Artificial Intelligence in education – teacher survey

Artificial Intelligence (AI), also known as Generative AI, is a machine-learning model that creates new content and ideas based on large data sets.

Output can include conversation, text, images, video and music. It can learn and mimic human speech and art and other complex subject matters. Examples include Google’s Gemini, Microsoft’s Co-pilot, OpenAI’s ChatGPT,
and Dall-e.  

AI has been making waves in education as it becomes more widespread and accessible. Now, AI tools are popping up in unexpected places, like Kahoot!. The beloved online quiz platform now offers AI generated Kahoot! quizzes based on PDF files, URLs, even Wikipedia pages.  

Read the latest print edition of School News online HERE.

AI has been marketed to education as streamlining workflow, personalising learning and more. Teachers have reported using AI to generate lesson plans and emails, and students have been caught generating essays with ChatGPT. Other uses include AI chatbots aimed at supporting student learning. AI can also be used as a study tool, summarising notes and more.  

Yet relying on AI in education isn’t without its risks and flaws. Concerns have risen around AI’s tendency to generate nonsensical, inaccurate or misleading content. AI has also been trained on data that includes biases. Questions also remain about its impacts on how we learn, and ethical issues such as privacy concerns.  

These concerns and more around AI in education have led to this year’s International Day of Education being dedicated to the topic. Globally, educators are grappling with what AI means for the sector, how to employ it, and what frameworks to establish around its use. Yet while the sector catches up, AI is already being deployed by students and educators alike.  

In New Zealand, although we have official guidelines for AI’s use in the classroom, they have been established relatively recently and research in the field is moving at pace. 

In our term two edition, School News will be writing a special report on AI in education, and we want your input. Whether you use AI regularly, or you’ve never touched it, we want to know how teachers and students are interacting with AI at school and work.  

The survey is anonymous, and only takes five minutes. We will use responses to generate a snapshot of AI in NZ education, and discuss how the situation may unfold into the future. 

Do you, your students and/or your school use generative AI? Take our anonymous survey here! Results will be used to inform our upcoming term two special report on AI in education.