Inside Education 430, Perry Share on Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Teaching (4-6-24)
Episode 313
Tuesday, June 4, 2024 • Duration 59:06
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's podcast my guest is Perry Share, who is Head of Student Success at Atlantic Technological University. Among the topics we discuss are:
The impact of taking a module with Hilary Tovey on rural sociology and a module with Brian Torode and Barbara Bradby on language, discourse and French theory.
Perry’s belief that artificial intelligence is a catalyst that helps us better understand and question contemporary practices around teaching, learning and assessment.
Artificial intelligence forces us to ask questions like "What does it mean to assess students?" "How can we teach in ways that are engaging and productive for students?"
In education, the arts and the humanities, we take text as a representation of what is in students’ heads and tend to make assumptions about the knowledge, understanding or learning held by the student. The foundation is taken out of this when we don’t know where the text comes from.
Problems are outlined with the take-home assignment, oral assessments and standard written exams but the “unsolvable” problems may constitute a productive space for educators.
The likes of ChatGPT can be used effectively in fields where you have knowledge. An area of concern in higher education is in relation to fields where people are just beginning to acquire knowledge and understanding. In addition, artificial intelligence threatens opportunities to learn on internships in professional placements.
Perhaps the role of “learned” knowledge becomes increasingly important for novices in a field whereas in recent years the importance of critical thinking has been lauded.
It is likely that resources will need to shift from activities we currently value to new – yet-to-be-determined – resources at secondary and higher education levels.
How Perry is using ChatGPT in his own work: summarising large documents; combining documents; Brainstorming; Outlining a proposed structure of a document or presentation. It has been used for computer programming and other tasks.
Data protection implications may need to be considered in relation to some uses.
In the future it may be used to grade and provide feedback for public exams.
Various kinds of data on the results would be available almost immediately.
Decline in language learning in many countries due to the dominance of English and due to the availability of translation tools.
The days of the academic essay may be numbered.
Simulations may be a future direction of assessment in professional settings but these too are not without complications.
Can we avoid interacting with artificial intelligence?
Impact on equity in education.
If students can teach themselves, where does that leave the teacher? There is a job of imagination for teachers to start thinking about how they will work alongside artificial intelligence.
The impact of artificial intelligence on what (and who) we can trust.
People Perry respects on the topic of artificial intelligence: Anna Mills, a lecturer in academic writing in the United States; Charles Knight who works for Advance HE; Maha Bali at the America University of Cairo on critical artificial intelligence (environmental, commercial and ethical impacts).
Perry's own expanding list of resources on artificial intelligence is available here.
Inside Education 429, Gene Mehigan on The Master by Bryan MacMahon (4-5-24)
Episode 312
Saturday, May 4, 2024 • Duration 49:50
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
The format of this podcast differs a bit from the usual one in that I am joined by my colleague in Marino Institute of Education, Dr. Gene Mehigan to discuss a book that influenced him on his journey as a teacher and teacher educator. The Book is The Master by Bryan MacMahon, published by Poolbeg Press in 1992. Among the topics we discuss are the following:
How a book about teaching in Rural Ireland from the 1930s to the 1970s could speak to a teacher in a DEIS band 1 school in Darndale in the 1980s and 1990s.
The consequences of poverty on children in schools.
The “stain” of large classes (and their impact on children with language difficulties in particular).
The importance of reading
How Bryan MacMahon encouraged children to collect words (red notebook) and Gene Mehigan’s variation of it (jar on teacher’s desk).
Stages in a reading lesson as outlined by Bryan MacMahon (who noted that they are not rigid and may need modern modification):
Arousal of interest (day before)
Introduction (before lesson begins to heighten interest in the text)
Examination of matter expressed in the text (Comprehension)
Examination of matter implied in the text (Comprehension)
Write difficult words on blackboard (Tier 1, 2 and 3 words today)
Teacher models reading
Children read aloud or silently
Isolate phrases for composition usage
Informed organic chat (in style of everyday conversation)
Dramatisation of the text (Reader’s theatre today)
Committal to rote “not to be scorned on special occasions”
Why a teacher needs to back down in a confrontational situation with a pupil
Characteristics of a good teacher;
Dedication
Inside Education 420, Case Study of a Life Review with Bill Damon (3-7-21)
The link between professional development and action research
The transformative power of action research for teachers
How the authors define research
How action research works in practice
Brookfield’s lenses
I have previously spoken to Máirín, Mary, Caitriona and Bernie on programmes 235 and 324,
Programme 329, Mike Vacanti on Education for Fitness & Strength (23-5-18)
Episode 152
Wednesday, May 23, 2018 • Duration 28:00
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I speak to online strength and fitness coach Mike Vacanti who runs the On the Regimen website. He also has his own YouTube Channel, which contains hundreds of vlogs and videos about health and fitness. I speak to Mike about his own physical education and about his participation in the Ultimate Sweat Challenge. Among the topics discussed are:
His own physical and health education
What would he prioritise in a physical education curriculum
What kept him motivated to continue with sport through his teen years and beyond
What would he say to a child who works hard at sport but who is never picked for the team
His thoughts on motivating people who are not interested in physical education to be more participative in the subject
How he plans videos on his website to make them educational
His role as mentor for the Ultimate Sweat endeavour
What he learned as mentor for the Ultimate Sweat
Why consistency trumps perfection
Mike referred to websites he finds helpful in the areas of nutrition, fitness and strength. They include:
Programme 328, Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot & Sociology (16-5-18)
Episode 150
Wednesday, May 16, 2018 • Duration 28:00
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney
On this week's programme I bring you my interview with Professor Sara Lawrence-Lightfoot from the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Professor Lawrence-Lightfoot has written 10 books, including The Good High School: Portraits of Character and Culture and The Essential Conversation: What Parents and Teachers Can Learn from Each Other. In the course of our interview, we discussed the following matters:
Diversity and tokenism
Why education research needs to move away from a pathological approach
An alternative approach to conducting educational research
Visibility of children in classrooms
When global atrocities make the news, how can they be handled in classrooms?
What looking at education through a sociological lens can make visible
The importance of context in social science research
Portraiture as a form of research
Her book Exit: The Endings that Set Us Free
Why truth matters more than facts
Programme 327, Jerome Kagan on Psychology & Education 2 (9-5-18)
Episode 146
Wednesday, May 9, 2018 • Duration 27:59
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I bring you the second part of my interview with someone who was listed as one of the most eminent psychologists of the twentieth century, Professor Jerome Kagan of Harvard University. In the course of this interview we discuss some of Professor Kagan's recent publications. The topics covered included:
Programme 326, Jerome Kagan on Psychology & Education 1 (2-5-18)
Episode 144
Wednesday, May 2, 2018 • Duration 28:00
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I speak to one of the pre-eminent developmental psychologists of the twentieth century who continues publishing books and articles up to the present day. Professor Jerome Kagan of Harvard University has conducted research into infants' temperaments and how they are related to personality in later life. He is interested in how psychology can inform teachers' work. Among the topics we discuss in this part of the interview are:
The relationship between temperament and personality
How knowing about temperament helps teachers
Children who find it harder to work in groups
Insights the discipline of psychology offers to teachers
Auditory and visual acuity
Short-term, recall and episodic memory
Ability to Infer
Deduction
Questions he’d like educational psychologists to answer
What teachers need to know about human emotions
Programme 325, Ciarán Sugrue on Professionalism & Research in Education (25-4-18)
Programme 324, Questions & Answers on Education (18-4-18)
Episode 138
Wednesday, April 18, 2018 • Duration 28:00
Presented and produced by Seán Delaney.
On this week's programme I am in conversation with five people asking them questions about education. I begin with Dr Pádraig Hogan, a Senior Lecturer in Maynooth University and then I speak to the authors of a new book on educational research titled Learning Communities in Educational Partnerships: Action Research as Transformation. The authors are Máirín Glenn, Mary Roche, Caitríona McDonagh and Bernie Sullivan and they coordinate Educational Action Research Ireland.
Among the books mentioned on the programme are the following:
Clear penetration in the timbre of the teacher’s speaking voice
A love of learning
Versatility of approach to a lesson
A congenial monotony (that can be departed from)
Occasional informal language
Good blackboard use and being able to sketch
Act in harmony with the traditions and culture of the school area
Bringing the extraordinary into your teaching.
The teacher’s job is to help each child find their special gift.
Bryan MacMahon: “I realised that each child had a gift, and that the ‘leading out’ of that gift was the proper goal of teaching. To me a great teacher was simply a great person teaching.”
Thoughts on a school library, access to books and encouraging children to read.
Trying to entice children to read by tidying books. Buddy reading – to help beginning or reluctant readers but also helping older children consolidate their interest it reading. Helping a teacher narrow down who in a class might have dyslexia
How Brian MacMahon practised an early version of “home-school liaison”
Contemporary resonances – children from Germany fostered by local families during World War II.
How Bryan MacMahon recruited children to look after other children who were vulnerable in some way
Resonances with Johathan Haidt’s book The Coddling of the American Mind (preparing the child for the road and not the road for the child).
How learning tables enthusiastically helped a pupil later excel as an emigrant
“A school is nothing if it is not a place of laughter and song.”
Sources of creativity in education
The importance of a teacher being a philomath.
How he went about making a personal story interesting for an audience beyond his immediate circle of family and friends
How a life review can help you find a purpose in your life
How someone not looking for a purpose can find one
His mother’s role in his life review
His definition of purpose
His memories of being taught by some of the pioneering psychologists of the twentieth century, including Erik Erikson and Jerome Kagan who was a guest on Inside Education a few years ago: Podcast 1 and Podcast 2 and who passed away in May 2021.
Why he called the book A Round of Golf with my Father when he never met his father!
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