Teaching creativity and creative thinking in K-12 has always been valued, but its implementation is often challenging. Many standards and curricula do not explicitly mention creativity, and teachers are often not trained in how to teach and assess creative thinking. As such, many students enter college and the workforce without having enough practice in the key critical thinking skills they need to be innovative problem solvers and effective communicators.
The last two years have seen a notable increase in the use of artificial intelligence in education, marked by Greater investment, implementation and integration in various educational practices.. This rise has fueled increasing exploration of ai's potential to more easily bring creativity into the classroom, exemplified by the emergence of ai-powered tools capable of generating text, images, music and videos without the need for coding. However, amid this advancement, some educators new to teaching creative thinking wonder whether creative ai will enable or replace students' creative thinking.
Recently, EdSurge webinar host Carl Hooker spoke with ai” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>experts in the field on opportunities and challenges to foster creativity in the ai-enhanced classroom, define creative thinking beyond traditional artistic pursuits, address ethical and equity considerations, reinvent the role of teachers in the ai-enhanced classroom, and support students to get jobs and careers that depend on creativity and ai skills. Webinar Panelists Stacie Johnsonprofessional development leader at Khan Academy, Pat Young Praditacademic director of Code.org and leader of Teach aiand Brian Johnsrudglobal director of learning and education promotion in Adobeeach offered unique and valuable perspectives on the intersection of ai and creativity.
EdSurge: Some people feel that being creative means being artistic and therefore claim that they are “not creative.” How would you respond to that?
Johnsrud: The World Economic Forum reported last year that Creative thinking is the number one skill needed across all industries globally in the next five years.. By creative thinking they do not mean that they need people who know how to draw and paint well. Instead, creative thinking is the ability to create and innovate something that has value. What that skill looks like is generating many different ideas, evaluating them, designing and iterating them, getting feedback, collaborating, and sharing ideas effectively. That process from start to finish is creative thinking.
How can we help educators overcome the fear of the unknown when it comes to ai?
Johnson: This is a new phenomenon, so we have to recognize the emotions and feelings that arise from that (fear). One thing we can do to support teachers is to make ai practically accessible to educators (by making it as easy as) asking what's for dinner tonight or how can I plan my vacation. We need to do this before trying to apply it to the already overloaded and busy work schedule of educators, who need to experience the tool and increase their comfort. It is up to us, as leaders and professionals, to commit to providing ongoing support and being a thought partner to the people on the front lines bringing ai to children.
Jovenpradit: I often engage with policymakers and educational leaders, and I would say the most helpful thing is to get them to interact with the tools in a relevant way, connecting to something they're actually working on right now. If policymakers and educational leaders can see how valuable the tools can be in (achieving) their existing goals, then they will be hooked and more open to having conversations about ai and conveying that support to all the school districts and teachers they serve. .
ai” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>Watch the full on-demand webinar “Unlocking the Power of Creativity and ai: Preparing Students for the Workforce of the Future” now.
What are the ethical and equity considerations when it comes to the use of ai?
Johnson: If we want to ensure equitable access, I want to emphasize that teachers need training. ai is not just a new tool; It is a change in pedagogy. Training a couple of times a year during these PD days is not enough. Teachers need thinking strategies and associations. They need to feel empowered and have ongoing support to bring ai into the classroom in the most developmentally appropriate way and best for their students.
ai can provide access in a way we have never had before. The challenge we face right now is to ensure that this access reaches everyone without widening the digital divide. As industry leaders and educational leaders, we have to be really intentional about focusing on historically underrepresented communities and doing everything we can to ensure that access starts there and that we are empowering all communities.
Jovenpradit: The equity concern is more than the idea of a growing gap in ai in terms of internet access, devices, and even people who can teach students about this technology. Michael Trucano of the Brookings Institution commented that the division we will see is where ai-and-the-next-digital-divide-in-education/” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>Some children are taught with ai alone, and other children are taught with ai plus a human, which is obviously much better..
Johnsrud: There are many economic and professional opportunities for students to have a very different future than their parents or grandparents, if they have the help of ai. But if students have to learn about ai tools on their own because they don't have access to them in the classroom, that's an equity concern. It's not that ai takes their jobs; is that someone using ai could get that job.
How will the role of a teacher evolve as ai becomes more prevalent in learning? Or are we overstating the transformative nature of this tool?
Johnson: It will be transformative, but I would actually put that question back to the teams developing this technology. When designing these technologies for schools and teachers, we must focus on addressing the problems faced by the teacher, the student, the classroom, and the school. We have a responsibility to truly explore it to its fullest potential. ai cannot replace teachers; It lacks human connection. Teachers inspire, mentor and understand the unique individual needs of students. ai can help and enhance teaching, which will be transformative, but it cannot replicate those human elements that truly impact students' lives.
How can educators address the concern that students are using ai to cheat?
Jovenpradit: There is research from Stanford that found that ai-chatbots-really-mean-students-and-cheating?print=all” target=”_blank” rel=”noopener nofollow”>overall cheating prevalence remained the same with the introduction of ChatGPT. Basically, a cheater is going to cheat; ChatGPT does not pressure students to cheat. So, we need students to understand: Hey, you're going to graduate and get a job, and you won't be able to perform if you keep cheating; You're going to pay the price at some point.
Johnsrud: We have a lot of technology history in the classroom that we can learn from. The fear when calculators were introduced into the math classroom was not just that students would cheat; was that dependence on calculators was going to affect the development of their conceptual mathematical thinking skills; When they got to calculus, they might not be able to do conceptual math because they depended on calculators. That was not the case. Using calculators increased mathematical thinking skills, but not just by themselves; There was a lot of very thoughtful pedagogy about when and how to introduce calculators.
For decades, this notion of authentic assessment has been on the table: this push to move beyond multiple choice with assessments that authentically assess what a student learns, how they learn, and how they think. If it's really easy for your students to cheat and get an A on their assessment, is that an authentic assessment? It should be difficult to cheat on an authentic assessment because the student has to contribute so much of themselves that it is cheat-proof. I know it's not always easy to do, but I like that ai is pushing this vision of authentic assessments a little bit.
Johnson: We have an obligation to think about transforming traditional tasks into something more interactive and based on problem solving. We can make small changes to the way we assess student understanding and emphasize encouraging critical and creative thinking so that students are deeply engaged and working through the iteration.
We also have the opportunity as educators to redefine the line between what is cheating and what is efficiency. When we find ourselves waiting for ChatGPT to come back online to write an email or proposal, but we don't want our students to use the same kind of efficiency, we need to challenge our own thinking.
