The Challenge of “Khanmigo” and AI in the Classroom
Leveraging artificial intelligence to benefit students without marginalizing the classroom teacher.
A survey of educational headlines over the past few months shows a fearful disdain of the potential evils that AI-based language models such as Chat GPT pose to schools the world over. The ability of teachers to ensure authenticity and originality of student work has been challenged like never before with these new tools entering the mainstream. With these colossal advances in artificial intelligence technology happening at a stunningly rapid pace, the traditionally slow moving world of education has to grapple with the implications of this new normal.
As some districts including New York City have issued bans on Chat GPT in their schools, there remains the opposing cry from more progressive wings of the educational landscape advocating for schools and systems encouraging and teaching students how to appropriately use these powerful tools. In his TEDtalk released this week, Sal Khan (founder and CEO of Khan Academy) laid out the potential answer to the question about what to do with AI in the classroom.
he interfacing of students with chatbots is a troubling proposition, but in the demo performed by Khan in the video above, the utilization of GPT-4 technology through a chatbot designed with the intention of being a “supertutor” for every student should give parents a sense of comfort. In dealing with a student-centered platform that is familiar to millions of children around the world with a track record of quality educational experiences, educators as well should breathe a little easier than the proposition of students interacting with the the more “unleashed” Chat GPT.
The genius behind “Khanmigo” as they call the tool, is that it not only lets students know whether or not they got an answer correct (or just provide the right answer). It is that the tool truly works as a great tutor or teacher would — taking the student input and using that data to identify gaps in understanding that may have lead to the incorrect answer or assumption in a Socratic way. The further displayed tools such as AI-driven “conversations” with historical or literary figures delivers a way to engage students with these figures without requiring an ambitious teacher to act it out, show a generic video, or countless other things educators do to hook their students in Language Arts or Social Studies. The individualization that has been the calling card for Khan Academy for over a decade shows tremendous new promise with this AI-driven tool for students. Clearly, if used appropriately this AI “tutor” could significantly impact outcomes for individual student learning.
Khan’s presentation threw a very brief acknowledgement of the potential positive impact that this new technology holds for teachers as well. Through Khanmigo’s Teacher-Mode, educators will be able to derive lesson plans, be taught the background on provided prompts and problems, and in turn maximize their time in their interactions with their students. This time-saving tool at first sounds like an assist to teachers strapped for time amidst ever growing expectations added to their plate. And while the potential utility for teachers is clear, it adds to a growing fear and sentiment in education that the teacher in the room in fact may be expendable.
Since the spring of 2020 as teachers went home and lead their students virtually, the potential impact of technology on the teaching force has been a looming topic. As students around the country returned to classrooms that were oftentimes being lead by substitutes or under-qualified or novice teachers, questions continued to rise about the efficacy of what schools could provide for our students. Without the unlikely event that teacher pay and societal respect see a dramatic change, the teacher shortage in this country is projected to only worsen in the years to come.
And so with each new development such as Khanmigo, which promises an individual “super tutor” for every child, the fear of marginalization of the teaching profession worsens. Khan is no stranger to this, as any educator recalls when Khan Academy launched and took the education world by storm — helping put into the mainstream a flipped classroom model.
However with Khanmigo, kids aren’t just watching Sal Khan on a virtual whiteboard teaching one approach to a problem. They are being delivered with AI generated teaching that helps them to understand misconceptions and find new learning on problems. It is helping them formulate writing pieces and even co-creating literary work with younger students — a strategy teachers often use with struggling writers.
With the teacher shortage crisis looming, innovative AI-powered tools like Khanmigo can provide individualized and potentially high quality support for students both in teacher and substitute lead classrooms. As was needed during the launch and incredible growth of Khan Academy over a decade ago — balanced and incremental incorporation of these powerful tools into classrooms are necessary in order to strike the proper balance between banning powerful technology and completely removing the instructional role of the teacher in the room.
By honing in on and striking this balance, we can ensure access to powerful technological support in order to individualize instruction for students, while at the same time avoiding the potential degradation of the importance of the interpersonal relationships, interactions, and instruction that classroom teachers provide.