Image created by Adobe Firefly via a prompt by Kellie Billingsley

My perspective as a teacher librarian focuses on how important it is to develop students’ digital and information literacy. My role is certainly not just about running the school library; it’s equally about providing students with the skills they need to use new technology responsibly and critically. The rise of artificial intelligence (AI) among these technologies has both potential and problems for schools .

Although there are clear advantages to GAI in education, there are also major obstacles to be addressed. The ethical use of AI is a major worry, especially when it comes to confirming the trustworthiness of the generated information. Furze (2023) draws attention to the concerning feature of GAI’s ‘hallucination’ component, that is a tendency for GAI to respond with information that misleading, untruthful and downright untrue. This highlights the significance of teaching students to critically assess the content generated by AI.

During some Turnitin workshops I led earlier in the year,  I observed that even academically able Year 11 ATAR students struggled to identify the  lack of authenticity within AI-generated information during an economics essay lesson. This observation surfaced after a specific student uploaded an sample assessment to Turnitin that was completely generated by Chat GPT. He did this to experiment with whether it would be flagged as AI Content by Turnitin. When it popped up on the classroom smart board as a 100% AI reported by Turnitin, the whole bunch of students burst into laughter and surprise that it could actually detect it. It was clear at this point that these bright students were primarily preoccupied with whether Turnitin would flag any instances of plagiarism in their generated essays, rather than contemplating the accuracy and authenticity of the content itself. I

\occurred to me that many of these student may not possess the maturity or awareness required to fully grasp the ethical ramifications associated with using Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI). The question arose: Are they genuinely concerned about ethical considerations, or are they solely focused on achieving desirable grades whatever the method?

For this reason I strongly believe that teacher librarians can play a part in educating students of the value of cross-checking sources and evaluating information credibility. Additionally, I think teaching ethics is more important than ever, as these students are the future adults that will enter the workforce and ultimately shape the future direction of AI growth. In practical terms, integrating GAI into the classroom requires a collaborative effort from the whole school. My school is not there yet. Proactive engagement from senior leadership, professional development for staff, and the establishment of clear ethical guidelines and school policies are some ways forward.

For a deeper insight this is my CATWOE analysis of my school’s current position on using GAI in classrooms:

Customer: Students are the primary individuals.

Actors: As a teacher librarian (TL), I am a potential key actor in facilitating the integration of GAI. Additionally, other expert teachers could play a part in guiding students and less experienced teachers in using GAI for teaching and learning purposes.

Transformation: I can speculate that GAI has the potential to increase higher order thinking abilities. I think there is real opportunities for students to use curiosity,  creativity, innovation, decision-making, problem solving metacognitive skills, logic reasoning and critical analysis when using GAI. I just don’t think we have reached this point yet as educators. After all, teachers and teacher librarians need to become experts themselves first, before they can properly facilitate students being able to use these capabilities successfully.

Worldview: My worldview as a TL emphasises the responsibility to teach students information and digital literacy skills. This includes navigating AI technologies like GAI ethically.

Owner: Education authorities and senior leadership hold the ownership of decisions regarding the usage and implementation of GAI in schools. If school policies prohibit the use of GAI in classrooms then as the school teacher librarian I cannot go against this. Currently at my school the Head of  IT support has been able to enforce a temporary ban on teachers using Chat GPT in lessons with students. So unfortunately this means I can’t openly plan any lesson activities that will allow students to experiment with Chat GPT. I am going to request if I can use other GAI tools like Adobe Firefly but I am still in this process.

Environment: My school environment overwhelmingly impacted by data and privacy concerns, compliance with regulations,  and deep concern parental perceptions. Additionally, there’s apprehension among senior leadership and IT staff, especially regarding academic integrity and data privacy.

In conclusion, the journey toward integrating GAI in education is full of both challenges and opportunities. As teacher librarians, it’s imperative that we navigate this new territory with both caution and curiosity. I stand by the view of  teacher librarians needing to be strong and confident in the face of AI technologies (Oddone et al., 2023). I hope that given the opportunity, I will be able to become a future leader for AI use at my school.

References

Furze, L. (2023) AI Ethics. https://leonfurze.com/2023/01/26/teaching-ai-ethics/

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