Teaching creativity and creative thinking in K-12 has always been valued, but often difficult to implement. Many standards and curricula do not explicitly enshrine creativity, and teachers are rarely trained in how to teach and assess creative thinking. As a result, many students enter college and the workforce without adequate training in the critical critical thinking skills needed to become innovative problem solvers and effective communicators.
The past two years have seen a notable increase in the use of artificial intelligence in education. Increased investment, deployment, and integration into various educational practices. This proliferation has led to exploration of the potential of AI to more easily bring creativity to the classroom, exemplified by the emergence of AI-powered tools that can generate text, images, music, and video without the need for coding. It’s progressing more and more. However, amid this progress, some educators new to teaching creative thinking are wondering whether creative AI will enable or even replace creative thinking in students. Some people wonder if.
EdSurge webinar host Carl Hooker recently discussed with: field experts Opportunities and challenges to foster creativity in the classroom with AI, defining creative thinking beyond traditional artistic pursuits, addressing equity and ethical considerations, and the role of teachers in AI-enhanced classrooms. Rethinking creativity and AI skills to help students land jobs and careers that rely on creativity.webinar panelists stacey johnsonProfessional Development Leader at Khan Academy, Pat YoungpraditChief Academic Officer code.org and the leader TeachAIand brian johnsrudGlobal Head of Education, Learning and Advocacy adobeeach provided a unique and valuable perspective on the intersection of AI and creativity.
EdSurge: Some people feel that being creative means being artistic, and therefore claim to be “not creative.” How would you answer?
John Srud: Last year’s World Economic Forum reported: Creative thinking will be the most important skill needed in every industry around the world in the next five years. Creative thinking doesn’t mean you need someone who can draw or paint well. Rather, creative thinking is the ability to create and innovate things of value. Those skills include brainstorming ideas, evaluating those ideas, designing and iterating, getting feedback, and collaborating to share ideas effectively. That end-to-end process is creative thinking.
How can we help educators overcome the fear of the unknown when it comes to AI?
Johnson: Since this is a new phenomenon, we must acknowledge the emotions and feelings that arise from it. [fear]. One thing we can do to support teachers is to help them use AI in practical ways. [making it as easy as] Ask what’s for dinner today or how to plan a vacation. This must be done before trying to apply it to the already heavy work schedules of educators who need to experience the tool and increase their comfort level. As leaders and experts, it is incumbent upon us to provide ongoing support and commit to being thought partners to those on the front lines of bringing AI to our children.
Young Pradit: I often work with policy makers and education leaders, and the most helpful thing I do is get them to interact with the tools in the right way and connect them to what they’re actually doing right now. If only policy makers and educational leaders could understand how useful this tool could be. [achieving] If they are able to achieve their existing goals, they will be hooked and more open to talking to the AI and communicating it to all the districts and teachers responsible for supporting it.
What are the fairness and ethical considerations regarding the use of AI?
Johnson: If we want to ensure fair access, we need to be very aware that teachers need training. AI is not just a new tool. It is a change in pedagogy. Training a few times a year in the PD era is not enough. Teachers need strategic and thinking partnerships. Students need to feel empowered and have ongoing support to bring AI into their classrooms in a developmentally appropriate way.
AI can enable access like never before. The challenge we now face is to ensure that everyone has this access without widening the digital divide. As industry leaders and education leaders, we are committed to focusing on historically underrepresented communities, starting with access, and doing everything we can to empower all communities. You really have to be intentional about it.
Young Pradit: Concerns about equity go beyond the idea that the AI gap will rapidly widen in terms of internet access, devices, and even the talent available to teach students about this technology. Michael Torcano of the Brookings Institution commented: Where is the chasm we’re going to see? Some kids are taught only by AI, and some kids are taught by AI and humans, but it’s clearly much better that way..
John Srud: With the help of AI, students have many economic and career opportunities that will give them a very different future than their parents and grandparents. But if students have to learn about AI tools on their own because they don’t have access to them in the classroom, that’s an issue of fairness. AI isn’t going to take their jobs. That means someone using AI might get the job.
As AI becomes more prevalent in the learning field, how will the role of teachers evolve? Or are we overemphasizing the transformative nature of this tool?
Johnson: It’s going to be transformative, but I’d really like to take that question back to the teams that are developing this technology. When designing these technologies for schools and teachers, the focus should be on addressing the problems faced by teachers, learners, classrooms, and schools. We have a responsibility to pursue that potential to the fullest. AI cannot replace teachers. There is a lack of human connection. Teachers inspire and guide students and understand their individual needs. While AI can support, empower and transform education, it cannot recreate the human element that actually impacts students’ lives.
How can educators address concerns about students using AI to cheat?
Young Pradit: According to research results from Stanford University, The introduction of ChatGPT did not change the overall prevalence of fraud. Basically, scammers cheat. ChatGPT does not force students to cheat. Therefore, we need our students to understand that: “You’re going to graduate and get a job, but if you keep cheating, you won’t be able to perform.” One day you’ll pay the price.
John Srud: There is a lot of technology history in the classroom to learn from. When calculators were introduced into math classrooms, the fear wasn’t just that students would cheat. It was that dependence on calculators affected the development of their conceptual mathematical thinking skills. By the time they learn calculus, they may not be able to do conceptual math because they relied on a calculator. It wasn’t. Using a calculator can improve your mathematical thinking skills, but that’s not all. There was a lot of very thoughtful pedagogy around when and how to introduce calculators.
This concept of authentic evaluation has been a topic of debate for decades. This calls for assessments that go beyond multiple-choice to authentically assess what students learn, how they learn, and how they think. If a student cheats and it’s really easy for him to get an A on a grade, is that a real grade? A real grade should be difficult to cheat on. This is because students have to bring so much of themselves to it, which prevents cheating. I know it’s not always easy, but I like that AI is taking this vision of authentic assessment a little further forward.
Johnson: We have an obligation to think about making traditional challenges more interactive and problem-solving based. By making small changes to the way you assess student understanding and focusing on fostering critical and creative thinking, you can keep students engaged and engaged.
As educators, we also have an opportunity to redefine the boundaries between what cheating is and what efficiency is. If you’re waiting for ChatGPT to come back online to write emails and proposals, but you don’t want your students to use the same efficiency, you need to question your own thinking.