Artificial intelligence (AI) is definitely the big talking point in educational circles at the moment. You just need to look at the various conference programs and you will almost always find at least one session touching on AI or generative AI. Now a lot of the discussion is focused on the possible benefits or the risks associated with AI and less so with the practical applications and need to experiment. It was in thinking about the practical side of things, looking at tools like ChatGPT, Diffit, Gemini and Bing Image Creator among others, that I got thinking how AI might link to meta cognition.
Learning about learning
The idea of learning about learning, about meta cognition, has been around for quite some time. The thinking being that if we educate students about how they learn and get them thinking about their learning preferences (eek, I almost said learning styles there!) then they can make informed decisions about their learning, and hopefully be better learners. It seems to make sense. But how does this link to AI and generative AI?
Learning with a learning assistant
I think the key issue here is how we see AI in terms of the learning experience. Is it simply a tool to spark ideas? Is it a tool to review content? Is it a tool to surface information? I would suggest it is all of these things and more, and in the case of generative AI can operate as an assistant to teachers or to students. It is definitely more than a bit of technology or simply a tool as I suspect in its use its shapes our thinking and our processes, much as the simple tools like the hammer shaped human thinking and processes in the past. We also need to consider that process when working with generative AI (GenAI) is often iterative or taking the form of a dialogue between the user and the genAI solution. The user fields an initial prompt, to which the genAI responses. The user then reviews the response against what they were hoping for, and if they are anything like me they realize that they haven’t been specific enough so therefore now provide further directives to the AI, which in turn returns a new, hopefully better response, and so the dialogue continues until an output which is satisfactory to the user is reached. Now some of this dialogue can possibly be sped up through the use of various prompt frameworks such as the PREPARE framework shared by Dan Fitzpatrick, however even then it is still likely to be a dialogue with Dan also providing a framework for the review and iterative part of this process, his EDIT framework.
Meta AI supported cognition?
If we are looking to prepare students to work with generative AI as their always available assistant I think we also need to start exploring with students how best to use them. Part of this is about looking at their learning and how their learning processes might be different with AI. I suppose it’s a bit like if all your learning was done with a partner, with another human being. Looking at the nature of the interaction, being very much a dialogue, makes this comparison feel all the more apt. You would need to consider their approach, their emotions, social interaction, etc. Now an AI doesn’t have emotions or the social side of things, or at least not yet or as we currently know these to exist, but it does have its own approach, its own biases, its own strengths and its own weaknesses. So if we are using or encouraging students to use AI in learning, I think we need to work with student to unpick the processes rather than simply focusing on the tools. If I am looking for ideas and to be creative, how best to I use AI? If I am looking to review and improve my work, how best am I to use AI? If I want to use AI for research, how best do I do this? Is this where Meta AI supported cognition comes in?
Conclusion
In relation to technology use in education I have always said it isn’t about the technology but about what you are seeking to achieve. With AI it might be using Gen AI to produce better coursework or to give you a starting point or some new ideas. But if we think beyond the short term goals, isn’t it about being able to better use AI to suit our needs as they arise and as such do we then need to spend time with students unpicking the how of their use of Gen AI, understanding the processes, what works and what doesn’t in order to get better in working with our newly found AI assistant?
Might teaching about Meta AI supported cognition become a thing?
Technology and Learning