CAS AI Community

Hi folks! The Raspberry Pi Foundation has just released a new series of Pedagogy Quick Reads that focus on three aspects of AI in computing education.

They aim to explore an important question: What does computing education look like in the age of AI?

These short guides offer practical insights and new strategies for your classroom practice.

Find out more in today’s blog: Pedagogy Quick Reads: turning abstract ideas into classroom practice - Raspberry Pi Foundation

Exciting online webinars are coming up in the CAS online communities next week, and you won’t want to miss them!
Next Thursday, the Good Future Foundation AI Quality Mark is a framework designed to support schools’ effective and responsible AI integration while gaining recognition within and beyond the immediate community. Find out more Good Future Foundation's AI Quality Mark

BCS 2025 Competitions

This year there are 5 BCS 2025 competitions, organised by the BCS GreenIT, e-learning, Animation and Games Development SGs.
Details at Community competitions | BCS
All student entries, at all levels, including part-time students, must be entered by a member of staff at that educational establishment.

Each year there are different themes for each of these competitions.
Here you will find a list of competitions being run by our BCS SGs
BCS e-Learning specialist group -Theme: “AI for Health Improvement and Education”. - Who can take part?: Primary to Post-grad (p2p) and Open classes - Entries by: Monday 7 April 2025, World Health Day 2025 BCS e-Learning SG 2025 competition | BCS
BCS Animation and Games Development specialist group - Theme for the artifact: “The Power of Connection - Design a game where the core idea is understanding, empathy, and unity among players from different cultures and backgrounds” - Who can take part?: Primary to Post-grad (p2p) and Open classes - Entries by: Friday 9 May 2025 BCS AGD SG Artefact 2025 competition | BCS

BCS GreenIT specialist group - Theme: Our Power, Our Planet "This is why Earth Day’s theme for 2025, Our Power, Our Planet, is perhaps our most important theme ever. This year we will shine a spotlight on renewable energy — for our power, our people, and our planet.!” - Who can take part?: Primary to Post-grad (p2p) students and open classes - Entries by: Tuesday 22 April 2025 (Earth Day) - BCS e-Learning SG 2025 competition | BCS

BCS Animation and Games Development specialist group - Theme: Esports commentary competition = Who can take part?: HE and FE students only - Entries by: Friday 16 May 2025 Esports commentary competition 2025 | BCS

An example of a winning entry of one of the Power Point competitions:
The winning entry a few years ago for the idea for a computer game was a single PowerPoint titled “The Last Mermaid” showing a picture of a mermaid sitting on a rock with rubbish in the sea around her - so the picture immediately gave a clue to the subject, as did the title “The Last Mermaid”.

There were 5 bullet points that explained the idea, which were:
a simple computer game for all ages from the young to the old to compare how long different items remained in the sea (say comparing an apple core to a baby’s nappy)

a more different difficult level of the game “The Last Mermaid” was to identify how different materials could harm different types of wildlife in the sea, from eating plastic to getting trapped in plastic containers

the aim of the game which was to make everyone regardless of age more aware of the harm that we could do to the oceans and the creatures that live in it

everyone should to think about renewing or reusing items that we no longer use

Every one of the Panel of Judges independently chose this, “The Last Mermaid”
as it was relevant to the theme, with a clear simple explanation, together with suitable picture(s) relevant to the theme for that year, showing a possible useful application to help solve a problem

Although the judges are given no precise criteria, they are asked to rank the entries in their preferred order. Their comments that I received after from the judges all commented positively on those above points.

Details of these BCS competitions at
https://www.bcs.org/membership-and-registrations/member-communities/community-competitions/:

Common Sense Educations latest free AI resources:

• Our AI Literacy lessons have been transcreated for the UK (AI Literacy Lessons for Years 7-13 (UK) | Common Sense Education) and translated into Welsh on Hwb (the Welsh Dept of Education resource site).
• For educators who’d appreciate a boost of confidence and introduction to AI before delivering the AI literacy lessons there’s a new AI Foundations Course (Sign In | Common Sense Education). We’re working on getting this adapted for the UK.

Is anyone using Brisk teaching? Drop me an email if you are with your favourite tool
becci.peters@bcs.uk

Next Tuesday we’re joined by Teens in AI, where they will introduce who they are and share all the details about the Global Techathons.

In celebration of International Women’s Day, Teens in AI run annual, distributed Global Techathons inspiring students aged 12-18 to come together to collaboratively solve a real-world problem through the use of AI and Data Science for social good. This hackathon-style programme encompasses in-person and virtual events, with challenges centred around the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals.

From February to April 2025, students from around the world will come together for an inspiring tech extravaganza hosted by Teens in AI. The initiative aims to bridge the gender gap in technology by introducing AI to young talents. Support is essential to make this mission a success. Those passionate about advocating for gender diversity, making a meaningful difference in their communities, or exploring the limitless possibilities of AI are encouraged to get involved.
Sign up for the event here: Teens in AI

Good morning all,

We are excited to share the summary and materials from the recent event, “Can LLMs Reliably Mark Responses to Exam Questions?”.

The session explored the potential and challenges of using large language models (LLMs) in education, with key insights from experts in the field. You can now access the event recording, slides, and relevant resources here - Can LLMs reliably mark responses to exam questions?

We hope you find this content thought-provoking and useful in your work with AI. Feel free to share your thoughts or connect with us for further discussions.

Thanks,
CAS

Have you seen the BCS report on secondary school teachers and AI? Many of the CAS community were part of the research and we’re really grateful to everyone who took part.

If you want more information on using AI in the classroom, particularly if you’re not a computing specialist, head over to the new AI page. We’ve collated a range of useful resources, including an AI policy template you can adapt for your school.

Exciting News for the AI Community!

The recordings from our recent events are now available, along with detailed summary blogs.

You can now catch up on the Teaching Programming with LLMs session, with the blog and recording available here: Teaching programming with LLMs - CAS AI TC meeting

We also hosted a session on Using Google NotebookLM for Teaching and Learning. Find the summary and recording here: Using Google NotebookLM for Teaching and Learning - TC meeting

In addition, we introduced our new AI Adventure: Explore, Create, Innovate resource for Primary and KS3 educators, featuring sessions on KS2 AI Resource for the Non-Specialist and KS2/3 AI Resources for the Specialist Computing Teacher. Access the blog and recordings here:

We hope you find these resources valuable as you continue to explore AI in education!

I think this community may be interested in the latest episode of Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, on Ed Tech.

It’s important to have critical counter-voices to the Tech Solutionism we see arriving in Education.

Mystery AI Hype Theater 3000, Episode 45 - Billionaires, Influencers, and Ed Tech (feat. Adrienne Williams) - DAIR-Tube - also available wherever pods are cast.

You can download the MP3, feed it to NotebookLM, and get it to generate a shorter, completely synthetic podcast. - I look forward to Wednesday’s session.

What a time to be alive! (derogatory)

You can still join us for this week’s community session. This practical webinar will dive deep into how Google NotebookLM, an AI-powered assistant, can transform the way you plan, collaborate, and manage teaching materials.

We’ll Explore:
Smart Document Analysis: Simplify policy updates, curriculum reviews, and teaching material revisions with AI-powered insights.
Resource Development Made Easy: Learn how to turn your existing documents into lesson plans, study guides, and summaries.
Collaborative Planning: Enhance teamwork with shared notebooks that streamline curriculum and policy development.
Enhanced Learning Support: Use features like audio summaries to make complex topics more accessible to students.
Don’t miss this chance to unlock the potential of AI in education and make your day-to-day planning smarter, faster, and more collaborative!

Register here: Google NotebookLM: practical applications for educators and school leaders

Hi everyone,

Just a quick reminder that our Community meeting, Teaching programming with LLMs, is happening today at 4pm. There’s still time to join us!

This will be an interactive online session exploring the use of LLMs for teaching text-based programming. Specifically, we explore the use of LLMs to explain programming error messages.

Register here if you haven’t yet: Teaching programming with LLMs

Looking forward to seeing you there!

Teens in AI #IWD2025GlobalTechathon: Inspiring Tomorrow’s Innovators

We are absolutely ecstatic to announce our much anticipated 8th annual Teens in AI #IWD2025 Global Techathon. From 6 - 25 March 2025, we’ll unite cities worldwide in an epic tech extravaganza. Our mission? To close the gender gap in tech by introducing the thrilling world of AI to bright young minds aged 12 to 18.

But we can’t do it alone; WE NEED YOUR HELP! Do you champion gender diversity? Do you dream of making a positive impact in your community? Or do you have an interest in the world of AI? We’re on the lookout for Local Ambassadors like YOU, to inspire the next generation of tech innovators!

Why Join Us?

• Sharpen your organisational, leadership, and management skills
• Boost your credibility by associating with a global event promoting diversity and inclusivity, enhancing your professional portfolio
• Experience the fulfilment of promoting gender equality and diversity while aligning with the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals

Join us as a Local Ambassador and seize these incredible opportunities! Sign up now https://bit.ly/iwd2025 to lead the way in promoting a more diverse and inclusive tech generation. Deadline: 30 November 2024.

Visit Global Techathon - Teens in AI for more details

#teensinai #ai4good #iwd2025 #globalgoals #unsdgs

Congratulations to Sir Demis Hassabis CBE, Google DeepMind, on winning the Noble Prize for Chemistry. His team has recently been awarded the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for their ground breaking work on AlphaFold2, a revolutionary AI system that predicts protein structures. We’re also proud that Sir Demis Hassabis CBE accepted the BCS Lovelace Medal last year for his significant contributions to the field of AI and the UK tech sector

It’s great to see computing is a driving force at the cutting edge of scientific innovation, with the Nobel Prize for Physics awarded for work on Machine Learning!

Curious about whether AI can mark accurately and fairly? A summary and recording of our recent CAS AI Community meeting is now live!

Check it out here:
Can AI be used to mark accurately, fairly and consistently? - CAS AI TC meeting

Thanks for sharing this! The AI Highway Code from Steve Taylor and Robin Hood MAT looks like a fantastic resource. It’s great to have something that can help primary schools figure out how to use AI or check that they’re on the right track if they’re already using it. Really appreciate you posting this!

I was at an event recently, and Steve Taylor, CEO of Robin Hood MAT, was presenting. Robin Hood MAT are part of a national working party on AI, and have developed an AI Highway Code (The AI Highway Code - Google Docs) that might be useful.
They have other resources here: Free AI Resources for Schools | Robin Hood Multi Academy Trust
Note - they are a MAT of primary schools, so their exploration is on staff use of AI, not pupils.

I was at an event recently, and Steve Taylor, CEO of Robin Hood MAT, was presenting. Robin Hood MAT are part of a national working party on AI, and have developed an AI Highway Code (The AI Highway Code - Google Docs) that might be useful.
They have other resources here: Free AI Resources for Schools | Robin Hood Multi Academy Trust
Note - they are a MAT of primary schools, so their exploration is on staff use of AI, not pupils.

Happy Friday! I hope you’re all doing well! I wanted to share that the summary and recording of our recent session on Oak Academy’s Aila tool are now online. If you missed it, this is a great chance to catch up on how Aila can really support your lesson planning and help lighten your workload.

Oak Academy's AI Lesson Planning Tools - CAS AI TC meeting

Also, just a quick reminder that we have an upcoming session on Monday, 7th October at 4pm - Can AI be used to mark accurately, fairly and consistently? I’m looking forward to seeing many of you there and continuing our conversations about integrating AI into teaching practices.
If you haven’t yet, register here: Can AI be used to mark accurately, fairly and consistently?

Just a friendly reminder that our community meeting. Oak Academy’s AI Lesson Planning Tools, is taking place today at 4pm. There’s still time to register and join us for what will undoubtedly be an engaging and thought-provoking session.

If you’ve not registered yet, you can do so here: Oak Academy's AI Lesson Planning Tools

Teaching and learning computer science with rapidly evolving generative AI models

Arto Hellas & Juho Leinonen (Aalto University)

The rapidly evolving landscape of generative AI has already transformed computing education. Educators and researchers are exploring how to best integrate generative AI into their teaching. In this talk, Arto Hellas and Juho Leinonen from Aalto University, Finland, outline their experiences utilising generative AI for a wide variety of teaching tasks, such as exercise generation, responding to student help requests, as well as teaching students how to prompt large language models. Furthermore, they discuss their experiences organising an undergraduate course on software engineering with large language models, where the rapid evolution of the field presents both challenges and opportunities.

Sign up here Raspberry Pi Foundation Research Seminar
8th October 5pm BST

Morning all! We’re running a hackathon on ‘How can AI make education more effective, engaging and equitable?’ on Saturday 9th November in Liverpool. It’s open to 14-19yr olds and we’re encouraging Schools/Colleges to enter teams of 3-5 (i.e. can be any mix of coders, designers, and data-enthusiasts) - we’ll coach them through the day. Our hackathons are consistently rated 9+/10, and we give all students feedback and a certificate, so they can add something extraordinary on their CV. Tickets £25 per student which covers food and drink throughout the day, teachers come free - half-price tickets for Liverpool City Region students. Email me to enter a team on james@inversity.co or learn more here: Inversity All the very best, James

I wanted to let you know about an upcoming session, “Teaching Tomorrow’s Technology: Ethics, Bias and Digital Responsibility,” led by Professor Neil Gordon and Gillian Arnold (FBCS).

This session will cover important topics such as AI bias, the environmental impact of code, and the ethics of self-driving cars. We’ll also touch on the use of image scanners in law enforcement.

If you’re interested, please register here: Teaching Tomorrow’s Technology: Ethics

New resource alert!
We’ve just launched a new resource for teaching students aged 10-12 all about AI. You can view the resource here: Understanding what AI is and what to watch out for

@Will Berard
I asked Becky about the recording yesterday. Laura is giving the same talk at the CAS conference on the 13th July and so the recording will be sent out after the CAS conference (so people going to the talk don’t get spoilers)

Hiya,

Is there a replay to the Laura Knight talk? Teams gave me a “Recording published” message, but I don’t have the perms… is this on the youtubes yet, Becs?

Thanks,
Will

Join me on Monday at 4pm where I’ll be joined by Laura Knight who will be discussing What does excellence look like in an AI-enhanced school? Sign up here:
https://www.computingatschool.org.uk/events/2024/june/what-does-excellence-look-like-in-an-ai-enhanced-schooleur

New resource! Use this to teach students how to use AI responsibly and what to watch out for.

A date for your diaries, 11th June 5pm BST!

Veronica Cucuiat is presenting her research on teachers’ first impressions on how they will practically use LLM’s in class to support teaching programming.

Veronica shared an augmented Python IDE with enhanced error messages with teachers and they figured out the issues and opportunities.

Come and hear her findings and the importance of feedback literacy to support student use of this new type of interaction!

BCS is supporting an AI for nature conservation competition. It is aimed at GCSE, A-Level, Undergrad and Postgrads. We’re looking for volunteers who’d be interested in being a judge for the competition.
Competition details: The TAFU – BCS Award
If you’re interested in being a judge please contact Laure - laure.barker@bcs.uk

If you missed the session tonight getting hands on with AI or want to catch up here’s a summary with a link to the recording: Hands on AI masterclass - CAS AI TC meeting

I’d love to know how you’re using AI in your school. Are you using any resources to teach students what it is / how to use it? Have you or someone in your school developed something which uses AI for staff/students? Do you regularly use an AI platform (e.g. ChatGPT) and if so what do you use it for?
Please email me with anything you’d like to share - we want to turn these into blog posts / future community sessions to showcase how schools are using AI
becci.peters@bcs.uk

Join me on Wednesday at 4pm for a hands on AI masterclass from James Kuht (former CTO). With free pro tools now available from ChatGPT this is going to be a very interesting session!
https://www.computingatschool.org.uk/events/2024/may/cas-ai-hands-on-ai-masterclass-from-a-former-cto

If you missed yesterday’s session about how AI changes the skills needed for software engineers, here’s a blog post summarising it which includes a link to the recording

James is delivering another session which helps you get hands on with AI. Sign up here: Hands on AI Masterclass from a former CTO

OFSTED have published their approach to AI: Ofsted's approach to artificial intelligence (AI) - GOV.UK

I recently came across this list of free AI tools for teachers and students. I haven’t checked most of them out yet. Have you used any? AI tools for teachers and students
I also came across BLACKBOX.AI which is specifically designed for coding and development tasks. It can search the web in real-time, convert images to code, and even chat with your files.
Join this discussion on the forum: AI tools for teachers including code

Hi all, there is an online seminar tomorrow on the use of LLMs in the teaching of K-12 programming. 13/2/2024 5pm!

It’s., of course, free and I am very interested to hear what teachers think of the research that is being presented.

Can you imagine using an LLM in your classroom when teaching programming???

What issues might you expect???

Are your students using LLMs to help them with programming homework?

Join me tomorrow at 4pm where I’ll be joined by a former Chief Technical Officer when he’ll explain ‘How AI changed the skills I hired for in Software Engineers and Data Scientists… and what this means for CompSci students skills.’ How AI changes the skills needed for software engineering and data science

King’s College London are holding a Festival of Artificial Intelligence on 21-25 May. The events are free to attend (not just education focused).

Swansea university has done some research into student use of AI. The research is based on undergraduate students but I’m sure it’s not too dissimilar in schools and colleges. ‘As a large language model, apathetic students are more likely to use me’ | BPS the full research article is included in the link

Introducing…
AI Explorers – the latest resource from Barefoot, created in partnership with Ocado Group, and Code for Life!

It has been designed to introduce pupils aged between 9-11 to the world of Artificial Intelligence and to explore how it is used all around us. It contains three fun unplugged activities based around real life uses of Artificial Intelligence, and has been created in partnership with Ocado. Pupils consider how we can use Artificial Intelligence to solve problems, detect patterns and create new content.

To download ‘AI Explorers’ for your classroom today, head to the Barefoot site - New Resources

For anyone who missed the session last night about using AI for assessment, here’s the blog including links to the slides and recording: AI to enhance assessment and integrity. AI TC Meeting

Join me on Monday where I’ll be joined by 2 teachers discussing AI for assessment AI to enhance assessment and integrity

Here’s a forum post you might have missed: Hi I have been working on building a framework for teacher professional development on AI. This started as I intend to be running some CPD opportunities for staff in the coming months and as a starting point for designing how this would work I need to identify the objectives. This framework is more extensive than I plan to be able to cover as a first step but it gives me a framework to work within. I’ve put together a first draft and I’m sharing it both in the hopes others may find it helpful and also because I’d like some critical feedback on anything I might have missed out or got wrong. I’m going to continue the drafting process as I’m still not really satisfied with it and some the wording feels a bit clumsy. Any feedback that helps me refine this is very much appreciated.

https://astbury.com/files/AI-teachers-framework.pdf

If you missed the interview with PXP’s Head of AI, here it is: Interview with Andrew Lea, Head of AI at PXP

Here’s a blog post to summarise the session yesterday on using AI as a teacher: Using AI as a teacher

How are you using AI? Compare your progress to other Schools and Colleges across the UK by taking this short survey from AI In Education (ai-in-education.co.uk).
Professor Rose Luckin invites you to participate in a national benchmarking exercise to evaluate AI use in education. By completing a 10-minute self-evaluation, you’ll contribute to a report on AI literacy in UK education and receive a personalised report card and the final anonymised benchmarking publication.
Despite understanding AI’s general concepts and potential threats, many educators are unsure about safeguarding against these threats and using the technology in the classroom. There’s currently no audit of AI application in education, leading to inconsistent use.
Your feedback will help shape the public conversation around AI, ethics, regulation, and its safe use in teaching and learning. To read her letter in full, please visit the AI in Education website: How are you using AI? Compare your progress to other Schools and Colleges across the UK. | AI In Education (ai-in-education.co.uk).
Professor Luckin intends to publish this report in June of this year so please complete your self-evaluation by clicking on the link below now. EDUCATE Ventures Research partners with a number of high-profile organisations within education and government and believes piloting this initiative will help shape the public conversation around AI and safeguarding into practical action concerned with ethics, regulation, and the responsible, safe use of emerging technology for teaching and learning.

If you need to create an AI policy for your school/college (everyone should have one), here is a template to get you started. Use of AI Policy Template for schools & colleges

Thanks Isabella, threading within Discussions is something we’re exploring but not available yet I’m afraid. Will keep you posted!

Looks great Ben, I have been making one but it’s just an extremely long list at the moment and needs organising! I’ll have a proper look next week when i’m in school.
Sophie, is adding replies directly to comments on the list please as that would be useful, rather than just a stream of comments? Thanks!

I’m trying to create a crowd sourced LLM prompt guide for teachers. I’d love for any members to read over this an make suggestions for new prompts that you have found helpful and would share with others. The doc gives everyone comment access, so if you have any suggestions for new prompts or how to make the current prompts better, please comment away…I’d be forever grateful.

Also, this is a community resource, which means it’s also yours. Please feel free to make a copy or share the link with anyone in your community you think would find it useful

Here is a guide from Microsoft about creating a good prompt https://meedownloads.blob.core.windows.net/learning-experience/Prompt%20Lab/Prompt%20Lab%20Module%201%20v1.3%20260124.pdf
It’s based around using copilot and Minecraft but some of the information can be used generally for prompting AI

Hi Brian, at the moment I’m afraid notifications are only set to be on or off, the ability to change the frequency of these (and add screenshots!) is something we have on our list for the future. Please let us knoe if you have any further improvements we could make.
Thanks,
Sophie

I only see options to turn comments off not manage the frequency. I would post a screenshot but it doesn’t look like I can do that.

Hi Brian,

On the email there is a link to update preferences. You can turn it off on there.

I get an email every time someone comments in the community. Is there a way to set that to be only once a day or once a week?

Matthew Rice, use the link meet.google.com/noe-uead-nbt

I tried to enter the meeting but couldn’t. Sorry.

Hi everyone. If you’re looking to join the AI Thematic Community. Please join via this Google Meet: meet.google.com/noe-uead-nbt

This looks like a great way of getting students engaged with AI careers:

This course looks really interesting. It’s from raspberry pi and it’s free

For those who missed last night’s meeting, you can access the resources discussed here Experience AI and see the slides used here CAS AI thematic community - Google Slides and the recording here https://youtu.be/ud_6HoUTz7ghttps://youtu.be/ud_6HoUTz7g

This looks like a useful website:https://teachingwithchatgpt.org.uk

Government funding on conversation courses for postgraduate study in AI and Data Science.

Government funding programme to study a master’s in AI and Data Science.

Scholarships worth up to £10,000 depending on whether candidates meet a selected criteria.

For more information - please see the following links below:

I hope this helps any educator considering studying for a masters between April 2023 and March 2025.

Regards,

Joe

That’s really interesting Adam and sounds like a really good use of Chat-GPT. If the outcome is accuracy and reducing your workload around marking then that’s a big win! I’m curious whether or not you have tried putting in the same answer two or three times and see if the model returns consistent marking and feedback? I think the way you have used it to support you as a the expert is really cool. I’ve got slightly unfounded worries about students doing the same for their own work and the potential damage it could do if they got inaccurate feedback. My other unfounded worry which I’d love someone to research, is whether or not there could be any bias in the feedback. For example, let’s say there is hidden bias in that certain writing styles associated with a gender broadly result in lower marks, could that bias be replicated by an LLM?

That was going off on a tangent somewhat, sorry! But thanks Adam for sharing…super interesting.

I’m sure that many are doing this but I recently uploaded a 6 mark business studies question (GCSE), the mark scheme (both as images) to ChatGPT and then 24 responses from my class. I am new to teaching the subject (CS is my specialism) so was interested to see how I compared with what it output. I prompted ChatGPT to provide feedback and also award a mark out of 6 (levelled response) for all students. I let it do its thing… the feedback looked super, spot on in fact. I checked all responses and made 1 change from 3 to 4 marks. I then asked the subject leader for BS, who is also a TL for the paper the question was on, to check all the responses, my marks and feedback as it was my first time through and wanted his opinion, it took him a while. I did not tell him what I’d done. His response was that I was setting a bit of a precedent with the feedback given it was a quick question at the end of a 15 mark MCQ test. He said he agreed with my marks in all but one case. Happened to be the one I changed. He said it was definitely 3 not 4.

Whilst there are lots of tools around, this does seem like a really effective way to start to use AI for the benefit of students and also teachers as time saving. I saved an hour here easily and the quality of output was A1.

A useful looking webinar: Authentic Assessment with AI: Webinar Recording + Resources — AI for Education

Interesting collection of resources and panels around AI in Education https://www.ai-in-education.co.uk/

Keep an eye on Epsom College, 2nd conference in a year happening today (20/11 - £25 for stream attendance) AI in Education: Cut Through The Noise | Epsom College

Sorry here is the link Neural Networks in Education: Revolution, Pandora's Box or Roadblock?

This online conference looks interesting. I’ve signed up to attend Neural Networks in Education: Revolution, Pandora's Box or Roadblock?

Hi Everyone, I am new to this group and currently work at a College Teacher in Cambridge. I have been looking into ways how to use AI in Education and attended one or two previous CAS events in Cambridge that focused on AI. I have read Dean Fitzpatrick’s Book “AI in the Classroom” and found it very helpful. I am hoping to do more CPD training for my colleagues and gave a previous talk back at the start of the academic year. I would be very interested to hear about how other members have used AI in the classroom or if you have given any AI training yourselves. I think that is a very exciting time to learn about this technology and its implications. I look forward to hearing your thoughts. Thank you for reading!

Hi everyone!

ISTIP, the appropriate body under which I’m doing my ECF had a webinar with Dean Fitzpatrick, who seems to have been early out of the gate with his “AI classroom” book (The AI Classroom: The Ultimate Guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education - Google Search)

He didn’t get enough time to do his full slide deck, essentially demoing the book, but what he’s shown is impressive and immediately applicable.

Zoom replay here:

Take care,
Will

I do agree Alan and it was something I wondered about.

You effectively have to learn how to correctly ‘talk’ to your AI for it to produce something that will be helpful to you. It feels like a parallel to when we first started using search engines to find websites. Carefully considered search terms yielded better results than someone who tried an Ask Jeeves approach to finding what they wanted. As search engines have matured, they are able to better guess what we need but there is still a skill in honing what you want to search for and to use tricks to steer it to what you want.

For me I think it is important to not lose sight of what is important to learn before we try and get AI to help. I can find and filter searches more effectively because I know what to look for based on a knowledge of the subject I am investigating. I am wary of arguments that say we don’t need to learn how to program because AI can do it for us. Yes it can (to some degree), but we firstly need the base knowledge and experiences that learning to program taught us. Then we need these experiences to help us tailor what we ask the AI to produce.

Therefore I suggest there are two parts to this divide. Understanding how to talk to AI, but also having sufficient knowledge about the subject to make it more of an enlightened conversation.

Just watched this short video from Craig Barton’s podcast, where he interviews Peps McCrea (two heroes in one video, wow!) What's happening in AI right now, and what does it mean for education? - Tips for teachers
Peps suggests that LLMs like ChatGPT are as powerful as the prompts make them. This suggests that there will be a new digital divide, between those that can instruct AIs effectively, and those that cannot.

This makes me think back to programming pedagogy, but instead of programmers we now have the rise of “prompt engineers”. Are we seeing the emergence of a paradigm requiring a new notional machine here?

Just like the “program is a sequence of steps” works for the imperative programming paradigm, and a if the programmer has in mind a matching “notional machine” they become better programmers (see Du Boulay e.g. here Ben du Boulay – Notional Machines Research – Felienne's blog) - but the same notional machine would not help a programmer write functional programs, e.g. in Haskell, or OOP programs in any object-oriented language. For each of these they would need a new notional machine.

Is proficiency in prompt engineering contingent on developing a notional machine that predicts what the AI is going to do with our prompt?

This started as a shower thought, and I felt this community would be the best in which to develop it! Ideas welcome

Excellent presentation Miles. Looking forward to hearing you in person in December!
I’ve written a couple of blog posts recently on GAI, just trying to shift the thinking from GAI “cheating” being a problem for educators, onto thinking about the purpose of assessment and the positives of GAI.
(ChatGPT will change everything. No, not like that)[ChatGPT will change everything. No, not like that. – How to Teach Computer Science]
and
(Stop calling it cheating)[Stop calling it cheating. – How to Teach Computer Science]

The Government have posted an update about AI:
To harness the potential of generative AI, students will benefit from a knowledge-rich curriculum which allows them to become well-informed users of technology and understand its impact on society. Strong foundational knowledge ensures students are developing the right skills to make best use of generative AI.

The education sector needs to:

prepare students for changing workplaces
teach students how to use emerging technologies, such as generative AI, safely and appropriately
At different stages of education, this teaching may include:

the limitations, reliability, and potential bias of generative AI
how information on the internet is organised and ranked
online safety to protect against harmful or misleading content
understanding and protecting IP rights
creating and using digital content safely and responsibly
the impact of technology, including disruptive and enabling technologies
foundational knowledge about how computers work, connect with each other, follow rules and process data
The Office for AI is currently conducting research into the skills that will be needed for future workforce training.

The education system should:

support students, particularly young pupils, to identify and use appropriate resources to support their ongoing education
encourage effective use of age-appropriate resources (which, in some instances, may include generative AI)
prevent over-reliance on a limited number of tools or resources
DfE will continue to work with experts to:

consider and respond to the implications of generative AI and other emerging technologies
support primary and secondary schools to teach a knowledge-rich computing curriculum to children up to the age of 16
See more here: Generative artificial intelligence (AI) in education - GOV.UK

This event looks really useful: Webinar: Preparing children for artificial intelligence and BCS e-Learning AGM | BCS

Some useful resources from OCR here: Artificial Intelligence (AI) support - OCR

There are so many great educators I follow who share so many brilliant resources, especially around AI.

I wanted to share a list I made of some of my favourite AI tools and Chat GPT prompts for Education.

Hope you find it useful: ESIR AI tools and Prompts.pdf - Google Drive

I’ve also created a Video Course on Embracing AI in Education which I produced for Carousel Education.
It can be purchased here: https://carouseleducation.org/computing

Thanks,
James

I spent Monday in Ipswich at a Festival of Learning, supported by the NCCE Suffolk hub. It was an outstandingly good day, and a great privilege to give the opening keynote, on AI in secondary schools. My slides are online at The truth about AI - Google Slides if any here are interested.