Missed Dan Fitzpatrick’s AI Classroom session at Bett? Using ChatGPT, we distil the key takeaways

At Bett we hate to disappoint our audience, so the popularity of Dan Fitzpatrick’s Bett Academy Live session was bittersweet. We loved the buzz around his Thursday lunchtime session, when there wasn’t even any standing room left, but for Health & Safety reasons we had to turn many people away. For those who missed out, we’ve we summarized the session.

Dan’s talk was based on his book, The AI Classroom, released at Bett. And what a better way to review it than using an AI tool? If Dan’s claims are true, this should make our work more efficient and thorough – and perhaps even more fun.

For the record, we haven’t shirked from reading the book, all 356 pages of it. One of the key things we learnt was that to get the most out of AI, we must ask the right questions, in the right way. Dan has devised a framework for doing this that he calls PREP – an easy acronym for educators to remember.

Prompt:  Introduce the question with a prompt
Role: Give it a role or a voice
Explicit: Be explicit in your instructions
Parameters: Set the parameters of the answer.
 

Using this framework, we devised this prompt for AskAI, which is powered by ChatGPT and GPT4:

Summarise the book ‘The AI Classroom’ by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox and Brad Weinstein.

You are a book reviewer for an EdTech publication.

Include what it tells us about AI, and its impact - now and in the future - on education. And look at how it rates as a practical guide for educators.

The book promises to be ‘the ultimate guide to Artificial Intelligence in Education.’ Assess how well it lives up to this story promise in the style of a book reviewer at an EdTech publication.
 

AskAI gave us this response:

"The AI Classroom" by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein is a comprehensive guide to understanding and implementing artificial intelligence (AI) in education. The book covers various topics related to AI, including machine learning, natural language processing, and robotics, and offers practical advice on how to use AI tools in the classroom.

The authors explain how AI can be used to personalize learning, increase student engagement, and provide real-time feedback to both students and teachers. They also discuss the ethical implications of using AI in education, such as data privacy and bias.

One of the strengths of the book is its emphasis on the importance of teacher training in AI. The authors stress that educators need to be familiar with AI technologies and their potential benefits and limitations in order to effectively integrate them into their teaching practices.

Overall, "The AI Classroom" lives up to its promise of being the ultimate guide to AI in education. It offers a wealth of information and practical advice for educators looking to incorporate AI into their classrooms. While some of the technical details may be overwhelming for those without a background in computer science, the authors do an excellent job of explaining complex concepts in a clear and accessible manner.

As a practical guide for educators, "The AI Classroom" is highly recommended. The authors provide numerous examples of how AI can be used in different subject areas and grade levels, and offer step-by-step instructions on how to implement AI tools in the classroom. Whether you are a teacher looking to incorporate AI into your teaching or an administrator looking to understand the potential impact of AI on education, this book is an excellent resource.
 

So how did we rate the AI review of The AI Classroom?

I was pleased at the lack of wordiness, a common human failing, particularly given that I omitted to give a word count. The tone was spot-on, the review covered what I’d asked, and was formulated in a matter of seconds. Which leaves me wondering, what I can I say about The AI Classroom that AskAI hasn’t already told you?

There are a few things that weren’t covered by the AskAI review – for example although it’s really useful to have a guide to some of the tools out there, I did wonder how soon these will get out of date. But in general, it’s an accurate summary that has saved me a great deal of thinking and writing time. I’m not totally convinced that AskAI has actually read the book (would copyright even allow it?) or whether it just pulled from the descriptions and reviews of the book that it found online. It feels a bit surface level, reminding me of how my husband answers when he’s not fully engaged (:-)). But I can’t find anything factually wrong with the analysis.

One area, however, where I think it could have been stronger is in defining the value proposition beyond my prompt. For me, AI Classroom was helpful practically, in terms of the prompt, and on a deeper level. It was the challenge to go beyond the AI analysis that really made me think. And therein lies the great value of this book. It’s more than a useful guide to using AI in the classroom, it’s a challenge to educators to up their game, freeing themselves and their students for even greater creativity.

The AI Classroom by Daniel Fitzpatrick, Amanda Fox, and Brad Weinstein is available here.

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