Episode 21. AI as a Tudor.
For generations, students returning home from school were met with a question,
what did you learn in school today? For just as long, the answer has been nothing.
What was lost on all those generations is just how useful that question could be
for our learning. We know that reconstructing what we have learned helps to make it stick.
We know as well that explaining things we know to other people helps us to learn it.
Even if our explanations are incorrect, articulating our understanding can be a valuable
learning activity. If more of us had answered the question, what did you learn in school today,
then our teachers may not have been met with silence when they asked if we had any questions,
and we might remember some advanced algebra today. Who knew that those nosy adults who
were annoying their children were such brilliant learning scientists. Now, it may be too late for
those of us who are adults and some with long gray hair to benefit in school from answering the
question, what did you learn in school today? But we can still use it as a valuable learning tool,
and we can also help our students find a better use of AI than the unsatisfactory, at least to me,
having to do your homework. Some AI tools have been developed specifically for the purpose of
being a tutor. But even those that were not designed for tutoring can be useful. I've used
Generative AI tools trained on large language models to provide a chat companion to help me
explore topics of interest and the potential for this being an agent to whom our students can tell
what they learned today is clear to me. If you open your favorite Generative AI large language
model and add a prompt like, I learned about game theory today, would you like me to tell you what I
learned? Of course, you can substitute any subject that you want. You'll be met with an enthusiastic
partner who prompts you to explain what you know and to correct your errors. This seems a strategy
we can teach our students. Even if the explanations they get from AI aren't perfectly aligned with
the teacher's language and approaches, it is going to explain the material in a different way,
which we know also helps learners. You know, AI is here. It is going to be a game changer in
education, especially if we can find ways to help our students become smarter rather than just helping
our students complete assignments.