Equality, equity and justice and how harnessing technology, including AI, can help create equity and even justice in learning.

The Box and Fence Analogy and Its Application to Education

Look at these pictures of people straining to look over the top of a fence. 🧍🧍🧍🏽

In our society, we often come across images of individuals straining to look over a top of a fence, each standing on different levels of ground. This analogy serves as an apt metaphor for the current state of education, where some students can access a better view – or better educational opportunities – because of their natural or added advantages.

Fundamentally, this discrepancy can be linked to the concepts of equality, equity, and justice.

Equality implies that everyone benefits from the same support level, akin to providing each person with the same-sized box to stand on. However, what happens when the ground beneath their feet is uneven or they are at different heights when they stand up?

This brings us to the concept of equity.

In such cases, basic equality falls short, as it needs to consider each individual’s varying needs and circumstances.

This is where equity comes in. Equity pushes the concept of equality further; it ensures everyone gets the support they need to overcome their unique barriers. The support might differ from person to person, but that’s precisely the point. It’s fairer because it acknowledges and addresses individual needs.

Yet, the best outcomes emerge when justice prevails. Justice entails removing the systemic barriers causing inequality in the first place. This way, everyone needs less support or none because the problem’s root cause has been addressed.

Redefining Traditional Teaching Methods

How can we apply this analogy to teaching, tutoring and schools?

Many educational practices are well-intentioned but inadvertently act as barriers for some students. For instance, copying information from the board into their books can be a significant hurdle for students, particularly those who are Dyslexic. This system burdens them unnecessarily, affecting their ability to engage fully in the lesson.

What if that whole system was removed, and the pupil no longer had to copy it? They can now read the information at their own pace but not have to transfer it; they are now free to listen intently to the teacher and form their own ideas.

What if we could eliminate this system, thus removing a significant barrier to learning? This could be achieved by:

• 👉Providing large pieces of text as printouts that can be easily inserted into exercise books.
• 👉Leveraging technology, like iPads, to replicate the whiteboard so students don’t have to constantly shift their focus, looking up at the board and down again at their exercise books.
• 👉Allowing students to take photos of the information to be used later reduces the need for excessive copying.

✔️ Removing the part of the lesson that is just copying off the board is like removing the fence. That barrier is no longer there just for the sake of it.

We essentially remove that fence, enabling all students to see better and learn more effectively.

However, it’s important to remember that many current classroom systems exist due to historical or financial constraints. Yet, innovative solutions like eBook licenses can circumvent these issues, providing students with easier access to resources and alleviating the need for copying out passages.

As educators, we need to continually ask ourselves:

• What barriers can we remove to create a more inclusive learning environment?
• How can we provide the support that promotes true equity?
• How can we integrate the concept of equity into our classrooms or tutoring sessions?

From personal experience as a Neurodiverse and Dyslexic individual, recognising and addressing these differences can be liberating. Now that these techniques exist, we should be using them. We don’t need to remain in the 1970s, where education was not set up for those of us who are Neurodiverse.
It is empowering to acknowledge that these differences are not ‘wrong,’ but can offer unique advantages in other areas, such as heightened imagination, problem-solving abilities, spatial reasoning, empathy, conversation skills, critical thinking, analysis, and abstract thinking.

For too long, societal norms have undervalued these skills, reinforcing a self-image of failure in those who find traditional learning methods challenging. However, the narrative is changing, and it’s time we celebrate the diverse abilities of all students in our classrooms.

Embracing Assistive Technology

Other school-based solutions include using Assistive Technology to make learning more accessible. https://www.jackpotmaths.com/2023/03/12/celebrating-neurodiversity-understanding-dyslexia-and-the-importance-of-assistive-technology-and-support/

• For instance, using speech-to-text software can help students who struggle with writing. Acting as a scribe allows them to dump all their ideas easily.
• Encouraging the use of mind maps for recording their ideas and enabling them to order their thoughts to then be able to start to write any story, report or essay. 
• Letting them use text-to-speech software such as a reading pen or phone app to read back to them what they have just written to be able to edit their own work more effectively. 

None of these things are cheating; they merely level up the playing field to enable the student to access the task in a way they are unlikely to find easy or be able to do otherwise. 

The latest evolution of technology is Artificial Intelligence (AI), that is being discussed widely this year. Artificial Intelligence is like a computer brain that can learn, make decisions, and solve problems, similar to how humans do. 

The main versions of this are applications which use the ChatGPT model https://chat.openai.com/. ChatGPT, a specific kind of AI, is like a virtual conversation partner that can understand and respond to text inputs, helping users find information, write content, or even provide a friendly chat.

ChatGPT is like a well-read bookworm. It was trained by reading a massive library of internet text (300 billion words) and learning how words, sentences, and ideas connect. It doesn’t actually ‘know’ anything, but it uses patterns it learned from the text to generate its own responses or write new text based on what you ask.

It is possible to use ChatGPT directly within their website or by using any other software that uses the ChatGPT technology inside them. 

AI in Education: Overcoming the Fear

Now I will be very controversial and suggest that the use of AI within schools isn’t the big terrible, scary cheating thing that has been bandied about in the mainstream media this year, such as: 

“Nearly half of the educators who responded to a recent EdWeek Research Center survey said AI would have a negative or very negative impact on teaching and learning in the next five years.”  

There are many scare stories about excessive reliance on technology, the dumbing down of students, the digital divide between those with and without access to technology, and data privacy.  

So here goes…

• Children have been asking Google for the answers to fact-based homework for many years. 
• A tech-savvy kid has been able to do a simple internet search for the best part of 20 years. 
• They have been able to ask Siri on an iPhone for more than 10 years without needing to type. 
• Other voice-activated home systems like Alexa and Amazon Echos have been here for almost as long. 

Anything that was fact-based could be asked by a child. They needed to ‘find the capital city of Albania’ or ‘what is 135×238?’ They have been able to just ask, not even having to type. This fact-finding has become so automated that many people subconsciously don’t even try to remember facts, happy in the knowledge that they can always check with Alexa.  

The newest AI-based software allows you to ask questions in a life-like way and receive answers written into clear and comprehensive sentences. No more clunky searching and having to click on numerous web pages that have the keywords in but might not have the answer you are looking for. Then have to try and collate the ideas and put them into sentences. The latest AI models do all this for you, and you receive an answer millions of times better than an old-fashioned search engine. 

For example, you can even ask for the answer to be written in a certain way. ‘Please explain how the solar system works around our sun in a way that a 10-year-old can understand’ It does just that – with suitable complexity and analogies. 

Now think how helpful that could be for a child given a task… They would ask for a simplified explanation and then be able to go away with this new level of understanding. That is like removing part of the barrier fence. That is giving some kind of equity. Now that they have a better understanding, they can start the rest of the task that has been set.

Is this cheating? Well, I certainly don’t think so. 

Another way we can give equity is for a child to talk all their ideas into speech-to-text software. Not needing at this stage to worry about the order of their thoughts. Just like a giant brain dump of all the possible ideas. 

Then using a product such as ChatGPT or any other one that uses that AI language model paste all the text in, asking it to summarise or order the ideas. AI is very good at doing this. Out comes a summary that the child can play around with and edit, adding back in new extra ideas that are now flowing in their heads. 

Finally, check it through a spell and grammar check, presenting their final written piece. 

• Is this cheating? Well, I certainly don’t think so, either! 
• Are these the child’s own ideas? Yes. 
• Has the child been able to initiate a long written task that they may have been so overwhelmed by that they wouldn’t have got much past the date and the title? Yes, they could access the task and gain more understanding and skills from doing so. 
• If they had not had the chance to brain dump and then order their ideas in this way, would they have ever had the opportunity to complete and have the satisfaction of creating a piece of written work they could genuinely be pleased with? No, they probably couldn’t have done it. 

Can you now see the enormous benefits of doing this? 

So, if facts can be pulled up so quickly, as educators, we must accept this is just how things are now and move on to how we now need to set homework or classwork. We need to accept that they will search for answers. They will use software such as ChatGPT AI to help them find answers or write for them. 

It is up to us how we respond and our ability to embrace the latest technology rather than dismissing it as evil and robots taking over the world!

The Evolution of Learning Tools: From Calculators to AI

Different technology, same human response to it…

I will explain the change when calculators came in, and you will see that what is now happening is merely an extension of that…

Maths GCSE questions and syllabus moved on from the 1960-1980s and O Levels when calculators were not commonplace. Previously, the ability for anyone to do calculations on pen and paper was prized as it was a skill necessary in everyday life. It was what we needed to be able to do, and employers needed us to be able to do it, so the exams mirrored this. Once calculators were freely available, the type of maths needed in life started to change. Then the syllabus and examination style changed too. 

The non-calculator paper was designed to assess students’ ability to perform calculations manually and understand mathematical concepts without the aid of a calculator. In contrast, the calculator-allowed papers evaluated their ability to use calculators effectively and efficiently, including more complex or time-consuming calculations to solve much more complex questions.

Taking out the manual and time-consuming calculations or the need to use slide rules or log table books meant that much more complex tasks could be done and in a much shorter and easier way. 

Looking back, no one would actively choose to return to the pre-calculator days, would they! 

The same rhetoric of ‘they are cheating or taking an easy way out or taking over’ has been spouted for generations as each wave of technology comes in. Weavers over 200 years ago said that the steam looms were taking their jobs, they were right, of course, but it meant that more fabric could be made. Comparisons can be made at every stage of history. The introduction of AI is the next step in evolution. 

Applying technology to learning

Take a moment to think about what is actually the most important part of a child writing an essay? Is it their handwriting, the presentation, or how well it is typed and formatted? Is it the content structure or the actual ideas inside? What is the real purpose of any particular task? Is it for them to research and present ideas or take some given ideas and develop their own spin on these thoughts?
There can be many purposes, and sometimes we get bogged down in details, such as they must have lovely handwriting – that the ideas and meaning get lost. Depending on the task and its objectives, the focus can be any of my suggestions and many others too.

AI and other assistive technology can enable a Neurodiverse child who, when asked to create a presentation on something due to their executive functioning, may find it nearly impossible to even know where and how to start to actually be able to engage with the task. Allow and even encourage them to use tech to search for ideas in an easy-to-understand way.

In conclusion, by shifting our focus from mere equality to equity and justice, we can create learning environments where every student can thrive regardless of their learning style or background. This involves constant self-evaluation, innovative thinking, and a steadfast commitment to inclusion and fairness in education.

In both classroom and tutoring settings, the key is to meet learners where they are and provide the support they need to succeed. By focusing on equity and justice, we can ensure that all students—regardless of their abilities, backgrounds, or circumstances—have the opportunity to reach their full potential. This shift in perspective can help transform not only our educational systems but also the lives of countless learners.

As we stand on the brink of a new era in education, let’s embrace the power of AI and assistive technologies. They are not threats but tools that can help us transform our classrooms into those of true equity and justice.

What do you think?…..