Workload is a growing concern for teachers in schools and therefore it is important that we seek solutions, with one of these solutions potentially being the use of AI. One area where AI might help is in the writing of the reports sent to parents. These reports which are often sent on a termly or even half termly basis can take significant time to write, and even more so where a teacher may has a large number of classes. Now, before I go any further, lets be clear that what I am talking about is the use of AI to help teachers write the reports and not the use of AI to fully write the reports. AI is good at some things such as consistency, objectivity, basic writing, however it lacks the humanistic side of things regarding relationships, perceived effort, motivation, etc, which a teacher brings to the mix. As with a lot of applications of AI, I think the best can be had where it is AI combined with a human, maximising the strengths of each.
Feeding AI data
The key for AI report content is the data you provide along with the prompts directed at the Large Language Model. From a data point of view we might simply seek to lift basic data already gathered and stored in the schools Management Information System (MIS). This might include a score for effort, for homework, for behaviour, etc, plus a target and a current grade where this information is currently already gathered. In my school we have experimented with this however the results feel a little bland given the relatively limited number of different permutations of the grades, plus the limited number of grade options. To achieve more “personal” and individual reports requires more data however we need to balance this out with the resultant workload it might generate in terms of teachers having to gather and enter this data.
The approach used by www.teachmateai.com seems to provide a suggestion here in that its report generating solution asks teachers to input strengths and weaknesses. Here the number of permutations jumps significantly as the options which are entered are only limited by a teachers imagination as to what constitutes a strength or a weakness. Equally the data entry overhead needn’t be that significant. I think back to teaching Btec qualifications some years ago and charting the achievement of the various grade descriptors so the students could see their progress and the areas they still need to work on. A teacher could simply take this data or other data regarding the themes and topics covered, and enter this as the strengths and weaknesses, along with a couple of more individual comments per student and the resultant reports would appear reasonably personal to each student.
Data Protection
The DfE identified the risk associated with the creators of AI solutions sucking up huge amounts of data so data protection is something we need to consider in this process. The DfEs own Generative AI in education (March 2023) guidance for example states:
“Generative AI stores and learns from data inputted. To ensure privacy of individuals, personal and sensitive data should not be entered into generative AI tools. Any data entered should not be identifiable and should be considered released to the internet”
So how do we generate student reports without entering personal data? I think the key here is in ensuring the data provided isnt linked to an identifiable individual. This aligns with GDPR where personal data relates to an identifiable living individual. So if we anonymise the data, say by removing the name of the student before providing data to an AI, then we have reduced the risk given the actual student is not identifiable. We can then add the correct name when we receive the response, the report, from the AI, with the full report then including the correct name. This for me feels like the best approach however alternatively it would be possible to argue that providing a first name only, where first names would be often repeated, may also mean that the students are not individually identifiable and hence any risk is mitigated. Either way it is for schools to consider the risk and make their decision accordingly, making sure to document this.
Example
I suppose the key where AI is helping with parental reports is, do they read well enough to be acceptable to parents so to that end I would like to provide an example based on data for a fictious student:
Sam demonstrates a solid performance in his History class. In lessons, he displays reasonably good engagement, and consistently produces work of a satisfactory quality for his grade range. Sam is thorough in completing his tasks and has great ideas. However, he is reluctant to get involved in some activities, which limits the extent of his engagement.
Would this pass your schools standards? And remember it would be expected that the above would be read and adjusted by the relevant class teacher before going out.
Conclusion
For me, the use of AI to help with parental report writing seems like an easy win. If it reduces the amount of time of required by teachers to create reports therefore allowing teachers to focus on other things, while still providing an appropriate and informative report for parents, then this is a good thing.
Technology and Learning