Schools will need help to cope with AI-generated homework – BCS

Schools are unprepared for the impact of ChatGPT on teaching and learning – but rather than banning AI they need support to harness its potential, according to research from Swindon-based BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT.

Research conducted by BCS' Computing at School network of teachers, found that 62 per cent said chatbots like ChatGPT will make it harder to mark students’ work fairly.

The majority (56 per cent) of the 124 computing teachers in the study did not think their school had a plan to manage incoming use of ChatGPT by pupils. Thirty-three per cent said the early discussions had taken place and a further 11 per cent said a plan was being formed.

ChatGPT is a large language model which can answer questions in a seemingly natural way, and is trained on a massive data set. It has been shown to be able to create passing-grade answers at university level, but it is fallible. A recent public demo by Google’s own AI service, Bard, produced a wrong answer.

Over three-quarters of computing teachers (78 per cent) rated the general awareness of the capabilities of ChatGPT among colleagues at their school or college as ‘low’ or ‘very low’.

However, 45 per cent of the computing teachers were confident ChatGPT is a tool that will improve teaching in their school, long-term. For example, helping to plan assignments and support students with research techniques.

Julia Adamson, MD for education and public benefit, at BCS said: “Assuming these generative AI programmes remain freely accessible, teenagers are going to use them to answer homework assignments - just like adults will come to rely on them at work.

“Computing teachers want their colleagues to embrace AI as a great way of improving learning in the classroom. However, they think schools will struggle to help students evaluate the answers they get from chatbots without the right technical tools and guidance.

“Calculators used to be banned from exams but are now mandatory. We need to bring machine learning into mainstream teaching practice, otherwise children will be using AI for homework unsupervised without understanding what it’s telling them.

“Another danger is that the digital divide is only going to get wider if better-off parents can pay for premium services from chatbots – and get better answers.”

The Computing at School network has published its ‘ChatGPT for Teachers’ guide, written by a computing teacher, as part of its free library of resource materials.