Co-creation in Education

Meanwhile, AI has crept into the education system, almost like a pirate, Molenaar said. This cannot happen without consequences. The NOLAI team sees it as its mission to identify the risks and capitalize on the opportunities that AI naturally offers as well. In education, we will not only have to offer education using AI and education about AI, but also take into account the possibility that AI could disrupt education.

Some of the risks that stand out include a restriction of students’ autonomy and freedom, privacy violations, a restriction of teachers’ professional autonomy, and an impact on the pedagogical relationship between teachers and students. And, perhaps the greatest risk of all, is that educational institutions and teachers will lose control over the education process. However, if AI is used properly, it can also offer significant benefits, such as increasing digital literacy, boosting student motivation, and improving learning outcomes.

By facilitating dialogue between Education, research, and entrepreneurs, NOLAI aims to help develop digital, intelligent educational innovations that will benefit both students and teachers. “In short, there’s work to be done,” said Molenaar. The institute believes it can develop new concepts in collaboration with the Education sector, the research community, and entrepreneurs—concepts that will truly advance education. To achieve this, however, a well-developed step-by-step plan must be followed.

1. Defining the Question: What Do We Want to Achieve?
2. Prioritizing and Selection: Choosing the Most Promising Initiatives
3. Concept Development
4. Developing Prototypes
5. Validation in Practice

Molenaar emphasizes the importance of five focus areas, which are crucial for Education in its approach to AI.

1. Pedagogical and Didactic Principles
2. Teacher Professional Development
3. Technical AI in Education
4. Data and Infrastructure
5. Embedded Ethics

Molenaar knows that these are also the issues educational institutions face in their day-to-day work. NOLAI has a number of “teachers in residence” in the Netherlands—teachers who work at NOLAI one or two days a week but continue to teach the rest of the week, thereby strengthening the connection with the Education sector.

Based on NOLAI’s experience to date, it has become clear that AI has a major impact on both the educational perspective and the behavioral perspective. And that calls for a very deliberate approach to its possibilities, according to Molenaars.

Predicting School Performance

The perspective outlined by Inge Molenaar was supported by two other presentations, one by Serge de Beer—who has been a specialist in the use of audiovisual aids in Education for 25 years—and the other by Pierre Gorissen, associate lecturer in learning with ICT at HAN University of Applied Sciences. For example, using a few relatively simple algorithms he developed himself, De Beer has succeeded in creating a tool that allows him to predict school grades with an accuracy of up to 0.2 points. Based on grades from a student’s first year of high school, he can predict how that student will perform on a test in any subject during their third year. Setting aside the question of whether it’s even permitted under privacy laws to enter anonymized student results into an American chatbot, this also raises questions about the entire school system: if it’s so easy to determine learning outcomes, are tests even necessary anymore?

What De Beer emphasized most to his audience, however, was that using AI yourself is much easier than many people think. “If you start using it yourself, you’ll understand what AI is all about much better and get a handle on it. If you just buy AI tools from a vendor, it’s still kind of a black box. And that’s a much riskier situation.” His call to action: get started tomorrow.

Gorissen issued a similar warning. “AI is making its way into schools, so teachers need to learn how to deal with it. Certainly not just because of the fraud committed with it in the early stages, but because it raises the question of who is in the driver’s seat in Education.” In his view, educational institutions will need to focus on developing the necessary competencies to enable teachers to continue to act professionally and effectively. After all, it is still the teachers who must guide their students and pupils now that AI has become a reality.