My thoughts, like those of so many others, have revolved around the gravitational center “AI & Education” over the past two years. AI-Literacy, Disruption, EU-AI-Act, digital sovereignty, de- and up-skilling, AI strategies etc. are thematic satellites and planets pulling me back and forth mentally.
I perceive that reflections and discussions on AI applications in education move within a universe of individual questions and far-reaching action areas, making it seemingly impossible to gain an overview. The chronically expanding contexts lead to a mix of urgency and overwhelm, placing high demands on our tolerance for ambiguity. We navigate at best by sight, and the anchor remains unfound.
From my perspective, all these questions point to educational technology as a core theme. The entanglements between technology and education, media and didactics, digitality and knowledge culture form the thematic axis that has accompanied me from e-learning, through media didactics and educational informatics, to digital education.
Yet in these areas, all discussions have shown a common direction pointing to the “big picture.” I believe that for the AI discussion too, it is necessary to reflect on this whole. It involves consistently examining the “AI & Education” discourse for its references beyond AI. It means discussing it within the framework of the education system.
Artificial intelligence, like almost all educational technology topics, acts as a magnifying glass making problems and crises in the education system more visible: certificate-fixated exam culture, reinforcement of inequality, future viability of content and methods, inadequate funding everywhere, teacher competency development, and a cooperation culture that ends where individual interests face restrictions, etc. The misdevelopments and weaknesses of the education system are well-known, but serious addressing of these issues and corresponding solutions seem out of sight even today.
Nearly 10 years ago, Lisa Rosa – facing galloping digital transformation – posed the question: “Which digital education revolution do we want?” and expanded it to: “What kind of society do we want, and how should education look under conditions of digitality?”1 This question remains relevant: In what society do we want to live? What tasks should education fulfill there? What role should AI play in this education?
There are no simple answers to these questions. But that should not stop us from asking them. Perhaps it is not the answers that can help us with orientation, but clarity about the tasks that need to be solved.
- https://shiftingschool.wordpress.com/2016/10/24/welche-digitale-bildungsrevolution-wollen-wir/ – automatic translation [↩]
