Community
26 October, 2023
AI tested on students
TRINITY Anglican School’s Kewarra Beach primary school has taken the plunge into Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the classroom.
The school is participating in a pioneering research study conducted by the University of Queensland (UQ).
With the full support of TAS’ head of primary Mary Kershaw, prep teacher Bronwyn Sarles jumped at the chance to be part of UQ’s research study testing the breadth and efficacy of OpenAI’s natural language processing tool, ChatGPT.
Mrs Kershaw said the school strived to be at the forefront of educational advancement and believed their involvement in the study would support the integration of ChatGPT into teaching practices in age-appropriate ways.
“Our teaching cohort are all on board to learn about ChatGPT and start trialling it in their teaching and learning programs,” she said.
Mrs Kershaw said, the study, which started in August and was expected to finish this month, aimed to develop, formalise, and evaluate a classification of useful AI prompts for the Australian Curriculum using ChatGPT.
Ms Sarles said that during her career, she has had to navigate the introduction of various technologies and was ready for the next wave.
“I became interested in AI technology last Christmas thanks to an introduction by my nephew,” she said. “I was so impressed by what he showed me. I started teaching before the World Wide Web when the most technology we had was an overhead projector and a television that had to be wheeled into the classroom. “Being part of this project will give me another skill set I would never have even dreamt of when I started teaching. To participate at a research level and think this could assist other teachers in schools across Queensland is very exciting,” Ms Sarles said. It is expected that the findings will be delivered by the end of 2023.
