Within a couple of years, Artificial Intelligence (AI) has gone from undiscussed to ubiquitous. Innovation expert Mr Alex Jenkins (91–99) believes students have exciting times ahead.

Mr Jenkins is Director of the WA Data Science Innovation Hub.

If you want to observe palpable relief, put a selection of teachers in the audience of an AI talk and wait for the moment they learn computers will never replace them.

In fact, according to speaker Mr Alex Jenkins, an Old Collegian and director of the WA Data Science Innovation Hub at Curtin, advances in artificial intelligence will actually give teachers more time to focus on what they love: meaningful student interaction.

“Technology will not replace teachers or educators,” he said. “There’s so much of education that is essentially human that this technology cannot replace. I do not see the technology replacing teachers or educational systems in the classroom, I see it empowering them to do more.”

Mr Jenkins was at Wesley to give a presentation called ‘AI and Our Children’ as part of our regular WES Talk series, proudly supported by our P&F. In front of an audience of more than 100 parents and teachers, he outlined what AI currently offers and where it’s headed.

“AI is going to change the way that education and research works. It’s going to be a huge part of our economy into the future. And I also believe that generative AI presents an incredible opportunity in education.”

One of the most exciting areas of AI development is generative AI, which creates text, data, images and videos. Think in terms of being able to type in a random prompt like: ‘show me a video of ancient Romans racing on electric scooters’ and have a flawless rendition play a few moments later.

Do we need to see that, specifically? No – and such free creative rein does lead to the potential for deep fakes. However, embraced correctly, the technology opens the possibility of wild ideas like a student being able to learn from a flawless replica of a public figure they admire.

“Imagine if you could have a history lesson on US politics from Barack Obama or a music lesson from Lady Gaga. Think how engaging it could be for a student, all based on their individual learning style and individual progression through the syllabus.”

Mr Jenkins makes the point that teachers are indispensable.

One of the biggest issues for both teachers and parents is keeping up with the evolving technology and understanding how to embrace it to benefit the student. “This sheer rate of change in this technology is unprecedented,” Alex explained. “I have been working with technology since before the Internet was around and I have never seen a technology move so quickly.”

It’s very likely that the entire concept of how students learn will be examined in the near future. After all, the process of a class of students learning the same thing, at the same time, from a teacher at the front dates back to the Industrial Revolution.

Alex envisioned a future where artificial intelligence acts as an educational assistant, supporting teachers rather than replacing them. “This technology will empower teachers to do what they do best and more,” he said, emphasising that the human element of education will remain irreplaceable.

Some educators are already trying fresh approaches to learning, such as Sal Khan of the Khan Academy. He offers educational resources online and promotes a ‘flipped classroom’ model. In this model, students learn concepts at home and practise them in class.

The backbone of this is a principle called ‘mastery learning’, where students only move on to new topics once they have mastered the previous ones, which could be significantly enhanced by AI. “Imagine if the AI knew exactly where your child’s progress was and how they liked to learn,” Alex suggested. “AI could provide personalised tutoring for every student, addressing their specific needs and learning styles.”

Summing up, Alex encouraged us to strap in and rethink our expectations of education. “A few hundred years ago, it was believed only a few people could read. Today, we know this is nonsense. So where are we with our expectations for our children’s learning?”

None of us knows for sure what advances AI will bring, but it’s guaranteed to transform the way we approach learning for students and their (definitely still needed!) teachers.

Mr Adam Kealley, Head of Academics & Innovation, was pleased to make the opening remarks for Mr Jenkins.