According to a recent report, school teachers in the United States use generative AI more than students.
The trend-setter ChatGPT of OpenAI was adopted in the education sector immediately after its release in November 2022. While many people were stunned by its capabilities, several students quickly took advantage of the AI chatbot and adopted it in their academic studies.
However, there are still many unresolved concerns about the use of AI, such as ChatGPT, in students’ assignments. Generative AI is also expanding its influence in the realm of education and helping teachers complete their tasks.
Teachers overtaking student in numbers
Research by Quizlet has told a different story by showing a higher percentage of teachers using AI than students in the U.S.
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The report, which included responses from 1,000 students and 500 teachers, showed that 61% of students used AI chatbots, while 66% of teachers used the technology in their work as well.
Additionally, teachers demonstrated a more positive sentiment towards these technologies, with 50% expressing excitement or optimism about AI’s role in education, while only 39% of students sensed positivity.
“It is encouraging to see the number of teachers who are championing AI in education. Many of the teachers we speak with emphasize they are trying to best prepare their students for the future world they will be living in and see AI as an inevitable part of all of our futures,” said Quizlet CEO Lex Bayer.
The AI use cases for teachers include research (44%), generating lesson plans (38%), summarizing or synthesizing information (38%), and creating classroom materials such as tests and assignments (37%).
AI: a time-saving tool
The teachers are using generative AI, especially to complete their time-consuming lesson plan tasks. Which is allowing them to allocate more time to share with family and friends and minimizing the tiring labor.
“When I’m not spending so much time at home doing these things (creating math word problems that match his students’ interests), I’m able to spend more time with my family, my friends, and my wife so I can be my best at work instead of being tired or rundown,” says Tim Ballaret, a high school teacher in Los Angeles.
Ballaret tried MagicSchool, a tool for K–12 educators powered by OpenAI’s text generation algorithms, and remains amazed.
Moreover, generative AI is assisting teachers to write emails to parents as well.
Alex Kotran, cofounder of The AI Education Project, believes teachers are most commonly using generative AI to write emails to parents along with lesson plans.
“Now that AI is available for people to use, it’s important to show—rather than tell—educators what it looks like and how it can be used effectively,” said Kotran.
70% percent of Black and Latino teachers using AI
An earlier report reflected a much higher graph about the use of AI in education.
“Black (69%) and Latino (69%) teachers reported a higher rate of usage,” reads the survey report by the Walton Family Foundation.
Sascha H. Funk, a German professor, has emphasized the use of AI in education for tasks such as analyzing assessments, tracking growth, reducing the workforce, and encouraging feedback.
“AI can be used to analyze data from assessments and give teachers greater insight into student performance. This information can be used to improve the quality of feedback given to students and target areas that need improvement,” wrote Funk in a newsletter.
However, it remains to be seen how teachers and students come to a common point in a world full of debate and arguments regarding AI.
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