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10THE ROLE OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE (AI) IN PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT OF TEACHER EDUCATORS - OPPORTUNITIES AND
CHALLENGES Raveenthiran Vivekanantharasa
E-mail: rvive@ou.ac.lk
B.Ed, HNDE, Diploma in IT, CTHE, MSc(Management), MPhil-PhD Senior Lecturer Faculty of Education The Open University of Sri Lanka Sri Lanka
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.12632838
Abstract. Artificial Intelligence (AI) paves the way people interact with technology and the way of life. Artificial Intelligence helps for innovation in education. Artificial intelligence has the potential to revolutionize the field of education, especially the field of teacher education. This article aims to investigate the role of AI in professional development of teacher educators analyzing the opportunities and challenges. The concept of AI is clearly explained and its role in professional development of teacher educators is also discussed with the relevant literature. Especially, challenges and opportunities of AI in professional development of teacher educators are also analyzed for the purpose of professional development of teacher educators. This article explores how AI can improve the quality of teacher educators with successful professional development, enhancing teacher educators' skills, and facilitating personalized learning. It also highlights the importance of ethical, social, and cultural implications of AI in professional development of teacher educators. AI has the potential role in the new technology-based transformation of teacher educators through professional development with the influence of AI. There are opportunities and challenges in the use ofAI in professional development of teacher educators.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, Professional development of teacher educators, challenges, and opportunities.
Introduction
Artificial Intelligence can be defined as machines that can perform the tasks that humans carry out through their thinking. The usage of Artificial intelligence is growing at an unprecedented rate & it is rapidly changing the aspects of human life [Afiya Jamal,2023,1]. Emerging digital technologies, such as Big Data, Cloud Computing, Artificial Intelligence (AI), Internet of Things (IoT), Virtual Reality, Blockchain, and their convergence, are becoming the driving forces of change in all aspects of life and specifically education. The Covid-19 pandemic had the potential to increase deficiencies and the expanding digital divide even more precisely. It is important to understand that Artificial Intelligence can support teachers, through the provision of educational applications, in the same way as these technologies are reshaping other fields [Salas-Pilco et al., 2022, 6]. "The main purpose of developing artificial intelligence is to make computers combined with mechanical equipment competent for some complex work which usually needs human intelligence and greatly reduce the burden of human beings" [Xue & Wang, 2022, 8].
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Castrounis in 2016 defined AI "The ability to perceive information and retain its knowledge to be applied towards adaptive behaviors within an environment or context." and the second definition by Rapid Miner in 2017 is "Any technique which enables computers to mimic human behavior". Moreover, according to the Council of Europe, "AI is a collection of sciences, theories, and methods aimed at replicating human cognitive abilities through machines. UNICEF defines AI as machine-based systems guided by human-defined objectives that predict, provide recommendations, and make decisions impacting real or virtual environments.
The concept of AI started in the year 1950 when Alan Turing Alan Turing published his work "Computer Machinery and Intelligence" which eventually became The Turing Test, which experts used to measure computer
intelligence and he discussed the thinking machine. Furthermore, in 1973, Lighthil contradicted to the point of Alan Turing by saying that machines could not understand human language. From this point the new inventions of AI started in the world. The two countries UK and Japan took the initiative of funding the 'expert system' which is also known as "narrow AI."
There are three types of AI which are 1. Artificial Narrow Intelligence (ANI) 2. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and 3. Artificial Super Intelligence (ASI). Artificial Narrow Intelligence is also called weak Artificial Intelligence. This type of AI is mainly used to complete specific jobs without learning beyond what it is meant for. This includes reinforcement learning where people learn to make decisions and take actions to achieve certain objectives within a defined environment. The second type of AI is Artificial General Intelligence. This includes additional strategies and steps from Narrow AI. The computer system that we are using is a clear example for this. Artificial Super Intelligence is the third type of AI that is also called Super AI. This type of AI is more advantaged to the world as it deals with more superpowers like humans and beyond human intelligence. At the same time, it is considered dangerous for humans in the world.
The integration of AI in education has the potential to transform the way teachers are trained and to enhance the quality of teacher education. The rate of adoption of AI in education is comparatively low as compared to other fields, such as medicine, industry, and finance. These applications have several purposes-for example, to visualize pre- and in-service teachers' behaviors and interactions, to assess their video-based oral presentations through automatic scoring, to introduce AI literacy to in-service teachers, etc. [Afiya Jamal, 2023, 1]. The figure below clearly explains how AI influences in the field of teacher education.
Figure 1: Artificial intelligence in teacher education. Source: Adapted from
Afiya Jamal, 2023 AI in professional development of teacher educators
Rafeal Mitchell in 2013 cited that professional development is the outcome of multiple 'specific changes' accrued through teacher learning. Evans' definition of professional development also includes time as a dimension, in that it is 'the process whereby people's professionalism may be considered to be enhanced, with a degree of permanence that exceeds transitoriness. Guskey identifies three main goals of professional development: change in the classroom practices of teachers, change in their attitudes and beliefs, and change in the learning outcomes of students [Rafeal Mitchell, 2013, 3]. As cited by Rafeal Mitchell in 2013, professional development in the field of education has connected with three main areas. The figure below shows what the areas are:
Behavioural development
processual
change
procedural
change
productive
change
competential
change
Attitudinal development
• perceptual change
• evaluative change
• motivational change
Intellectual development
• epistemological change
• rationalistic change
• comprehensive change
• analytical change
Figure 2: Professional development in education
Source: Adapted from Rafeal Mitchell, 2013
According to Rachelle Dené Poth (2023), professional development (PD) focused on implementing classroom technology goes beyond simply training educators in how to use it and apply it to their curriculum. It requires rich and personalized learning experiences that will engage educators and enable them to see the possibilities available for amplifying learning through educational technology. Moreover, Rachelle Dené Poth in 2023 explained that Technology will continue to evolve, and the tools we use will change and be increasingly powered by AI. In addition, AI tools usually attempt to contribute to or even take over some of the typical professional development tasks such as planning learning activities or to monitor how students are engaged. The use of AI tools in the field of education relates to the learning activities based on the curriculum, choose materials, deliver the content, orchestrate classroom activities, observe how students are engaged in the learning process, and respond to student actions, assess, and diagnose abilities that take time to develop and refine.
Moreover, developing human-centered design of AI and teacher educators' partnerships are another important role of AI in the field of professional development of teacher educators in the field of teacher education. The application of AI in ODL expands with various aspects such as Pre-counselling and Postguidance, Instruction/ Tutoring, Immediate Feedback, Gamification/Simulations, Learner Support, Collaborative Environment and Community of Learning, Leaner Performance Evaluation, and Training of ODL Functionaries. According to Dickson, 2017, AI is capable of giving respond to questions, offer customized dynamic solution, providing examples that are based on the current knowledge level of the learner, Optimizing the instructional system, helping learners to adopt productive learning behavior.
Moreover, AI paves the way for authentic teaching and learning in ODL. AI brings the real-life experience into practice by different strategies. For example, Virtual reality and Augmented reality technologies are two main aspects of AI in
authentic way of teaching and learning in ODL. Personalized learning experience and adaptive assessment are another benefit of AI in ODL. In adaptive assessment AI helps to go beyond traditional types of questions and dynamically adjust the difficulty level and type of questions based on the students' performance.
Machine learning (ML) and Deep learning (DL) are another main concept in professional development of teacher educators. According to Rahman Shafique, et al (2023), Artificial intelligence (AI) comprises various sub-fields, including machine learning (ML) and deep learning (DL) perform a key role in the transformation of many industries, including education.
Another important development of professional development for teacher educators is introducing Open Educational Resources (OER). Open educational resources (OER) refer to freely accessible, openly licensed educational materials that can be utilized for teaching and learning in formal and informal education settings. Generative artificial intelligence (AI), with its vast potential in data processing and pattern recognition, offers transformative possibilities for creating and curating OER content (Stefanie Panke, 2024, 4).
Opportunities and challenges of AI in Teacher educators' professional development
Teacher educators face different opportunities and challenges in the application of AI in professional development. The opportunities of AI in professional development are customizing learning approach in professional development learning. It helps to be more engaging and interactive, resulting in more effective learning outcomes for students of all ages. An AI-powered application like a virtual tutor in professional development learning programmes can cater to the individual learning needs of every student, providing them with an adaptive and interactive learning experience. Accelerating the learning process is another opportunity of AI in professional development of teacher educators which encourages learners to be active with new technological ideas. According to Kudan Singh (2024), The use of AI tools, Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR), enables students of all ages to create an engaging learning experience.
Moreover, there are challenges in the use of AI in professional development of teacher educators. Lack of technological infrastructure of AI technologies is one of the main challenges. Kudan Singh (2024) stated that One of the biggest AI in education challenges is the lack of technologies essential for implementing the transformative powers that AI can bring to the field of education. Problems of unavailability of modern electrical equipment, inadequacy of information technology hardware, unavailability of consistent internet, high, data costs, and lack of skills are the critical challenges that limit the materialization of AI power in education. Another challenge is lack of trained educators in applying AI technologies in the field of education.
Conclusion
As an advanced technological aspect, AI plays an important role in developing the field of education. Importantly, professional development of teacher educators in relation to teacher education includes AI technologies for developing the field of teacher education successfully with more innovative ideas.
References:
1. Jamal, A. (2023). The Role of Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Teacher Education: Opportunities & Challenges. 10. 140-146.
2. Kudan Singh, (2024). What are the opportunities and challenges for AI in education? https://www.birchwoodu.org/what-are-the-opportunities-and-challenges-for-ai-in-education/
3. Mitchell, R. (2013). What is professional development, how does it occur in individuals, and how may it be used by educational leaders and managers for the purpose of school improvement? Professional Development in Education. 39. 387-400. 10.1080/19415257.2012.762721.
4. Panke, S. (2024). Open Educational Resources and Artificial Intelligence for Future Open Education. Mousaion: South African Journal of Information Studies. 42. 10.25159/2663-659X/15106.
5. Rachelle, D. P. (2023). Effective Professional Development on AI https://www.edutopia.org/article/ai-professional-development-helps-teachers-techintegration/
6. Salas-Pilco, S. Z., Xiao, K., & Hu, X. (2022). Artificial Intelligence and Learning Analytics in Teacher Education: A Systematic Review. Education Sciences, 12, 569. https://doi.org/10.3390/educsci12080569
7. Shafique, R., Aljedaani, W., Rustam, F., Lee, E., Mehmood, A., and Choi, G. S. (2023). "Role of Artificial Intelligence in Online Education: A Systematic Mapping Study," in IEEE Access, vol. 11, pp. 52570-52584, 2023, doi: 10.1109/ACCESS.2023.3278590.
8. Xue, Y., & Wang, Y. (2022b). Artificial Intelligence for Education and Teaching. Wireless Communications and Mobile Computing, 2022, e4750018. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/4750018
