How to Answer the "How Far Can I Go with AI?" Question in Schools in the AI Era - Introducing Graidients
A free AI ethics education tool created by Harvard Graduate School of Education. A framework for students and teachers to jointly define the scope of AI use. Visualized as a spectrum from "completely okay" to "over the line" Voting apps allow you to gather opinions from large groups. Currently in prototype stage, available in English only. The most troubling question in schools these days is: "Teacher, can we use ChatGPT for this assignment?" Simply saying "no" is too ubiquitous, as AI has become a commonplace feature, but saying "use whatever you want" obscures the learning objectives. How should we navigate this ambiguous gray area? Graidients, developed by a research team at the Center for Digital Thriving at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, aims to address this very issue. The name itself is intriguing: a play on words combining "gradient" and "grade." The goal is to create a tangible "gradient" in the "gray areas" of AI usage. The usage is surprisingly simple. First, choose a specific task, such as "Write a five-page essay analyzing the themes of The Great Gatsby." Then, brainstorm all the ways AI can be used for this task: grammar check, idea brainstorming, outline writing, draft generation, complete essay writing, etc. List everything without judgment. Here's the key step: placing each AI application on a spectrum. The left end is "completely okay," and the right end is "over the line." Students each place their ideas on the spectrum, compare their results, and discuss why some people think it's okay, while others don't. Finally, we reach a consensus on the specific assignment. It's important to note that this isn't a school-wide rule, but rather applies only to the specific assignment. Different assignments may have different standards. For example, AI tolerances don't necessarily have to be the same for essay assignments and math problem solving. There's also the Graidients Voter app, which can be used in large groups or remote classes. It allows you to vote in real time and view results at a glance, making it ideal for workshops and lectures. The greatest strength of this tool is that it engages students as rule-makers, not just objects of rules. Rather than simply prohibiting them with a "don't use it," it encourages them to think for themselves about why some uses are acceptable and others are not. Another major advantage is that it's free. Of course, there are limitations. It's still in the prototype stage, so its features aren't perfect. It's only available in English, so translation is necessary for immediate use in Korean classrooms. Furthermore, effective discussions depend on the teacher leading them effectively, so simply having the tool doesn't automatically make things work. Still, if you're a teacher who constantly struggles with the question, "Can we use AI?", this approach is worth exploring. It's not a tool that provides answers, but a framework that initiates a conversation to find the right answer together. Graidients Graidients
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