AI and digital news and views
Real-time AI energy costs, controversial World Bank study, report writing with AI, time for play, computing curriculum changes, the end of punctuation, give it a try and much more...
What’s happening
Straight to the news, views and resources this week, with just a housekeeping note that we’re off next week for half-term. We’ll be back in your in-boxes on Friday 6 June.
AI roundup
The green debate continues
The Guardian reports that the International Energy Agency has forecasted that AI would require almost as much energy by the end of this decade as Japan uses today. However, Prof Adam Sobey, the mission director for sustainability at the UK’s Alan Turing Institute, has responded that more transparency is needed on how much energy is consumed by AI systems, and how much they could save by helping to make carbon-emitting industries such as transport and energy more efficient: “I suspect that we don’t need many very good use cases [of AI] to offset the energy being used on the front end.” Meanwhile, Hugging Face has launched an interactive site to see the real-time energy costs of chatting with generative AI.
The efficacy debate continues
A randomised, controlled World Bank study has found that using a GPT-4 tutor with teacher guidance in a six week after-school programme in Nigeria had "more than twice the effect of some of the most effective interventions in education" (equating to 1.5 to 2 years of standard school). A critique from Michael Pershan suggests that while the after-school programme might have been a worthwhile teaching experiment, the study's design flaws prevent any strong claims about the transformative impact of AI tutoring. The findings only demonstrate that the programme was better than no intervention at all, and the term "AI tutor" is a misnomer for what was essentially AI-driven practice. The authors have responded to the criticisms with a thread on X. Meanwhile, Ethan Mollick once again pleads for AI critics to at least direct their criticism at the right things:
“At some point, the fact that over a billion people use this technology and that they self-report high utility has to mean something. There is lots to criticize about AI and plenty of real issues caused by AI, but the narrative that this is all a fake thing that will disappear doesn't help anyone.”
And while we’re on the subject of randomised control trials (and absolutely nothing to do with digital technology!) Sarah couldn’t help smiling at the recent Education Endowment Foundation research trial which found that “Wearing a school uniform is not likely to improve learning” So were all those blazers with badges and piping a waste of money?
From the ground up
Rose Luckin’s Educate Ventures has published a report suggesting ethical guidelines for the Implementation of AI in edtech. The report presents 12 actionable controls that address essential areas, including the protection of learner wellbeing, the importance of preserving the human element, and the necessity for transparency regarding AI’s capabilities and limitations.
Generative AI in the classroom
We’re looking forward to reading Laura Knight’s new book A Little Guide for Teachers: Generative AI in the Classroom. And another one from Laura - a digital download quick guide to smarter revision with AI: Eight practical strategies to support students and save teacher time.
Report writing with AI - some advice
A teacher takes a colleague’s musings that ‘Wouldn’t it be easier if an AI could check our report comments right inside the spreadsheet?’ and runs with it: “By connecting Google Sheets directly to Gemini within our school’s Google domain, I was able to batch-check teachers’ draft comments using AI - without ever sending sensitive student data outside our secure environment. With a bit of Google Apps Script magic (and a nod to ChatGPT for the coding assist!), teachers can now instantly transform their comments in line with our school’s reporting guidelines…”
AI and the future of education: disruptions, dilemmas and directions
This roundtable discussion with six leading thinkers in education and technology (Bryan Alexander, Helen Beetham, Doug Belshaw, Laura Hilliger, Ian O'Byrne, Karen Louise Smith) looks fascinating. The event is on Thursday 5 June and brings together experts who have each contributed think pieces to UNESCO's call on AI and the future of education: disruptions, dilemmas and directions. Register here.
Quick links
Play is a right, not a luxury: a call to action for a National Play Strategy. The Play Commission is gathering evidence and expertise asking for submissions around the following questions:
How do we boost learning through play?
How do we expand places and environments where children can play?
How can we use children’s right to play to ensure national and local government support children’s play?
How do we provide children and families with more time to play?
How do we harness technology and the digital world to boost children’s play?
How do we encourage parents to play with their children and to encourage their children to play in the offline world?
There’s revised computing curriculum news – but it’s evolution rather than revolution.
A new scheme will offer £25m worth of support to boost connectivity in the classroom - but only to RISE schools
Two shares from Cliff Manning this week: this OECD report: How's life for children in the digital age? examines the opportunities and risks associated with children's increasing engagement in the digital world, providing a cross-national overview of their digital experiences across OECD countries.
Plus, a new project led by Sam Wass records brain activity in babies and toddlers while they’re watching TV to measure how young brains track different types of information content in real-time.
We’re reading, listening…
The end of the full stop?
Did you know that young people think it’s rude to use a full stop in a WhatsApp message? Find out more about how punctuation is rapidly changing within the quickfire back-and-forth of instant messaging in this latest episode of the excellent Word of Mouth BBC Radio 4 programme. Are these changes causing misunderstandings? Presenter Michael Rosen and his guest Dr Christian Ilbury discuss Is the full stop on the way out? What about capital letters? Exclamation marks and question marks seem to be holding their ground, but what about the rest?
And, while we’re at it, what about the sad demise of the semi-colon?
Navigating by aliveness
We both have a lot of time for Oliver Burkeman, and his latest post, on aliveness being at the heart of a sane and meaningful life, is as good a one as any to leave you with for half term:
“One thing that’s missing from those [AI] discussions is any consideration of aliveness. Yet I think it might be the key to understanding how to think and feel about AI, how to respond to it, how to integrate it into our lives or not – and how to ensure, as technology marches on, that we don’t lose sight of what really matters for a meaningfully productive life.”
Give it a try
Thanks to Chris Unitt who shared this in his latest brilliant Cultural Digital newsletter. Learning Light is an interactive studio from Google arts and culture where you can get creative with lighting design with help from AI.
Connected Learning is by Sarah Horrocks and Michelle Pauli
