As always a lot has happened in less than a week. The pace is fast, yet we still lack a firm handle on things. As I was working with groups of teachers in Malaysia, the United States, and Argentina over these past few weeks it has become clear that teachers want to be creative in their use of AI — but more than that they want to be responsible.
Top of Mind This Week: Questions teachers are asking about AI
- “What happens to all this data that I am putting in?”
- “If I have a resource that I have created and I upload it into a free account, does that mean I just gave away my personal work?”
- “How do I use this in front of or with my students? Is that something I should be doing or what questions do I need ask before I do?”
When teachers have these questions, where do they go for answers? A strawpoll of teachers showed that in an interesting twist they are starting to ask AI for answers to questions they have about AI.
One of my collaborators is working with Semrush, providing advisory services on their new-to-market AI tools — as we learn more about how AI is generating questions from web-based content and bypassing traditional web-searches we might be able to better support our teachers in finding high quality answers to these really important questions.
As with basic internet searches, there’s a science to how AI summaries are generated. It may be time for teachers and students to understand what that means for the information they consume.
AI and Education Updates from Africa: Google Cloud hits Johannesburg and the AI Empowered Summit in Cape Town adding to the AI conversation for educators.
The new Google Cloud region is now open in Johannesburg and is now available for businesses across the continent. This adds to Google’s global footprint of 40 cloud regions and 121 zones, enhancing accessibility for users in over 200 countries and territories. This move helps to expand training programs like Cloud OnBoard, Cloud Hero, and Google Hustle Academy. With Johannesburg online as a productive cloud region, educational institutions now gain access to robust infrastructure for deploying AI-enabled learning tools, real-time analytics, and ed-tech platforms — all with higher speed and compliance assurance. We’ll see what this means for local innovation, especially in the educaiton sector. Read the announcement at https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/heita-south-africa-new-cloud-region
AI Empowered Summit in Cape Town was held in the last few weeks and it has been great to follow along with AI Empowered SA. This event was focused on the role of AI in shaping the future of the Western Cape, and how technology and innovation can help build a more resilient, inclusive, and future-ready community. Shirley Eadie summarized it best, noting:
- “The good news is that innovative new school models are emerging, blending the best of humans and AI, and showing what affordable, quality education can look like”
- “Perhaps our hardest challenge: creating enabling environments that get the best out of humans and AI.”
- And my personal favorite, “If teachers learn to use AI wisely, they’ll spend less time on admin and more time doing what brought them into teaching in the first place: connecting with children and supporting their learning in a truly human way.”
AI and Education Updates from the United States: A few calls to action, including understanding how much water Gemini uses, plus a new report on the use of AI by university students.
How much energy does Google’s AI use? Google did the math. This week Google introduced a comprehensive methodology to assess the environmental impact of AI inference. In this new report from Google, per text prompt for Gemini AI weighs in at approximately 0.24 watt-hours of energy, 0.03 grams CO₂e, and 0.26 milliliters of water — comparable to watching under nine seconds of television and consuming about five drops of water. Importantly, Google’s methodology sets a benchmark for how to measure AI inference impact more accurately, moving industry standards forward. Read more at https://cloud.google.com/blog/products/infrastructure/measuring-the-environmental-impact-of-ai-inference
A national survey revealed that half of respondents believe learning how to use AI is the most important skill they’ll gain in college, while 62% view using AI responsibly as essential for career success., though institutional policies remain inconsistent. Commissioned by Grammarly about 2,000 higher education students were surveyed. About 87% of students use it for schoolwork, and 90% for general tasks. Yet, 55% report insufficient guidance, and 46% fear potential penalties for misuse.
The top five ways students are reporting using AI included:
- Helping me brainstorm ideas — 49%
- Spelling and grammar — 42%
- Understanding difficult concepts from my classes — 41%
- Understanding difficult concepts outside of school (taxes, finances, travel, etc.) — 35%
- Helping me flesh out my thoughts and ideas (once brainstormed) — 34%.
Read the full report at https://www.grammarly.com/blog/company/student-ai-adoption-and-readiness/
Remember that the future of education is being shaped now and we need more voices that are informed, thoughtful, and equity-driven. Subscribe to Jody’s newsletter to get weekly updates delivered right to your in-box at https://jodybritten.medium.com/subscribe.
