent communicators, and have similar political views, but relying only on the vague descriptor “art” to analyze their political leadership is reductive in the extreme.
Vanessa Tennent, Oatley
Exactly right, Parnell Palme McGuinness.
Michael Afaras, Henley
Voice needs convincing victory
https://www.smh.com.au/national/nsw/unanswered-questions-about-ai-learning-20230124-p5cf4h.html?ref=rss&utm_medium=rss&utm_source=rss_national_nsw Unanswered questions about AI learning
