Simon Nussbaum

English Teacher at NW London secondary comprehensive. English Lit & Theatre grad. Spurs fan. NBA fan. Christian. TV & current affairs enthusiast.

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@tehTrunk Worried about this being the final boss of Only Consider Prem Players pathology. Like, our entire scouting department just being given the summer off it seems

[Adam Boxer @adamboxer1]

Students using AI for educational purposes is neither desirable nor inevitable.

We saw the same cycle with mobile phones. When they started up, schools were in a bit of a tizz. Nobody really knew how to respond. Then we had people talking about them as learning tools, and that we should be teaching students how to use them appropriately. Time passed, and people realised that this wasn't smart, and today there are only a handful of secondary schools in the country that allow them (or allow teachers to allow students to use them). Gone are the days of kahoot quizzes in class and kids on social media in lunch.

Good, say I.

Of course, we can't necessarily control what students do outside of school. But we do what we can, and we don't concede the ground when there are things we can control.

The crazy thing is that most of us are looking back over the last 15 years and wondering why we didn't take these actions sooner. The writing was on the wall, and it should have been obvious to us that national bans were inevitable.

The same is true for AI. It's clearly bad for students' brains*, and we need to resist them using it as much as possible. We don't need to "teach them how to use it responsibly." It's not practical, and it is almost definitely not possible. And, whilst we can't directly control what they do outside of school, we can:

A. Ensure we aren't actively sending them towards it (either through unmediated chatbots or homework platforms that make use of it)

B. Take simple measures to communicate its undesirability to students. Tell them it sucks. Tell them not to use it. Use strategies like The Greatest Do Now Ever** to quickly and easily check whether or not they've used it. It's not complicated.

This year, my students completed tens of thousands of questions online for me. Some of them took shortcuts in their answers and some were overly lenient in their self assessment. I picked it up, we dealt with it. But - despite substantial and intensive checking and triangulating - I found absolutely ZERO evidence any of them used AI to answer questions. Getting them not to use it is not beyond the wit of man.

None of this is inevitable, and in ten years time we are going to look back and wonder why we didn't do this sooner. Teachers are absolute suckers for new tech. But we don't have to be, and until someone can prove that this stuff isn't detrimental, kick it out.

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*See Benjamin Riley's EXCELLENT post on the matter: https://t.co/VIVhxOZlGk

**https://t.co/euhEIjmwX8

[Adam Boxer @adamboxer1]

While I thoroughly enjoyed this blog, I also disagree with it. My full reply is on the blog, but broadly:

- Students cannot judge whether or not they know how to do something well
- Teachers cannot judge whether or not students know how to do something well
- If you allow AI in one student-facing context, it will creep into all student-facing contexts

In my view, as I have argued before, we should basically not be allowing student-facing AI in educational contexts.

[Flying_Rodent @flying_rodent]

This is what happened in the siege of Sarajevo, which was said at the time to bring shame upon the entire continent.

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@PolitlcsUK @thetimes He's the prime minister! He can legislate!

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@WordMercenary Derogatory term for people who need a means of accessing a workplace invented by people who don't

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@BBCNews That's certainly an example of an editorial choice of how to word a headline

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@TheEconomist This is really offensive.

[Tom Chivers @TMChivers]

@ZackPolanski The photo the Mail has used here was taken in... 2017. How is the grass in Knole Park looking now after five heat waves? Oh... https://t.co/CHRTcieZmN

[Sir Norman of Nowhere. 🏴‍☠️ @Normanjam67]

Why is our Prime Minister pretending to be upset about the rise in water bills like the most powerful person in the country is powerless to prevent it happening?

[Tom Hatfield @WordMercenary]

Here's the thing guys: we already paid you for clean water and no pollution. If you failed to provide it and then ask for more money this is what is known as "a scam".

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

Good luck to him, he's really going to need it

[Ed Miliband @Ed_Miliband]

These heatwaves are sending us a message.

[Tom Hatfield @WordMercenary]

The thing the globe emojis told you wouldn't happen is happening

[Anon Opin. @anon_opin]

We're gonna do it, aren't we? We're actually gonna do it. We're gonna let greedy rich cunts cook the planet and suck it dry of energy and water just so bots can send emails to other bots. Un-fucking-believable.

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@PoliticoForYou I remember seeing a discussion about this and the consensus winner was outlawing ticket price additions between initial purchase and checkout, so this is very close

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@googleearth This is a terrible, awful idea.

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@ripplebrain Already been done tbf
https://t.co/K7NxNnCjtJ

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@adamboxer1 I'd predict those 30 have absolutely never included English Language GCSE or Maths GCSE though, which is largely what people are referring to re inbuilt failure (possibly without realising)

[Simon Nussbaum @NussbaumSimon]

@PaddocastSports This is a very good post. Though I doubt that will get through to the comments.