- Bias
- Black box nature
- Digital human rights issues
- Deep fakes
- The potential for a lack of independent advice for educational leaders
📑 Artificial intelligence in Schools: An Ethical Storm is Brewing
‘Artificial intelligence will shape our future more powerfully than any other innovation this century. Anyone who does not understand it will soon find themselves feeling left behind, waking up in …
Erica Southgate discusses a new report and project produced for the Australian Government Department of Education to support the analysis of artificial intelligence in education. It touches on some of the concerns around AI, including:
Welcome to August’s edition of Read Write Respond, a newsletter of ideas and information associated with all things in and out of education, mined and curated for me and shared with you.
On the family front, we have been making the most of the nice weather to get outdoors quite a bit. This included going on a few bike rides, as well as continuing our dive into geology by looking for gold in the Brisbane Ranges. We also attended the launch of Fiona Hardy’s novel How to Make a Movie in 12 Days, which was a great event.
At work, there was a review looking at some of the processes moving forward. This led to further work around managing timetables and refining reports. In addition to this, I supported a couple of schools with setting up for Semester Two. I also attended Swinburne University for a network meeting focusing on history and the whole learner.
Personally, my focus this year has been flanarie. It has been interesting. I think I have struggled with the seemingly structurelessness of the endeavour. I have found myself starting various books, then jumping to something new before finishing. This month, I started Imagined Communities, but then found myself diving into John Warner’s Why They Can’t Write. I have also started a number of posts, but never got around to completing them. Maybe this is ok? Maybe this is normal? Maybe my expectations are the problem? I think with so much structure in my life, it sometimes feels strange to let this go in any way. Don’t know.
Musically, I have been listening to Sigur Rós’ liminal project, Taylor Swift’s continued evolution, Sleater-Kinney’s St. Vincent produced offering and Bon Iver latest.
In regards to watching, I finished Series 3 of The Handmaid’s Tale and took my children to Toy Story 4.
In regards to my writing, I posted a reflection on Dai Barnes:
Learning and Teaching
How to Innovate: Ask Forgiveness, Not Permission
Joel Speranza suggests starting change by running small measured experiments, rather than focusing on people and permission.
No, minister! Keep NAPLAN results away from student job applications
Jessica Holloway and Steven Lewis discuss the problem of conflating learning with NAPLAN performance.
Stressed-out teacher? Try these self-care tips
Grace Jennings-Edquist collates a number of self-care strategies to support teachers.
Stephen Wolfram recounts the entire history of mathematics in 90 minutes
Stephen Wolfram presents ramble through time and provides reminder of the way in which the present is built on the discoveries of the past.
From ball pits to water slides: the designer who changed children’s playgrounds for ever
Nicholas Hune-Brown explores the legacy of Eric McMillan and his revolution of playgrounds in the 1970’s.
Technology
Shame Cycles and Twitter Rage
Sherri Spelic share some tips and questions to consider when dealing with the toxic side of Twitter.
How far will digital video go?
Bryan Alexander discusses the possible future of video as a medium.
Artificial intelligence in Schools: An Ethical Storm is Brewing
Erica Southgate discusses a new report and project to support the analysis of artificial intelligence in education.
A Framework for Moderation
Ben Thompson responds to CloudFlare’s decision to terminating service for 8chan with a look into the world of moderation
Imagine if we didn’t know how to use books – notes on a digital practices framework
Dave Cormier provides a framework for learning on the internet.
Reflections
‘Plastic recycling is a myth’: what really happens to your rubbish?
Oliver Franklin-Wallis discusses the current global recycling crisis.
The Hopefulness and Hopelessness of 1619
Remembering the 400 year anniversary of the arrival of African slaves in Northern America, Ibram X Kendi traces the stories of Angela and John Pory.
The History of Cities Is About How We Get to Work
Building on the idea of Marchetti’s Constant, Jonathan English discusses the role of transport in the development of the city.
The Anthropocene Is a Joke
Peter Brannen looks at our current impact on the world and where it sits with the history of the earth.
How Hillsong and other Pentecostal megachurches are redefining religion in Australia
Stephen Stockwell and Ruby Jones discusses the rise of Pentecostal churches, such as Hillsong and Planetshakers.
Focus on … DAI BARNES
On the night of Thursday 1st / Friday 2nd August 2019, Dai Barnes suddenly passed away in his sleep. Dai was one half of the TIDE podcast. He was also a champion of the people, something celebrated in the final episode of the podcast. Personally speaking, he was one of my first subscribers. Amy Burvall co ordinated a number of curations on Wakelet and Flipgrid collecting together disparate memories. There were also some longer reflections from Amy, Laura Hilliger Doug Belshaw, Tim Klapdor and Eylan Ezekiel. I will never forget him talking about a failed job interview where he found himself standing on the table like Jesus. Must admit, it has definitely left me feeling more mortal.
Read Write Respond #044
So that is August for me, how about you? As always, happy to hear.
Cover Image via JustLego101
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The idea of AI tracking every movement in education and providing for our next step is an interesting proposition. I am just concerned why ethics comes after the supposed solution:
What happens if the ethics board says the whole thing is unethical?
Personally, I am left wondering if the supposed personalized ‘results’ are worth the reward? There is talk of scraping even more data:
Next we will be measuring the pupils of every staff member to maximise market gains? Is this what education is for?
In this episode of RN Future Tense, Antony Funnell leads an exploration of artificial intelligence, educational technology and ethics. Simon Buckingham Shum discusses the current landscape and points out that we need to define the education we want, while Roger Taylor raises the concern that if we do not find a position that fits with our state that we will instead become dictated by either America’s market based solutions or China’s focus on the state. This is a topic that has been discussed on a number of fronts, including by Erica Southgate. This also reminds me of Naomi Barnes’ 20 Thoughts on Automated Schooling.
Continuing the conversation about forgetting and ethics, Antony Funnell speaks with Kate Eichhorn and Kate Mannell about digital forgetting.
Eichhorn, the author of The End of Forgetting, discusses the long and complicated history that children have and challenges associated with identity. She explains that our ability to control what is forgotten has been diminished in the age of social media. Although new solutions may allow us to connect, this also creates its own problems and consequences, such as the calcification of polarised politics. Eichhorn would like to say things are going to change, but she argues that there is little incentive for big tech. Although young people are becoming more cynical, there maybe resistance, but little hope for a return to an equitable utopian web.
Kate Mannell explores the idea of forcing a sense of ethics through the form of a hypocratic oath. Some of the problems with this is that there are many versions of the oath, it does not resolve the systemic problems and it is hard to have an oath of no harm when it is not even clear what harms are actually at play. In the end, it risks being a soft form of self regulation.
I found Eichhorn’s comments about resistance interesting when thinking about my engagement with the IndieWeb and Domain of One’s Own. I guess sometimes all we have is hope. While Mannell’s point about no harm when it is not even clear what harm is at play reminds me about Zeynep Tufekci’s discussion of shadow profiles, complications of inherited datasets and the challenges of the next machine age. In regards to education, the issue is in regards to artificial intelligence and facial recognition.
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