EMBRACING CHANGE

Chris O’Donnell, Head of Business and Economics, Sherborne School

It wasn’t that long ago that a typical Shirburnian would be seen hoisting a large day bag full of bulky folders around town. Teachers would spend hours of their week queuing for a photocopier. The reprographics room rivalled the staff room for a place to catch up on the latest gossip. Boys’ dormitories were full of paper and, as exams approached, A4 lever files coated in dust would be taken off shelves, ‘err ... what did I learn last year?’

The first Covid lockdown forced schools to embrace technology at an unprecedented rate. We’ve found the new technology to dramatically impact the way students share information, revise and receive feedback. Seen a good article in The Economists? Share it on our Yammer page. Not sure how to revise for your exams? Use our digital revision cue cards on your mobile phone - honestly, paper cards are soo pre-Covid! Need feedback on your homework assignment? Watch the video uploaded onto your Teams page by your teacher. Well, boys now carry sleek laptops into lessons –classrooms, devoid of paper, look unusually tidy – and teachers have had to learn a new set of jargon: Teams, Google Classroom, OneNote, Anki? No longer do we hear the excuse ‘the dog ate my homework’ - now it runs, ‘I’ve uploaded it - it can’t have synced yet, sir’. I can remember lecturing students for spending too long in front of screens - now I tell them, ‘Mobiles away and laptops on.’

I thought the impact of Covid would lead to the biggest change in education for a generation - that was, until the launch of the first artificially intelligent (AI) chatbot - CHAT GPT. It is hard to overestimate AI’s potential impact - Bill Gates describes it as, ‘fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone.’ Elon Musk labelled it the ‘death of homework.’ As a complete novice – it took me less than five minutes to generate answers of reasonable quality to last year’s essay questions in the Economics exam.

There has long been a debate in Economics about the role of technology and innovation in driving change. It is not hard to think of an industry that has experienced dramatic technology-driven disruption; Woolworths, HMV, Blockbuster Video - The High Street? Yet, education has been comparatively immune. OK, I agree, blackboards turned white, and emails replaced letters home, but – teaching and learning have remained relatively static – until now. The unprecedented pace of change provides a unique opportunity to transform learning and education –for the better. I agree that many teenagers spend an unhealthy amount of time in front of screens but how can we use technology to improve learning and feedback? How can we encourage students to use their mobile phones as a productivity tool – instead of an endless distraction? How can AI personalise learning so that each student learns optimally? How can we use technology to promote, rather than avoid, critical thinking? These are difficult questions to answer –maybe we should ask CHAT GPT. sherborne.org

Teaching and learning have changed dramatically and I suspect – the long-term benefits (and costs) have yet to be realised. There will, of course, be those who will argue to maintain a more traditional approach to teaching – a return to textbooks and good old-fashioned chalk ’n’ talk. The lesson from Economics is clear – as the former fans of Blockbuster will attest – those who do not embrace change tend to get left behind.

At The Table

Michela Chiappa