Month: April 2023

Automation but at what cost?

While driving into work the other day there was some heavy fog in places and I noticed cars driving without their lights on.  It was at this point I realised my own headlights weren’t on, so quickly turned then on.   I found myself wondering why I hadn’t turned them on in the first place?    The answer is that I had become a little bit complacent of the automatic lighting function in my car which turns on my lights as and when needed, making life so much more convenient and less effort for me.   This got me thinking about what the drawbacks might be for where automation is used, particularly in relation to software based automation solutions such as PowerAutomate.  I suspect the use of automation in schools, especially given new AI advances, will become all the more common as we seek to try to address workload challenges, so what are the possible drawbacks or challenges:

Initial costs:

Implementing automation comes with a cost.   This might be in terms of infrastructure, software licensing or simply in terms of the time taken to design and implement an automation solution.    There will also be costs ensuring the creation of appropriate documentation for the solution where documentation is important but also something which is often overlooked.   We need to be aware of these costs although generally they are outweighed by the longer term gain.

Maintenance:

There may also be costs associated with the maintenance of an automation solution.   This will be reliant on appropriate documentation and staff with the appropriate skill level to understand and maintain the automation solution.   This may also be quite difficult as sometimes an automation solution may be running for a significant period of time, possibly years, before any issues arise, where, when they do arise, staff involved in the solution may no longer easily recollect how the solution was designed thereby making it all the more difficult to resolve the issues. 

Lack of flexibility:

Automated systems are designed to perform specific tasks and may not be easily adaptable to changes such as changes in school processes or the required outcomes.   There is also a challenge that as we seek to improve we may increasingly complicate the automation solution which in turn may make it more fragile and likely to fail plus more difficult to maintain.   I note complexity is a current concern of mine in that this complexity, although allowing us to achieve more or be more efficient, often leads to more moving parts, more complex processes, etc which therefore mean there are more opportunities for things to go wrong.   Continually increasing complexity must at some point reach a threshold at which it becomes unsustainable and my view is that we need to consider this in advance of this point, and therefore need to seek to identify and focus on what matters and attempt to simplify things.

Dependence on technology:

This is the issue which started this post, my complacency or dependency on the automation to turn my headlights on.   Due to the availability of automation I had stopped checking my lights.    In schools we may implement automation solutions to notify staff on specific events, etc, however we need to be careful that we don’t become reliant on this automation.    In the event an issue occurs and automation fails we still need to operate.    We also need to be able to identify when the automation has failed and this might not be as easy to identify is it was in relation to the lights on my car.   This for me is one of the main issues in establishing a balance between improved ease and convenience through automation, and increased reliance on, and therefore reduced ability to work without, automation.

Decreased human interaction:

Automation can lead to a decrease in human interaction and communication, which can have negative effects on workplace culture and employee morale.  So, although there may be efficiency benefits it will likely reduce the need to talk to, email or otherwise communicate with others where we are social animals and rely on social interaction.   At a time when wellbeing is such a key factor in education, and where social interaction with other human beings is a critical part of our wellbeing as social animals, we need to carefully consider the balance here.

Conclusion

While automation can bring many benefits such as increased convenience, ease, efficiency, reduced long term costs, and improved quality control, there are also potential drawbacks.    We therefore need to be careful of the balance between the positives and the potential drawbacks of automation.    As my car journey proved, automation isn’t without its potential issues, with over reliance being only one of these.

End to end encryption: Ensuring privacy or increasing the risk of harm?

There have been some recent calls for Meta to refrain from adding end to end encryption to the messaging functionality in some of their apps, in relation to safeguarding.    It makes initial sense to consider the potential risk of harm to children and others through harmful online content or contact.   How can agencies, schools and individuals protect people, including the young, from harmful content or contact when they are unable to identify the content due to encryption?   How can criminal individuals be prosecuted when key evidence is inaccessible due to being encrypted?   The challenge here however is establishing some of the possible implications of either weakening or removing encryption as like most things there is a balance and improvements in monitoring and detection through removed or weakened encryption will result in other less positive counter implications.   I note that sticking with the current level of encryption, where technology moves on and where criminal skills and approaches continue to develop likely equates to a weakening over time meaning we can either continue to strengthen our approach or, by doing anything else, reducing or doing nothing, choose to effectively weaken encryption. So, what are the general implications should we choose to reduce or remove encryption, rather than seeking to strengthen it?

Increased vulnerability to cyber attacks

Encryption is a key tool used to protect data and information from unauthorized access. Weakening or removing encryption makes it easier for cybercriminals to break into systems and gain access to sensitive information which in turn puts individuals, including children, more at risk.  At a time when individual privacy is such a hot topic anything which may reduce or put at risk this privacy is of concern.

Increased surveillance

Weakening encryption can also make it easier for governments and other organizations to monitor online activities and communications.  Now it may be that this monitoring is done in our interests, in the interests of safeguarding for example, but there is the potential for data or monitoring solutions to be mis-used.   It could be used for invasive monitoring and surveillance, to identify individuals based on beliefs or political beliefs for example.   It may be used to challenge or silence views counter to the government or intelligence agencies.   It may be that the data gathered allows for other data to be inferred where this then violates individual privacy and freedom of speech.  Or it may be that these systems used correctly and ethically suffer data breaches resulting in the data or systems being misused for criminal or unethical purposes.   Increased surveillance capability thorough weakened encryption has significant potential as a risk to individual privacy.

Loss of trust

Weakening encryption can erode public trust in online communication and commerce. This in turn can lead users to be less likely to trust systems the digital systems which we increasingly require in our day to day lives.    The potential impact should we no longer be able to trust our online communications and collaboration platforms, our online banking, online shopping, etc would be very significant indeed.    It may also lead individuals to seek to use systems in the darker recesses of the internet where these systems may be perceived as more secure and outside government monitoring or surveillance, but where other implications or risks may exist.

Negative impact on businesses

Related to the above, weakening encryption could also have a negative impact on businesses that rely on secure online communication and transactions. This includes e-commerce sites, financial institutions, and healthcare providers.    If encryption is weakened or removed then users of online services are more at risk, plus the services themselves are also more at risk.   Individual users may lose data and become subject to fraud or other cyber crimes while the breached organisation suffers reputational damage, legal claims for compensation plus the overall cost of recovery following a cyber incident.    Basically, no-one wins, other than the cyber criminals that is. 

Conclusion

The issue here is one of balance, the balance between individual privacy and protecting individuals from harm online, where providing privacy will provide the individuals who may cause harm with protection which means that harm is more likely.   But where providing protection against online harm will weaken an individual’s privacy even where their motivations and actions are honest and good.    Sadly, we cannot provide privacy online for some but not for others.   Either privacy and security it built into systems, or it is not, as we have no way of identifying those who may or may not cause harm.   

There is also an issue of pragmatism.   If we reduce the privacy level of some services by not enabling end to end encryption for example, then users, and particularly those seeking to do harm, will simply move to those services which provide more security and provide end to end encryption.    I have seen it myself in the unknown user who DMs an individual on a major social media platform, before, after a short series of messages, suggesting moving to an alternative “better” platform as they know this is better suited to protecting their privacy as the seek to go about their likely malicious aims.    

Overall, there is no perfect answer here.    I think technical security and privacy is key to the digital world we live in but also we need to keep individuals safe online.   Sadly, these two requirements are largely at opposite ends of a continuum.   I suspect a reduction in technical security would have wider implications on the world than increased security although I note it isn’t a zero-sum game.  Personally, I think we need to err-towards greater encryption but while seeking to mitigate the safeguarding risk as much as reasonably possible by increased discussions, training and education regarding safety and risk online.    Not a perfect answer, I know, but as I said, there is no perfect answer and anyway, we don’t live in a perfect world.  

A difficult month

It’s been a bit of a difficult last month or so, so thought I would share some brief thoughts in the hope that writing things down and sharing may help.     First of all there was BETT-lag.   The end of March included the BETT conference which for me was a very busy series of days, of attending panel discussions, visiting stands, meetings and catching up with many EdTech friends.   So, it was useful and enjoyable but also very tiring especially when you factor in the long travel times from Somerset to the Excel in London.   Thankfully the end of BETT coincided with the end of term so I had high hopes for being able to recover over the Easter break.

Around the same time my fitness efforts and running had hit a bit of a roadblock with limited distance covered in both March and April.   The fact I couldn’t get into a routine and regular running habit was depressing and with each opportunity for running missed it made me feel all the more negative.     Additionally, my reading habit had also taken a nosedive partially through a lack of motivation, similar to my running, but also through a lack of interest in the book I am currently reading but combined with a reluctance to just put the book down, to give up, and move on to another book.

March had also seen me take on a number of projects including creating some webinar content and recording a regular weekly podcast among other things.   It was good to be busy and led me to feeling a sense of achievement, however it meant that by the end of the month, and the BETT conference, I was already tired and the event, plus the post-event BETT-Lag were still to come.   And then there was the void left once the activities had been concluded and no longer occupied my time.

And next was the kicker, when initially I started feeling a bit of a cold part way through the Easter break, the time I planned to use to try and relax and recover.  Getting hold of a covid test, I decided to test and low and behold it came back positive.    What followed wasn’t that much worse than a cold however I found myself lacking in any real energy which led me to achieving very little in terms of the long list of things I wanted to get done.     The tiredness, lack of achievement, lack of running or reading, all left me feeling negative and downright depressed at times.

Mental health isn’t a simple thing.   It isn’t something which can be solved by a simple “wellbeing activity”.   It is about physical fitness and activity, about mental activity, about feeling a sense of achievement, feeling well, feeling suitably challenged but not feeling stressed or over worked or overly tired.   It’s a delicate balance and one which I don’t think I have sufficiently managed over the last few months.    My hope is I can use the new term as a new start and better address the need for balance.  But for now am just going to relax and enjoy the weekend before the new term begins.

Originality

Producing original content is a fundamental aspect of creating meaningful and valuable information for audiences across various mediums. In terms of assessment within schools, colleges and universities, students are expected to produce “original” work to evidence their learning.

So, what does it mean to produce original content? At its core, originality means creating something that is entirely your own. This could be a new idea, a fresh perspective on a familiar topic, or a unique approach to storytelling. Whatever the case may be, originality is about bringing something new and valuable to the table that hasn’t been seen before.

But lets flip that premise;  There are a limited number of words available and these words are shared with all writers for all time, so as people continue to write the probability of two people writing the same thing can only increase.   It’s a bit like buying a lottery ticket.   The more tickets you buy and the longer period over which you buy them, the more likely you will hit the winning numbers.   And that analogy may fit in other ways in that the probabilities of a winning lottery ticket and an exact match of wording and phraseology may be similarly unlikely.    And the longer the piece of writing the less likely whereas for shorter pieces of text, the probability is greater.   But either way it isn’t impossible!   

Let’s step back for a moment and look at an academic concern, that of plagiarism. Plagiarism is the act of taking someone else’s work, ideas, or words and presenting them as your own. It’s a form of intellectual theft and can have serious consequences, including invalidating qualifications or exam results for students who are caught.   “Taking someone else’s work” and “presenting as your own”;  But if I read something, agree with it, and then present it as my viewpoint haven’t I just taken someone else’s work and presented as my own?    Does writing it in my own words make it original and my own contribution and at what point?    How many words do you need to change before it becomes my original contribution as opposed to plagiarism?   I note that the plagiarism detection services I have used in the past present a plagiarism score which tries to quantify how similar a piece of work is to other pieces of student work on file.  And if I combine with readings from other sources is this better or just plagiarising from a number of sources?     And what if I get AI to write the first draft of the content, then I refine it?    Is this plagiarising from the multiple sources the AI used as training data or simply plagiarising from the AI, or maybe it isn’t plagiarism at all? Considering art work rather than writing, if I get an AI to produce a self portrait of Van Gogh but painted in the style of Monet, who have I plagiarised?

I don’t believe the concept of originality and of plagiarism, beyond plagiarism of a paragraph of cut and paste text, was ever an easy issue in schools albeit we have treated it as easy in the past.   With AI this issue becomes that bit more complex and difficult to traverse.    We may present our students with the assessment and with a marks scheme, but do we need to start providing more discussion in relation to originality, and what acceptable use of AI platforms might look like?    I suppose the challenge here is do we know what this might look like.    

But a bigger question may be why we ask for these written assessments to be completed in the first place;   Is the written work a proxy for evidence of learning and understanding, where this is easier, and possibly more reliable, than actually having a discussion with each and every student to check their understanding?   And if we can no longer rely to the same extent on the piece of extended written work do we need to move to more student/teacher discussions, but if so, how will we address bias and other factors impacting on individual teacher assessment of students?

Conclusion?

Am not sure the above has presented any answers beyond presenting some of my musings and more questions.    But for now that maybe enough, to try and add to the discussion in relation to education and how it may look in the future given effective AI solutions are already available to our students.

References

Written with the help of ChatGPT (OpenAI)

BETT 2023: Some reflections

BETT 2023 has been and gone so thought I would write my usual reflections piece.   I think this was my sixth BETT conference since returning back to the UK, a figure that pales into insignificance when compared to some of my friends and colleagues, however now exceeds my visits to the UAE GESS/GEF event.     It was a busy few days with lots of walking, lots of talking and a fair amount of listening too.  So what did I learn and how did it go?

Networking

The key reason I continue to attend BETT is the networking side of things, to meet up with friends and colleagues and share thoughts and ideas in relation to the use of technology in education.    Am not going to try and list those I met up with this year through fear of missing people out.   This year didn’t fail to deliver on this front although, as has been the case in the past, there were many people at the event who I failed to meet or catch up with.   I suspect this will always be the case given the importance of planning your trip ahead of time, meaning that there is only so much time available for those impromptu and unplanned meetups or for reaching out via social media to try and locate and meet up.    I will note that my selfie collection this year is once again a poor comparison to others often due to being too engaged in discussion to even think about getting the phone out for a quick selfie.  Maybe a note-to-self for next year is needed here.     On a more positive note it was great to hear from a few people who had read some of my previous blog posts or had listened to the “In our humble opinion” podcast which myself and Ian Stockbridge have been producing recently. It always great to hear that there is an audience although, as I have noted in the past, I find the process of blogging and podcasting useful in itself even if no-one reads or listens.

Presentations

I attended a number of the presentations during the course of BETT with those I attended mainly taking the form of panel style discussions.    I think this worked very well when compared with the “sage on the stage” style presentations which were more common in the past.   It allowed for a number of panellists to put across their views and approaches in relation to the given topic while highlighting that there is seldom a single solution and the important need to consider school context.     It also highlighted for me the importance of discussions, including discussions like those of the panellists, to help us share practice and improved collectively as educational professionals.

It was nice to hear panellists present thoughts which agreed with my own such as the importance of considering context when looking at data, the importance of culture and the need to accept technology advancement, and then identify how best to make use of it and best manage any risks.    One particular session which touched on Artificial Intelligence provided some of the standout comments in relation to technology being neither good or bad, but simply being “here” and also the risk associated with AI in regarding its potential for “automating inequalities”.  I also particularly enjoyed the esports discussion I attended which once again highlighted for me the potential which esports has within the education space.

Stands

As I pointed out last year I no longer go to BETT to visit the various stands although I will note I did visit a number of stands for quick discussions and to touch base with companies which I am either using or likely to be using in the near future.   I therefore avoided my usual frustrations with the number of interactive panels, floor and wall solutions as are normally on show, although my sense is they were, as always, dominant at the event despite representing a technology which must now be approaching 30yr old.   It was Dave Leonard who pointed out the BETT futures area as a specific area of the BETT conference to visit focussed on the new startups and the new solutions, and I will admit it was here that I had the most interesting and useful stand based discussions.    Data analytics and the use of the block chain to store certificates or identification documents being two of the more interesting topic discussions I engaged in.

Themes

Across the BETT event I believe there were a couple of themes which stood out for me.    These were:

  • Artificial Intelligence: this has the potential be a significant catalyst for change in the world of education representing many potentials and also a number of risks and challenges, and it is here, now!   We need to seek to adapt to this new normal and to use this new tool in the best, most effective and safest way possible to support our learners.
  • Digital Citizenship:  I use the term very loosely to including cyber security, data protection, online safety and digital safety, however in an increasingly digital world this continues to be increasingly more and more importance yet the resources to address the challenges, principally time to discuss and educate students, teachers and parents, isn’t currently there.
  • Culture: The often used quote of “culture beats [or eats] strategy” is true in the importance of culture, but what does this actually mean?   It makes for a nice one-liner when asked what the solution to the EdTech, or any other, challenge is, or what we need to focus on, but how do we seek to action “culture” and develop it across the board, in all our schools?   This was a question well raised by Al Kingsley in a session he chaired and a question I think we all need to consider.

The mishap

OK so I have shared my reflections but as always BETT had to come with a mishap and it would be wrong of me not to share.   This years mishap was a wardrobe issue in deciding to wear my new suit to the event.  It hadn’t been out of its suit carrier since purchase and I thought a nice new suit was perfect for BETT;  Remember I am rarely seen out of a suit when on school business even if it means a trip to Blackpool zoo with students or on a history field trip.     So as I headed out of the hotel room in the morning for BETT and just as I went for the door my wife noticed the back of the suit jacket still had a security tag on it, and it wasn’t for budging.    So no suit jacket for the duration of BETT. Doh!

And possibly more importantly I only brought a couple of cans of Irn-Bru so found myself having to drink Fanta instead;  The BETT organisers had failed to ensure that there were vendors selling Irn-Bru on site. The horror of it!!   Such a failure in their consideration of equality and diversity!

Conclusion

BETT 2023 was another useful event.   Lots of walking, listening and talking.   I do as always wonder if it delivers on the time and expense of attending especially given 3 or 4 hours on a train in each direction, plus hotel accommodation, but then this might be me just having unrealistic expectations of what the event can deliver.   I know others that are far more positive of the event than I am so wonder if maybe I am doing something wrong or not making the most of the event?   Flipping it on its head, if I didn’t go, would I achieve similar value, and save money, in just attending school over the days of the conference?    I suspect the answer to this flipped question is clearly no and therefore BETT continues to be the place to be.    And maybe its as simple as that, that if you are involved in Technology in Education then for the duration of the BETT conference you simply have to be there, at least for some of it.   As such I suspect 2024 will once again see me at BETT with a detailed plan in hand, still failing to adhere to the advice re: comfy footwear and clothes, but with more Irn-Bru to hand this time!