CALMet XV 2023: Is Artificial Intelligence coming for our job as trainers?

Hi everyone,

Based on my experiences with AI, I'd like to suggest that AI is likely to take our jobs if the only thing we do is present information through text, images, videos, and ask our learners a few questions about them. AI can do that now and it is likely to become better at it in the future.

On the other hand, if we create games, smart drills, and simulations in which we engage our learners in creative, challenging and fun learning activities, AI could be of great help. It is good at searching, organizing and writing information - that can become the first draft of our content. From there we can focus on the creative dimension of our work - using the context, challenge, activity, feedback framework to create games, simulations and drills. AI can only work with what has already been created; it cannot create new information or learning experiences (yet).

At the same time, the use of AI comes with a number of risks like factual errors, no attribution of ideas, people becoming dependent on it rather than developing their own capacities, cheating on exams, bias and more.

What are your experiences with AI?

Thanks,

Tsvet

Is Artificial Intelligence coming for our job as trainers?

AwedaEmmanuel Damilola - 2023年11月17日星期五 12:15

Hello Tsvet,

I am a great AI enthusiast and I try to keep up with every latest development in the world of AI while I must admit it is quite tasking to do so.

I see AI as a tool to assist me in my tasks (which includes facilitation and searching for imformation). That said, it cannot take my place as a trainer because it is basically a tool and I must know how to handle it the right way. I foresee a world where those who are not smart enough to utilise AI as a tool may lose their jobs - it depends. There are lots of debates about the ethics of its usage in the academic world but I personally feel that we all should be open minded while take a close watch on its trajectory and direction in the future as we are yet to have an idea of how far it will take us to.

So yeah, I think the issue is in how it is handled, and how I handle students who use it.

As AI is smart, I need to be smarter :)

Cheers.

Emmanuel
RTC, Nigeria

Re: Is Artificial Intelligence coming for our job as trainers?

DorlingStephen - 2023年11月17日星期五 14:00

Emmanuel, Tsvet

I entirely agree with your outlook Emmanuel.

As trainers we need to be smart in how we best use our time so we need to embrace AI to support us and free up time to be creative and to mentor students.

In your great AI workshop earlier this week Tsvet I had never previously used ChatGPT - probably due to nervousness (head in the sand) - although I had heard a lot about it from friends. With the benefit of seeing it in action I was won over by its ability to produce games and first draft templates for various training docs/plans. At the same time I was relieved to see it wasn't up to date (yet) with recent weather data/events!!

This is all reminding me so much of 1993 (30 years ago!) when I was a postdoc in Toronto, about to start a university lecturing job in the UK, and the launch of the world wide web .... these were also scary and exciting times for education. How would it be if we had steadfastly ignored the power of the internet over the subsequent 30 years?

I am also nervous about the negative deployment of AI, especially in terms of mis-information, but I think we need to be role models to our students in positively adopting elements of AI and encouraging the ethical use where appropriate - Bodo made this point too during discussions in the other AI session (0500 Thursday).

I've recently moved from an academic role to a met training role with the UK Navy (where the emphasis is more on face to face and applied forecaster training). Assessment for me is now through closed-book in-person exams and through trainee's ability to work with current weather and provide insightful verbal weather briefings. I would feel much more concerned about AI if I were back in academia right now but even there innovation in assessment type can help stay ahead of (and complement) AI.

A significant threat is the current pace of change and our ability to roll with it.

Steve

Re: Is Artificial Intelligence coming for our job as trainers?

Ross-LazarovTsvetomir - 2023年11月20日星期一 17:21

Thank you for your reply Stephen!

You are right that we are at a crucial moment in technological development; it is very similar to the arrival of the internet. Depending on where we focus our effort, AI could bring positive or negative developments just like the web. I agree with you and Bodo that we need to provide our learners with examples of positive use of AI.

It is good to hear that your exams are in-person and your learners have to perform specific tasks and provide observable and measurable actions as proof of their competence. While time consuming, it is one of the better ways we have for assessing competence even without the arrival of AI.

I am glad that you found the workshop useful. I cannot wait to hear of the great ways in which you have put it to use.

Cheers,
Tsvet

Re: Is Artificial Intelligence coming for our job as trainers?

AwedaEmmanuel Damilola - 2023年11月21日星期二 13:39

Hello Steve,

I completely agree with all you have said. We are in the advent of AI, which will usher in a complete revolution in all that we do. I am afraid it will begin to give us up-to-date weather events, and that is another reason why we need to brainstorm on how we can remain relevant and take a step ahead.

I agree with being role models for our students, and I think it becomes a tougher task to work on how to instill the ethics of AI usage in our students. I believe a time will come when our trainings will become more experiential and hands-on (as AI may not figure that out yet :)), which is a step forward. I am glad that your exams are in that mode, and that is what I will continue to do.

That said, I see AI as a big leap forward despite the skepticism, as long as enhances efficiency and effective facilitation and learning.

Regards,
Emmanuel
RTC Nigeria

Re: Is Artificial Intelligence coming for our job as trainers?

Ross-LazarovTsvetomir - 2023年11月20日星期一 17:14

Thank you for your reply Emmanuel! I am glad to hear that you are enthusiastic about the development of AI. It certainly has great potential for good or bad depending on how people use it.

In my experience AI does not have to be smarter than a human, it just has to be more efficient. At the moment, AI can be more efficient than humans in a few tasks and more are added every day. Take a look at this article about the newest version of an image generating AI: DALL-E 3 is a wake up call for visual artists - and the rest of us

Cheers,
Tsvet

Re: Is Artificial Intelligence coming for our job as trainers?

AwedaEmmanuel Damilola - 2023年11月21日星期二 13:43

Hello Tsvet,

Thank you for sharing your thoughts. AI usage is key and the aim is to improve work efficiency. AI does not have to be smarter than humans and that is the more reason why I feel it should not come for our job as trainers (unless the trainer is not smart enough).

Regards,
Emmanuel
RTC Nigeria