Blog post 2

For the drafting of part II of this project, I've set my sights on a paper. For the subject of my paper, I will be writing on the effective and ethical use of generative AI in the elementary classroom.

AI has been used within education for years: when I was in elementary school, our school utilized programs like Google Classroom and Canvas. Today's educational landscape is constantly evolving and generative AI has become an influential, yet also controversial tool for teachers. As a future elementary educator, I'm researching how AI can enhance the educational experience while still protecting student rights & privacy, maintaining academic honesty, and keeping the human elements that help define an impactful education. It focuses on how generative AI can aid K-6 classrooms ethically, specifically as support for differentiation, lesson planning, and overall student engagement.

Generative AI tools biggest use in education currently is as a teaching assistant, so in my research I found that there are teacher aid and education specific Gen AI models such as EdGPT. EdGpt aids in creating a baseline for lesson plans, visual aids, leveled reading passages, and can also help if the teacher is struggling with parent communication. This aid could save teachers hours of administrative work each week.

Reflection 2/22:

In my research on generative AI and the ethical use within education, it has been interesting to see how much really goes into gen AI and how fast it is evolving. My main focus of this overall is classroom management, support, and lesson planning, but it is clear that there are deep issues alongside, like any technology. There can be algorithmic bias, the issue of student privacy, consideration of SEL(Socialemotional Learning), and the preserving of critical thinking and creativity throughout this evolution. EdGpt itself intrigued me: I had never heard about it discussed in my education courses, so it shows how fast AI is adapting itself for use in education, but is it always accurate and does it ethically use inputted data?