School district 68, Nanaimo Ladysmith, is welcoming back students for another academic year amidst new challenges with increased cost of living, inflation, and the introduction of the artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT.
The application was first launched in November which allows the user to create conversational text-based prompts depending on the question posed.
Minister of Education and Childcare Rachna Singh says the application of AI in classrooms has a lot of potential, but also brings forward challenges because of the student’s ability to generate complete content when prompted.
“The ministry is continuing to research AI and how best to support schools and teachers as they navigate this topic,” she says. “The province has been engaging with other jurisdictions regarding AI’s potential and impacts on K-12 education.
“As we move forward, we will continue to look for ways to advance our curriculum and prepare students to be successful in the future.”
The school district says although there is no plan to integrate AI into the curriculum right now teachers are known to bring new topics/trends into the classroom although it is too soon it tell if I will be adopted.
The curriculum doesn’t specifically mention AI use, but the district says the STEM program (which is an acronym for science, technology, engineering and math) directly interlinks with AI.
Superintendent Scott Saywell says the world of education is rapidly changing not just for students, but educators, and the district needs to keep up and adapt.
“We are embracing informative transformative technologies that are changing the way we live, learn and teach,” he says. “AI is revolutionizing how we approach education, and we must be at the forefront to integrate this technology into the classroom.”
According to a KPMG survey conducted Aug. 30, approximately 52 per cent of Canadian students are currently generative AI as a tutor for schoolwork, with nearly 70 per cent saying they saw an improvement of a full letter grade on their report cards.
