Issues and Controversies
As has been seen in many different courses as of late, one of the biggest issues making its way into the field of instructional design has been to address what the role of artificial intelligence should play. Even though artificial intelligence has been secretly integrating itself in various areas of our lives for years now in the form of chatbots, text, spelling, and grammar corrections, and customer service, it wasn’t until the hype of the large language model (LLM) chatbot, known as Chat GPT hit the waves in December of 2022, that mainstream society really became aware of what was occurring.
As soon as the media picked up on the immense amount of power that these LLMs could play in the way of content development and creation, people began digging their heels in, taking stances on the ethics of AI and labeling it as a savior or claiming the need to ban these tools from networks and devices as soon as possible. Within a few weeks of the fanfare hubbub, New York City Public Schools, one of the largest districts in the country, had already banned Chat GPT district-wide (Roose, 2023). Immediately upon reading this, I was heartbroken. In the return from the pandemic, I felt as though we as society had missed an opportunity to continue engaging on a large scale with the tools we mastered during lockdown. This to me was the exact same. Instead of recognizing and embracing the sheer power of these new technologies, people already chose to act like they didn’t exist, because that was easier than looking at how to creatively take advantage of them.
This leads me to say that it really is up to us, the creators, users, and consumers of educational technology to educate ourselves in a way that allows us to demonstrate and convince skeptics that when utilized properly and for the right purposes, AI and educational technology can be life changing.
Field Contributions
Already, there have been outspoken advocates working to counter the fears surrounding AI and the impact it might have on certain professions. In his 2023 book, Miller sites the Gartner Hype Cycle in his description of how the public perceives technology for a time in its Peak of Inflated Expectations before landing on its true Plateau of Productivity all the while, illustrating the various ways in which educators can use AI in the profession to create exciting, higher level of rigor, learning experiences for students (Miller, 2023, p.23-24). This to me is clear evidence that the work of individuals in the field will continue leading to innovative instructional opportunities for learners in a variety of environments.
Reflecting back upon one of my blog posts, in which I was discussing discovery learning through a constructivist lens, we essentially are seeing this occur in front of us with these AI Chatbots (Discovery Learning (Bruner), 2017). People around the world are currently working independently and in teams, trying to draw on prior knowledge and understanding of both language and experience in order to craft the most effective prompts for these AI tools. More importantly though, is the fact that once these discoveries are made, the sheer amount of content that has been developed and released to the public to aid in their understanding and usage has been invaluable.
Scholars
Beyond artificial intelligence however, I was also able to revisit a number of learning theories and theorists of whom I had first been introduced to, more than 2 decades ago. The list of theorists include but is not limited to: Pavlov, Skinner, Bruner, Vygotsky, and Gartner. Understandably so, each of these individuals have made impactful contributions to not only the fields within education, but also within instructional design.
The real discovery I came across however that was quite eye opening was about half-way through the semester I was introduced to Edgar Dale’s Cone of Experience (Janoska, 2017). The reason I found this so intriguing was not simply the direct connection between the Cone of Experience and a model which most educators have come to know and love in Bloom’s Taxonomy, rather the fact that Dale created his model a full decade prior to Benjamin Bloom. Seeing these two models side-by-side made me wonder why one became so much more prevalent than the other, to the point in which I share with multiple colleagues who have their Phds Dale’s Cone, and none had even heard of it before.
Theories
To begin the conclusion of this reflection, I wanted to revisit the concept of situated learning. The blog post which I wrote about this topic focused mainly on the value situated learning could play in the training and development of pre-service teachers, creating a pipeline for them to the education profession, lined along the way with opportunities to view master teachers at work in a real-life setting. This authentic form of professional learning would always be injected with up to date knowledge and best practices for instruction, design, technology usage, and engagement. What I really wanted to write about however, was when I first learned about situated learning and the fact that the courses I have selected thus far in my program tenure may be somewhat misaligned.
I first came across this learning model in r622 when introduced to it by my teammate, Christian Smeltzer. I was incredibly lucky to have been working with someone as patient as Cristian, because this was completely new to me at the time. The work with Christian however, helped to solidify what the paramount learning principle is that resounds with me individually, that of social learning. Thanks to the friendship we have made, I really feel like part of this program, and that is something I will take with me and use in the future as an educator, and an instructional designer.
References
Discovery Learning (Bruner). (n.d.). Learning Theories. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://learning-theories.com/discovery-learning-bruner.html
Janoska, L. (2017, August 28). What Really Is The Cone Of Experience? eLearning Industry. Retrieved April 21, 2023, from https://elearningindustry.com/cone-of-experience-what-really-is
Miller, M. (2023). AI for Educators: Learning Strategies, Teacher Efficiencies, and a Vision for an Artificial Intelligence Future. Dave Burgess Consulting, Incorporated.
Roose, K. (2023, January 12). Don’t Ban ChatGPT in Schools. Teach With It. The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2023/01/12/technology/chatgpt-schools-teachers.html
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