Using AI learning platforms in educational institutions is no longer a new concept. It has been normalized for a while now.
Coursera conducted research on 4,200 university educators and students in five countries and found that 95% of students and educators use AI tools for multiple purposes, which proves the phenomenon to be a universal thing.
So, the use of AI educational tools is now expanding with the passage of time.
Nonetheless, the same study discovered that while a large portion of learners and teachers are using AI tools, only 26% of teachers have admitted that their institution has a central governance policy regarding the use of AI tools in education.
This revelation raises a question about the content authenticity and reliability of AI outputs in educational practices. Using AI learning platforms this way may lead students to an adverse situation with poor learning content quality.
To counter that, the educators and institutions must be aware of certain facts while they are using AI learning platforms in schools and institutions.
Each institution should form some focal points for the educators and students to follow when they are using AI platforms, according to their motto and the criteria of their students.
But the following points are fundamental points that educators should be aware of.
Whenever any student or teacher uses any AI tools, even if it is a learning platform, they should know about AI hallucination, which is possibly the most underwhelming thing.
Unlike humans, AI never verifies data against the primary source. So, AI tools often provide outputs with inaccurate data, false claims, and misinformation.
No matter for what purpose educators use AI, the output with false information may throw them under the bus.
Most importantly, students will be consuming false information regarding a particular issue, which they may carry for a long time. This will hamper their cognitive ability and learning outcomes.
For that, both the students and teachers can use tools such as an AI writing detector or a plagiarism checker.
But the most effective way to get rid of AI hallucinations is to make students verify every piece of information against the secondary resources they are getting from the outputs of AI learning platforms. Better to make it a strict rule for them to follow.
Educators mostly use AI to make lesson plans, quizzes, and learning materials. They also use these tools to provide feedback and grade assignments.
But AI educational tools not only give false information and inaccurate data, but they may also misread context and situations. So, the output they provide may not align with the context.
So, if they use AI tools for making lesson plans and learning materials, it is so likely that the outcomes may not be fruitful enough.
The AI-generated learning materials and lesson plans may not be age-appropriate or match the real context and situation. Or the quizzes they prepare may not be effective enough to evaluate the students.
Above all, if they use AI tools for grading and providing feedback, they may end up with an unfair evaluation.
So, the educators should always consider the AI outputs as the first draft or an initial one instead of relying on them entirely. Instead of considering them as a final result, they should treat the output as a direction or outline and work accordingly.
Educators should also focus on digital literacy both for students and themselves. To be precise, they must learn about AI literacy as they are using automated learning tools and platforms.
Digital and AI literacy involves learning how these platforms work, how they should be used, what the consequences of using them are, and what data people are allowed to feed these tools to get better results.
AI literacy also involves learning certain jargon and phrases related to these tools and platforms, such as hallucinations, deepfakes, chatbots, verification, synthetic media, and other related terms that are needed to use the platforms and understand the mechanisms behind them.
Naturally, AI literacy among teachers will help them a lot to use AI tools more effectively, avoiding the negative aspects and making better learning materials for the students. At the same time, they can help students learn about AI and digital literacy.
Educators also must know how safe it is to input certain data into a platform and exactly which information they should input into a system.
Since there is a risk of data leakage wherever AI is involved, teachers should provide data to AI tools wisely.
For example, teachers sometimes use AI feedback generator tools where they provide certain data about students, such as their identity number, the location of the schools, or contact details.
If this information is not secured, the privacy of students will be at stake. Also, the assignments and paperwork by students become vulnerable to chatbots and writing tools, as they may use them to train themselves and learn human writing.
So, the teachers and examiners must be alert about data security when they are using AI tools for grading or making lessons.
To protect students’ sensitive information, content relevance and quality, and data accuracy, schools and institutions should know some effective protocols and policies to implement to limit AI tool usage in the teaching and learning process.
Institutions should fix age-appropriate learning platforms and tools for their students at each level to use. Also, they should mention the purposes for which the educators may use the tools.
Such policies not only limit their use but also ensure that they are used effectively.
Finally, educators should always check the credentials of the content they get from the educational learning platforms.
They should always know where the content came from, the name of the author, the publication, and the validity of the content before delivering it to the classroom.
By checking the content credentials, teachers can also verify the authenticity and credibility of the content and ensure that the students are receiving quality materials.
Moreover, by checking the content credentials, educators can be more confident about what materials they are delivering and teaching.
Verifying content authenticity is essential whenever it is derived from AI. But when it comes to education and teaching, it becomes more vital as a set of potential students are involved.
For educators, it is a crucial responsibility to use and deliver authentic and useful content when they are integrating AI learning platforms to avoid hallucinations, inaccurate data, unethical use of these platforms, and unfair evaluation.
So, to ensure content authenticity in AI learning platforms, educators and institutions must take impactful and viable measures.
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