Table of contents for Vol 59 No 2 2024 in Agora

The advent of pocket calculators in the 1970s created a crisis in mathematics teaching. A 1974 Washington Post article captured the divergent responses of educators, quoting one professor of mathematics who argued that ‘it would be better if students had brains in their heads before they put them in their pockets,’ while another rejected this with the claim, ‘If you have to ban calculators to teach a mathematics class, then what you’re teaching is trivial.’1 In the same way, educators have been divided by the emergence of ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence tools. Powered by large language models, these AI chatbots automate the process of locating, interpreting and writing about information. Among educators, sceptics have decried the death of academic integrity, prophets have proselytised about new learning opportunities, and doom-sayers…

It’s been quite an introduction to AI in the past 18 months. Since the launch of ChatGPT by OpenAI, people around the world have been interacting with a vast range of AI tools. The millions of users of these tools have a range of purposes: some are creating recipes or travel itineraries, while some are completely automating their workflows and finding new ways to learn and work. Some have even left Google search completely and now chat with an AI ‘bot’ to find the information they need. It’s clear we’re living through a moment of major change in work, society and education, yet many educators consider AI technologies with justified scepticism. We’ve seen many edtech promises in the past. We’ve seen many fail to deliver. So what, exactly, is the…

Throughout history, technological advancements have often been met with wild enthusiasm for the revolution they may bring or caution and suspicion of change. AI is no different for today’s educators.1 The Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools recognises that AI has quickly established itself in the educational landscape, and therefore requires guiding principles for its use.2 One of these guiding principles is to ensure equity and fairness of use. This is of particular interest to us at Dandenong High School, where more than eighty languages are represented in our student and staff profile. Many of our students bring with them diverse experiences as refugees and new migrants, as well as generations of families who have strong connections to the local area. A significant proportion of our students are…

As History teachers, we need to come to grips with the reality that the essay as a homework task is dead and should be decommissioned. Love it or loathe it, with the introduction of generative AI, such as ChatGPT, there is simply too much noise being generated by these chatbots that can significantly spoil a teacher’s ability to hear the genuine voice and thinking of their students while assessing a historical essay. When completed in unsupervised settings, an essay can no longer be used to validly measure an individual’s ability to demonstrate knowledge and understanding of a topic or their ability to critically analyse and evaluate it. There has always been noise when sending assessment tasks home—too much assistance from parents, siblings, tutors, contract cheaters, or simply from being reliant…

History gives answers only to those who know how to ask questions.1 A well-known principle underpinning the use of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in the classroom is that a GAI application’s output is only as good as the prompt entered into it. ‘Prompt engineering’ refers to the art of carefully crafting specific prompts that allow you to create outputs from AI that enable customised, engaging and effective learning experiences that meet the unique needs of each student. Prompt engineering can involve the process of crafting questions, scenarios or tasks designed to elicit specific responses or outputs from an AI platform. In the History classroom, prompt engineering can facilitate discussions, stimulate creativity and enhance learning outcomes by generating tailored content, analyses and perspectives. Guidelines for Prompt Engineering Prompt engineering requires a…

Social media and website users are becoming exposed to more images generated by artificial intelligence (AI) than ever before. For instance, LinkedIn and Canva are using AI to embed further features for their customers;1 MyHeritage’s ‘AI Time Machine’ allows users to recreate themselves as different historical figures throughout time;2 and the DALL-E image generator creates images depicting historical events with varying accuracy.3 Other concerns about AI-generated images include copyright breaches and the creation of ‘disinformation’.4 The use of AI is not going to slow down, so it is important that educators are aware of what students can access on the internet. What they see on the internet directly influences their world view, and understanding their context helps us teach them. In particular, the growing spread of misinformation on social media,…

I don’t think much of a man who is not wiser today than he was yesterday. — Abraham Lincoln Thanks to extraordinary advancements in science and technology, today everyone has access to seemingly endless amounts of ‘human’ knowledge. This knowledge revolution started thousands of years ago when humans first began to write. It shifted gears in the fifteenth century with the invention of the printing press, which for the first time allowed for the widespread circulation of knowledge. This process of one voice speaking to many accelerated exponentially in the mid- to late-twentieth century with the arrival of computers, digitalisation and the internet. Today, however, the public launch of generative AI marks an entirely new phase in the knowledge revolution where the very concept of knowledge—its authorship, ownership and ultimately…

While educators strive to identify what students should be learning and how to assess their growth, AI presents new obstacles and opportunities for designing, implementing and evaluating student learning of History. Take a moment to consider the use of AI in your classroom. • Do you feel sufficiently up-to-date with generative AI to use it in the classroom? • Have you had conversations with your students about their use of AI, including concerns about violating academic integrity or losing ownership of their work? • How practised do you think your students are in using AI technologies? • What is the level of AI proficiency you can build on when integrating AI in your classroom? • How important do your students think AI literacy is, and how do they envision using…

The impacts of generative artificial intelligence (GAI) in education are becoming an increasingly important topic, with educators grappling with this on a global scale.1 GAI is not a neutral technology—it excludes Indigenous voices, including in its design and regulation.2 It discriminates by reproducing the society in which it is developed, including biases, stereotypes and threats to Indigenous cultural and intellectual property.3 If the corpus of knowledge upon which GAI draws is reinforcing colonial and western perspectives, it too will regurgitate and reinforce these ideas, including social biases and racism.4 Indigenous peoples have historically been and continue to be overwhelmingly targeted by structural and strategic misinformation. GAI learns from and draws its information from data, but the data on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is often highly problematic and inaccurate.…

There are a couple of sayings in the AI space. The first is, ‘This is as bad as it’s ever going to get.’ Anything that is only just out of reach now will probably be commonplace in the near future. A lot of what you read here will be out of date soon enough, so I’d recommend subscribing to YouTube channels like Futurepedia.1 Another saying is, ‘You won’t lose your job to AI, but you might lose it to someone using AI.’ When IBM’s supercomputer Deep Blue beat Gary Kasparov at chess in 1996–97, we thought it was all over for human chess players, yet a human and an AI together can still beat an AI alone. The multiverse of possibility from generative AI landed on our doorsteps about a…

Early last year I stumbled across ChatGPT and was absolutely blown away by the possibilities and opportunities that this technology offers teachers. Since then I have explored and integrated a range of generative AI tools into my teaching practice with remarkable results, specifically in regard to reducing my workload demands. In this article I will discuss how I have used generative AI tools to plan units and lessons with differentiation for the diverse needs of students in my classroom. I will also explore how these tools have helped to reduce my administrative workload. Lesson Planning Almanack is a revolutionary tool that has transformed the way teachers create resources aligned with specific curricula.1 When generating a unit plan, Almanack provides a user-friendly interface with a drop-down box containing a range of…

Upon arrival in Ballarat, colonial settlers found themselves in a lush, fertile valley surrounding the waterways now recognised as the Yarrowee River and its tributaries. This verdant landscape was no accident—for countless millennia, the Wadawurrung people had established their homes in harmony with the land and had worked to ensure that the resting place, for which ‘Ballaarat’ was named, was a place of balance with the environment. The Yarrowee River, referred to as Yaramlok and Narmbool by the Wadawurrung, held profound historical significance for these Indigenous custodians. It was more than just a watercourse; it symbolised the essence of their connection to the land. The river system was the lifeblood of the region, serving as a vital hub for daily activities such as fishing, agriculture and gathering food. Its importance…

Like many early adopters, in 2023 I was drawn to using generative artificial intelligence (GAI) for the teaching of History as a technological tool. I reflected greatly on this use of artificial intelligence within my classes. In September 2023, the NSW History Teachers’ Association published an article in which I reflected on many of the ideas that I had presented at their state conference earlier in the year.1 The article reminded History teachers of their ‘unique opportunity to help enrich the critical thinking, creativity, student voice, and sense of ethics that young people will need to participate in their world as informed citizens’. It urged History teachers to provide guidance for students as they interact with digital technologies, including GAI. Perhaps this urging was based upon the flawed assumption that…

With the rapid trajectory of generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI), it feels as though we are standing on the precipice of a new era in education. GAI will be most powerful when its use by teachers is guided by the principles of ‘transparency, fairness and accountability’ outlined in the Australian Framework for Generative Artificial Intelligence in Schools.1 Additionally, Principle 8 of the Victorian Teaching and Learning Model calls on all teachers to ‘model and facilitate digital tool use [such as GAI] to access, use and share learning’.2 Reducing Teacher Administrative Loads As teachers, we often find that the administrative demands of our work erode the time we have for big-picture planning and the careful creation of high-quality resources for our students. GAI can help teachers to lighten some of this burden,…

Early last year, the initial excitement surrounding the release of ChatGPT was tempered by concerns about what it was going to mean for academic endeavours. It was feared that the ability of the software to instantly synthesise any form of writing was going to devalue written expression and lead to epic cheating among students. Handwriting is the natural antidote for nearly all schools, but at Virtual School Victoria, where I teach VCE History, handwriting is reserved for SACs. It only took a few months for artificially generated work to begin turning up. These pieces were, on the whole, easy to spot as they stood out from earlier work and had a distinct flavour. This may not remain the case for future software iterations. If students increasingly lean on this technology…

In the ever-evolving world of education, generative AI stands at the forefront of innovation, offering high school History teachers an array of tools to enrich learning experiences. AI is both the smartest it’s ever been and the dumbest it will be—it will only become more useful and effective. At this point it cannot create new content, it simply provides the most likely response to your question from its data sets. Since its availability to the public in November 2022, it has rapidly developed and exploded into many AI tools. This article will focus on three aspects to support the role of History teachers: • the requirement for well-written prompts, and how that is achieved and minimises AI hallucinations • the opportunity to develop custom GPT to suit both our needs…

The introduction of artificial intelligence (AI) presents an innovative approach to teaching Victoria’s History curriculum, offering a dynamic pathway to enrich student learning experiences. At least, that’s how ChatGPT sees it. I set up an AI version of myself and asked her about the benefits of using AI in History lessons.1 She responded: We can use artificial intelligence to create realistic characters based on real people from a past society. These characters can provide valuable perspectives on various aspects such as social classes, gender roles and cultural practices. Through interactions with these characters, students can gain a better understanding of the diversity and complexity within that society. It can be a powerful way for them to connect with the past and develop empathy for different individuals and their experiences. What…