Artificial intelligence (AI) has been a focal point for any of us thinking about digital skills and tools in the last two years. AlphaPlus has been providing AI support via training opportunities, “sandbox sessions” and virtual showcases for adult literacy educators in Ontario. At a recent virtual showcase, we highlighted the experiences of educators using AI in adult literacy education, and we invited one of our presenters, Sara King, to answer a few questions.

Q-and-A: Talking about AI with adult literacy educator Sara King

Sara King has worked in literacy and basic skills (LBS) at Northern College in Moosonee for over 12 years in various positions, including instructor, program co-ordinator and overseeing programming. Working primarily with Indigenous students, today Sara is an instructor for academic upgrading, post-secondary education and community employment services in the James Bay area (Moosonee, Moose Factory, Fort Albany, Kashechewan and Attawapiskat). Here’s our question-and-answer (Q-and-A) with Sara:

When did you first get interested in AI?

I jumped on board with generative AI as soon as the first boom happened a couple of years ago. While we educators need to learn how to deal with many of the issues, I could see that AI isn’t going away, and we also need to support and embrace it.

How have you used AI so far?

I’ve used AI for many things, including supporting adult literacy education in and out of the classroom and in my personal life. In class, I’ve tried to show students how the technology can support them. For example, I’ve generated ideas, prompts and images that we can use for creative writing activities.

I’ve also shown my learners how to use AI tools like ChatGPT when they’re struggling to express themselves. AI can correct and reword writing to make things sound nicer, better, friendlier, angrier, more persuasive, etc. AI also makes it easier for my learners to advocate for themselves. For example, suppose someone has to voice their concerns in a formal manner for medical care issues, access to medical care or even to address bad experiences at a restaurant or other customer service situation. I demonstrate to my learners that using AI to structure a complaint letter is very simple.

What excites you about the potential for using AI in your work (planning, teaching, etc.)?

I’ve always liked innovation. There’s nothing worse than having to teach the same subject, the same way, over and over. By incorporating AI, I can create fun assignments that get students excited to use new technology. Prompt writing is another example. We created an image in Canva based on my students’ prompts and creative input. The result was an image that the learners were excited to take home to show their children and continue the conversation with them.

Can you describe a specific project that AI has helped you with?

This past summer, my husband (an early childhood educator) and I developed a five-week employment skills training program for the “tutor escort” position, a role hired by elementary schools in our local communities. Similar to a teacher assistant, the role emphasizes one-on-one support for children with exceptionalities. We created a rough outline of topics to cover and used ChatGPT to generate a list of lesson plan ideas specifically tailored to children with exceptionalities. This gave us a strong foundation, which we then refined and customized to suit our goals.

What reservations do you have? What challenges are you thinking about when it comes to AI?

Of course, there’s the potential for abuse. For example, for one recent assignment, I asked students to pick three writing prompts and write a paragraph about each one. Some of the paragraphs that came back had clearly been generated by AI. But knowing my learners have access to the tools, my responsibility is to explain when to use ChatGPT for an assignment, when not to, and the impacts of AI on developing communication skills.

Do you have AI tips or tricks to share with your fellow adult literacy educators?

Here are two helpful uses for ChatGPT:

1. Simplifying content. I like to ask ChatGPT to speak to me as if I have a Grade 8 education. It’s an easy way to take complex material generated by the tool and bring it to the right level for your learners. Remember, you don’t have to take the information initially generated by ChatGPT; you can ask it to go one step further and simplify it.
2. Writing promotional materials. When I need to create advertising materials, I’ve asked ChatGPT to make it sound marketing-ish or write me a promo ad. It’s been a helpful way to generate content with the appropriate tone, along with suggesting hashtags and emojis.

What’s next for you and your exploration of AI?

I’m excited to keep playing with ChatGPT for marketing writing since I’m the main marketer for this location and our access centres. Here are a couple of recent examples I’ve generated: