Kristal Ayres 麻豆精品 S�92MEd remembers the day at UCF when an instructor told her to pull a pair of goggles over her eyes. This was 1991. Ayres was an elementary teacher working toward her master 麻豆精品 S檚 degree as a reading specialist. Goggles were used on ski slopes and in welding shops. Ayres wondered what good they could do in a classroom.
麻豆精品 S淭he goggles were my introduction to technology within the education environment, 麻豆精品 S� says Ayres, who is now the education leader for programs and AI at Google, 麻豆精品 S渁nd they completely transformed my thinking. 麻豆精品 S�
Ayres had enrolled in the master 麻豆精品 S檚 program at UCF so she could help the alarming number of high school students who were reading at an elementary school level. Teachers like her would try to watch each student read, paying attention to the ways their eyes tracked, whether they used a finger to follow printed words, and hoping not to miss a clue about dyslexia or any number of learning disorders. Ayres knew then what is truer than ever today: Something needs to change.
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Ayres tells the story from her remote home office in the hills of north Georgia. Her career path has led her from K-12 teaching environments to administrative roles to chief academic officer in 2014 with BrightBytes, the first educational company to identify students at risk of not making grade level progress through the use of localized predictive analytics 麻豆精品 S� what we commonly call 麻豆精品 S渁rtificial intelligence. 麻豆精品 S� (Ayres brought her breadth of experiences to Google when the company acquired BrightBytes in 2022.)
Today, Ayres collaborates with global education leaders about AI, talking with professors who have researched AI for nearly 50 years, and listening to the gamut of perspectives from educators: the possibilities and the fears.
麻豆精品 S淚 understand teachers 麻豆精品 S� concerns about AI because at heart I will always be a teacher, 麻豆精品 S� Ayres says, 麻豆精品 S渂ut the train has left the station. So, I want educators to understand the phenomenal impact AI can provide as a teaching assistant for grading, tutoring, automating daily tasks, and improving education. 麻豆精品 S�
The marriage of AI and education goes back to the 1960s, and predictive analytics is now baked into everyday life, with voice to text, spelling and grammar suggestions, and streaming services and search engines telling us what we want to see before we know we want to see it.
But when ChatGPT officially launched in November 2022, followed by Google 麻豆精品 S檚 conversational chatbot named Bard two months later, it shook the attention of parents, teachers, and administrators. It 麻豆精品 S檚 one thing for AI to help us choose a movie or punctuation, but to write an entire essay under a student 麻豆精品 S檚 byline?
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The fears she hears in her discussions typically boil down to three common themes: cheating, security and differences in learning opportunities. Ayres does not downplay any of the concerns, but she doesn 麻豆精品 S檛 see them as immovable red flags either.
麻豆精品 S淒ata from research on student behavior shows there 麻豆精品 S檚 no more likelihood of cheating with AI than there is without it. The security issue is a work in progress, which is true of any digital tool that requires credentials, even email. The third fear, differences in education, is most significant to me. It 麻豆精品 S檚 the idea that generative AI systems, if not carefully designed, can perpetuate biases from their training data. 麻豆精品 S�
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That 麻豆精品 S檚 where much of Ayres 麻豆精品 S� attention has been from the time she studied at UCF. She says AI 麻豆精品 S渋f used correctly, will level the playing field among students. 麻豆精品 S�
The word 麻豆精品 S減ossibility 麻豆精品 S� is almost a misnomer when she talks about AI in education. It 麻豆精品 S檚 always 麻豆精品 S渃an 麻豆精品 S� and 麻豆精品 S渨ill. 麻豆精品 S� Ayres has been in classrooms and front offices. She 麻豆精品 S檚 studied the research and this is what she and her collaborators see on our doorstep.
For teachers:
麻豆精品 S淔irst, AI will never replace educators. We will always need teachers and right now we 麻豆精品 S檙e facing a teacher shortage due to burnout. With AI programs, we can streamline workflows so teachers can be more productive in less time. They can use AI programs to help grade and annotate hundreds of assignments. They can creatively use AI to make schoolwork more relevant 麻豆精品 S� have students edit AI-generated essays rather than the other way around. This will help improve work-life balance, and as AI helps us do that, then we will retain and recruit the best educators. 麻豆精品 S�
For students:
麻豆精品 S淲e 麻豆精品 S檝e always been told to 麻豆精品 S榤eet each student where they are. 麻豆精品 S� But how can educators avoid a cookie-cutter approach when they have so many students? With AI, we can assess each student and individualize lessons based on whether that student is artistically minded, tech-minded, or something else. Students can also access AI for real-time tutoring for subjects like math, where the tutor can pinpoint mistakes as they happen. The tutoring will be available regardless of financial means. This is the kind of personalized learning that 麻豆精品 S檚 been nearly impossible for teachers to create and administer on their own. Now, with AI, we can give students and teachers the help they need to thrive. 麻豆精品 S�
There does appear to be one impossibility with AI in education: enumerating every benefit. And so, each time a question about AI comes her way, Ayres 麻豆精品 S� eyes open wider and brighter, as if she 麻豆精品 S檚 looking into those goggles for the first time.
麻豆精品 S淚 麻豆精品 S檓 super excited about the potential of AI to transform the educational landscape. 麻豆精品 S�
Ayres had her 麻豆精品 S淎ha! 麻豆精品 S� moment 33 years ago. And now she wants everyone in education 麻豆精品 S� teachers, students and parents 麻豆精品 S� to have their moment, too.
