GenAI is a large topic of conversation in education. Many people have their own individual opinions on what the use of GenAI can mean within an educational setting. My past use of GenAI has always been limited by my instructors or teacher guidelines. Since I have never fully delved into the uses of GenAI I do not carry a strong opinion on the use of it. In the past I have found it useful to narrow down a very broad topic for the purposes of an essay. I also use spell/grammar checkers which help me take another look over my writing and maybe notice issues I did not before. One of the final uses are citation machines/generators. These have been incredibly helpful to give me a base of what certain styles of citation should look like. I have found you should always look over them before using them. For most uses of GenAI I find I always look over them to ensure I am using and presenting quality information and that goes for any of the uses I stated above.
The use of GenAI has become more and more popular throughout the years. I think there is value in educating myself and others in the proper uses of tools like GenAI. Ensuring students understand how GenAI can be responsible used as too, is important. GenAI cannot be a replacement for work, but it could be used as a tool to help generate topics. Many GenAI databases do not always put forth the best information. This could lead to plagiarism, infringement on source uses/privacy and the use of false information. Using false information does not give a student an enriched understanding of the topic they are working on. When this tool is used irresponsibly, I question what are my students truly learning? Much of the Information from these search engines can carry heavy bias towards, location, gender, race, culture and so much more. I worry about what students may be able to learn and consume through GenAI. It is important to share that GenAI uses large amounts of power per search through hydro, electricity, fossil fuels, etc. The overuse of these search engines can aid in the ongoing climate crisis. I do know students will use GenAI so I would like to make them knowledgeable and responsible users of that tool.
https://www.gse.harvard.edu/ideas/usable-knowledge/23/07/embracing-artificial-intelligence-classroom