English Catholic historian, politician and writer Lord Acton famously said “Learn as much by writing as by reading.”
There’s much wisdom in this idea.
Writing is a versatile tool for sorting through thoughts and ideas, through problems and opportunities. To put something on paper requires organizational and analytical skills that sharpen with use. In fact, I think the best way to become acquainted with a subject is to write about it.
Earlier this year, I heard an expert speak on the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in education. An oversimplified definition of AI is that it leverages computers to mimic the decision making abilities of humans.
The presenter gave several examples of how AI can be used and showed us a couple of free tools that can do some interesting things.
For example, when he asked it to explain the difference between a crocodile and an alligator, it created a narrative that detailed all the differences between these two creatures. When he asked it to rewrite that response for a grade school level or in the style of Dr. Seuss, it was able to do just that.
It was kind of a novelty to see it unfold.
He showed us how you can have a conversation as well. One example was interviewing a seventeenth century Native American about his life, what he eats and his encounters with Europeans. This fascinated me because it’s such such an unexpected way to engage students who think they don’t like history.
This is where he lost me.
He showed us how easy it is to write a prompt requesting a letter for a specific purpose. In this case, a math teacher’s letter to the parents of students letting them know what to expect from the class.
It seems so harmless, farming out a basic letter to a computer but I found it unsettling. After all, written communication teaches us something about the sender. Is their writing dry and direct? Maybe it’s flowery. Maybe they use a turn of phrase that you’ll hear from them in real life. Maybe they’re not much of a writer but that’s a message too.
Then there’s the fact that research can be done and entire papers can be plagiarized.
A tour guide for Rick Steves recently posted on social media about a poorly done AI generated guidebook that was written under the name Mike Steves. It’s selling though, thanks to well placed reviews and creative marketing.
The presenter likened using AI for writing to the early days of the personal calculator in the classroom but I’m not buying it. After all, 2+2 will always equal four. The 26 letters in the alphabet can be strung together in billions of ways in messages both creative and mundane.
Speaking of creativity – it’s good for the human mind and soul to engage in creative pursuits. Being able to express an idea in writing is both a creative pursuit and and educational one, as Lord Acton suggests.
I do understand that writing isn’t a favorite pursuit of everyone in the world. In the case of that math teacher’s letter, stereotypes tells us that math people often aren’t writing people and that writing a letter may be incredibly hard for that person. But, if we ask computers to do all the things we aren’t good at, odds are we won’t ever improve.
I already have concerns that people are losing their ability to be creative or even to entertain themselves without the benefit of television, phone or computer. Kids today aren’t given crayons and time to play outdoors. They’re given videos on an iPhone and structured schedules that keep them jumping from one activity to another.
Whether we are talking kids or adults, most of us are already short on time to be creative, to problem solve, and to just stop and think things through. Yet, humans have the ability to imagine and create incredible things. That ability is like a muscle that strengthens with use and atrophies when ignored.
Is it really asking too much to have people write their own letters and kids do their own homework?
It is a brave new world we are living in.
