Module 4.1

The methdology of Oddone et al. (2023) uses the CATWOE framework with particular emphasis on the concept of worldview. Oddone et al. explore the impact that worldview has on teacher librarians’ desire to engage with new technologies. Consider your own worldview and write a blog post reflecting on your perceptions of GAI and education. You may also like to conduct your own CATWOE analysis of your school to determine support for GAI within the school’s environment. Share your blog post via the Discussion Forum 4.1 activity.

Oddone and Gagen-Spriggs identify the two extremes of a teacher librarian’s response to generative AI (GAI): the one who sees the potential and embraces it, teaching students how to navigate it ethically and finding ways to incorporate it into teaching practices; and the one who avoids it and supports a ban (I’m paraphrasing and oversimplifying, of course!).

I fell naturally into the second camp – I say ‘naturally’ because it happened without any effort, it just aligned with my thinking on learning and the problematic nature of the world wide web etc. And my ongoing disappointment that no one teaches kids how to look up stuff in books anymore (it’s just so, so sad that that skill has vanished). I tend to see the problems, and I’m risk-averse by nature.

However, I’m also aware that technology isn’t going away, that I too use it and enjoy it (and I don’t like being a hypocrite), and that you can’t prevent students from using it – any of it. As with wanting to teach them how to research using books (not that I have an opportunity to do so), ETL523 has shown me that this is an important teaching area. So my worldview has shifted, cautiously so. It really does need to be taught, and teachers have a tendency to simply start using a technology (the internet/Google as a case in point) to replace an older technology (reference/non-fiction books) without actually teaching the ethics of it. And I think, in the context of my won school, that the TL is really the only person who is in the position to do anything about it. I can see the possibilities, and I might even be able to get the support of senior staff to offer sessions during Home Group. But I’m not sure there’s much enthusiasm for it, and I don’t know that I have the skills to make it fun/engaging/interesting.

But I do think an ethical approach to using GAI needs to be explicitly taught, so that our students have the skills to make better choices.

References

Oddone, K., Garrison, K., & Gagen-Spriggs, K. (2023) Navigating Generative AI: The teacher librarian’s role in cultivating ethical and critical practices. Journal of the Australian Library and Information Association, https://doi-org/10.1080/24750158.2023.2289093