To Chat or not to Chat (Chat GPT) - RP Devgan

The debate over the use and effect of Artificial intelligence (AI) rages on.I am reminded of my school days when the hot essay topic used to be"Science is a good servant but a bad master".

Before AI we have had the use of technology in Schools in India.In many cases Schools have gone overboard in its use and introduced Computers right from class 1 for 6 years old compared to 140 Waldorf Schools in the USA that do not allow the use of any gadget in their Schools till class 7.In many ways this technology has had an adverse effect on children.

AI Chat GPT was introduced in 2022 with very low investment but today OpenAI, Anthropic, Elon Musk's xAI and Facebook's Zuckerberg have invested billions and billions of dollars in AI.

President Trump on his second day in office invited Sam Altman of Open AI and unveiled an AI data center project Stargate of 500 million dollars to stay ahead of China's Deepseek.

Anthropic with Dario Amidei as CEO and Elon Musk's xAI are collectively valued at 500 billion dollars today.The stakes are high and sceptics who have smaller pockets feel that none should have the power to impose their views on the world but have little choice.

Today millions and millions of people are using Chat GPT.

What are going to be its effects? Creativity in many ways will be a victim.Critics of AI already call it a "Plagiarising Machine". It appears that the common man will suffer as it will cause environmental degradation and joblessness.

Environment degradation because the training cutting edge models cost billions of dollars and require enormous amount of water and electricity.

As it happens all new technologies have their pros and cons as does AI. Eventually it is the user who will have to be wary.

Only time will tell whether AI will live up to its promises.

Rajinder Pal Devgan (RP)

Chairman Learning Forward India, is an experienced educationist with over five decades of experience as a school leader in India and abroad.

The trails of adventure in Schools- Neetu Koranga

Recently, I had a golden chance to represent My Good School while attending the Heritage Xperiential School Conclave 2023 alongside some of the most extraordinary and progressive educators. The conclave included five fantabulous workshops on experiential learning that have made the school what it claims to be. 

Educators attended the workshop on Project-based Learning, The Human Framework, Heritage Literacy Framework, Design Thinking and Maker Engineering and Continuous School Improvement Ecosystem (It was no surprise that the school also focuses on the quality teacher training program). The conclave also raised some serious questions like: “When is learning relevant?” or “What is learning with purpose?” 

At present, schools are failing to interact and build relationships with parents and other stakeholders. Heritage Xperiential School is setting an example for other schools by involving teachers, parents and volunteers in the joy of learning. It has created a flawless framework which works well with the learning community.

Here are some of the highlights from the conclave on Learning: 

• Project-based Learning: The school propagates and practices Project-based Learning. In Project-based Learning, the student works according to the objective of the instruction. They explore, ideate, create, and participate in the field and with the help of projects.

• Deep Reading: The school promotes Deep Reading. It strictly acknowledges that reading is more than just comprehension and decoding the text. It’s about analysing, building points of view, having perspective, and critical reading. Pam Allyn’s quote beautifully describes their motto- ‘Reading is breathing in; writing is breathing out’.

• Community Engagement: The school works with parents, volunteers and other stakeholders to provide relevant knowledge to the students. It believes in “Public Collaboration of Learning” and “Engaging with the community"; doing so, it dodges the elements of “Purposeless Learning”. 

• Design Thinking: The school also heavily focuses on providing students with a “Problem-solving” or “Creator mindset” with the help of an integral “Design Thinking” curriculum.

• Happy Teachers: The school focuses on improving teachers' skills and well-being, preparing them to work with data and modern technologies like AI to enhance, support, and assess student performance.

Imagine going to school and not following the textbooks but the trails of adventure. India has a long way to go before providing quality education and passionate teachers to schools. However, a few progressive schools and organizations, such as My Good School, have maintained hope for the future of education.

Neetu Koranga @My Good School