, joins this episode of Business and Society to discuss her most recent research on the use of AI in K-12 classrooms. In her research, Keppler explores how technological advancements and operational strategies can improve the effectiveness, efficiency, and impact of K-12 education. In a recent paper, Keppler and her co-authors studied how AI tools such as ChatGPT can be used in K-12 classrooms throughout the United States. In following 24 teachers over the 2023-2024 school year, involving multiple observations, interviews, and surveys, the team found that teachers who used AI for advice in addition to material creation reported feeling more productive, effective, and creative. In the episode, Keppler explores her most recent research and shares her insights on artificial intelligence, K-12 education, and more.
Using Generative AI in the Classroom
Keppler discusses the ways she sees teachers using ChatGPT — not only to produce outputs such as worksheets more efficiently but also to learn new ways of teaching material. Generative AI provides a safer avenue for exploring new ways of doing an incredibly dynamic job.
What we did find is that teachers who felt more productive with ChatGPT used it in two different ways: to ask for advice and to make materials… What we argue is that when teachers ask for advice from Generative AI, they’re trying to get it right, not just trying to get things done… Asking ChatGPT, ‘What is the best way to get my students to understand something?’ introduces to the teacher things that they might not have done originally.
While improved efficiency is certainly one thing teachers may gain from using ChatGPT, more meaningful help may come from Generative AI’s ability to help teachers find the right tasks and improve ways of doing things.
The Difficulty of Regulating AI in Education
Keppler states that AI will continue to be present in education spaces and will bring both positive and negative outcomes. One of the most pressing issues is protecting the privacy of minors. Teachers are not getting school-based training regarding this new technology, and there aren’t currently many regulations on AI in education or ways of monitoring how educators use AI, making protecting students' data privacy a very challenging problem.
Data privacy is definitely one of the biggest issues about AI use in K-12 education… I’ve heard examples of districts not wanting to work with some AI companies that did not seem to offer the protections that they expected for privacy. At the same time, education is an industry where teachers tend to do what they want. They’re cobbling together resources… So when a new tool like AI comes along, the idea that they would wait for their district to provide them with a tool and not use anything else isn’t really consistent with the way that they’ve been taught to work in the past.
Solving Specific Problems in Education with AI
To close the conversation, Keppler shares the next steps in her research in AI and education, returning to the key idea that AI is not a “blanket solution” for educators. Rather, by learning how teachers are using it and developing best practices, AI can be used as a tool to answer specific problems in education, such as the college application process, and increase consistency and cohesion among teachers at the same grade level.