Alan M. Lesgold (2019) described his goal in light of the disruptions of our day and suggested that “our society needs to do a major redesign of our education system to assure that all people grow up prepared to pursue a path through life that permits them to adapt to disruptive changes” (p. 3). I want to assist in this overhaul of the education system.
A recent UN report said that the world is witnessing an unprecedented humanitarian crisis. According to the UN, 80 million people were forcibly displaced from their homes due to famine, natural disasters and war by mid-2020. The agency estimates that around 30 to 34 million of the world’s forcibly displaced, are children (UNHCR, 2020). How are these children getting access to education?
The World Bank, in a report at the start of the twenty-first century said that “learners should be able to come in and go out of the system at different points in time. The learning system needs to bring in a multitude of players, including the individual learner, the family, the employer, the provider, and the state” (WorldBank, 2002). I want to help facilitate this flexibility with the use of AI technologies, and to take into consideration “learning and learners’ needs” (WorldBank, 2002).
With my master’s thesis, I studied the works of Mary Parker Follett (1868-1933), who was concerned about making “human interplay productive.” Follett (1918) said, “Education, therefore is not chiefly to teach children a mass of things which have been true up to the present moment; moreover it is not to teach them to learn about life as fast as it is made, not even to interpret life, but above and beyond everything, to create life for themselves. Hence education should be largely the training in making choices” (p. 19).
One of the chapters in Gagné’s (1987) book is dedicated to “Artificial Intelligence and Computer Based Learning” (p. 319). At the time of the writing of the chapter, AI was being developed with “the promotion of learning rather than the improvement of teaching,” and the authors predicted that AI would continue to deal more with learning rather than teaching (Tennyson & Park, 1987, p. 340). Previously, computer technology was primarily used to augment teaching (p. 319). Now, more than 30 years later since the prediction for AI, I know that AI incorporates both teaching and learning possibilities. My focus will be mostly on the learning aspects of AI to aid learners as suggested by Follett. I’d like to learn ways in which the instructional designer can create curriculum where the integration of the learner into a community is a vital part of the learner experience (Follett, 1924).
I’m interested in the contribution of every individual can make with the support of learning. I have a 3×5 card on my desk that sums up what I want to help facilitate as an instructional designer—education that takes into account the lifestyle and circumstances of people around the world, whether through formal education or lifelong learning. And I think using AI technology, we can do this.
Follett, M. P. (1918). The new state. Longmans, Green and Co.
Follett, M. P. (1924). Creative experience. Longmans, Green and Co.
Gagné, R. M. (1987). Introduction. In R. M. Gagné (Ed.), Instructional technology: Foundations (pp. 1-9). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
Lesgold, A. M. (2019). Learning for the age of artificial intelligence:
Eight education competencies. Routledge.
Tennyson, R. D. & Park, O. C (1987). Artificial intelligence and computer-based learning.
In R. M. Gagné (Ed.), Instructional technology: Foundations (pp. 319-342). Lawrence Erlbaum Associates, Inc.
UNHCR. (2020). Welcome to UNHCR’s Refugee Population Statistics Database.
The UN Refugee Agency. https://www.unhcr.org/refugee-statistics/
World Bank. (2002).