Forget Artificial Intelligence doomsday talk. Generative AI is the educational future, and Olgun Sadik’s eureka moment was sparked in part by helping his daughters, Hazel and Gülce, succeed in their school. The result has this Luddy School of Informatics, Computing, and Engineering lecturer spreading the word near and far.
Case in point -- Sadik gave a February K through 12 workshop at the Hoosier Association of Science Teachers Conference in Indianapolis that drew more than 60 teachers. Then came a virtual workshop in early April for teachers in the Turkish city of Kocaeli that had more than 90 participants, and led to a mid-April collaboration with Türkiye’s Ministry of Education’s eTwinning initiative for a Microsoft Teams workshop for Turkish teachers that had more than 350 participants from all over the country.
Sadik was also a panel speaker at a recent Indiana University statewide IT conference for faculty and students that centered on using generative AI, popularized by Open AI’s ChatGPT, a chatbot that writes text as if done by a human, in higher education and as a learning tool.
“AI affects education, but it is a game changer in engineering education,” he says. “There are concerns, but there are so many great benefits, so much productivity. It helps you create ideas. It’s very good at creating ideas, summarizing, and even giving feedback to students. It’s like a personal assistant.
“Teachers need to understand the context of generative AI -- the benefits, limitations and concerns. Employers use it. Engineers use it. Entrepreneurs use it. It is the today and the future.”
More workshop opportunities are coming as Sadik showcases what generative AI, and the Luddy School, can do.
“It lets me talk about IU and Luddy,” he says. “It’s important to tell people about what we do here at the school and the Intelligent Systems Engineering program.”
Sadik calls education his “passion.” He’s given workshops for teachers for more than 10 years in the United States and beyond.
His research includes emerging learning technologies. He works extensively with generative AI for teaching and learning purposes, crucial in an ever-increasing AI-reliant world.
“Some people are resistant to new things,” he says. “I am open. I like to try new things and take risks. In my own exploration of innovative teaching methods, I experienced the transformative potential of AI. It’s not just about integrating technology in the classroom; it’s about leveraging AI to create experiential and real-life connected learning environments that engage students like never before.”
In his Luddy School classes, “instead of telling students don’t use AI, I encourage it and, at times, require it. There are so many benefits coming from generative AI, and engineering students need to learn how to use them.”
Realization started with his daughter, Hazel. She was taking an elementary school spelling test, which required her to memorize the spelling without providing deeper context of the word’s meaning.
Sadik says generative AI delivers a more effective learning strategy. He had it create stories around words, with his daughter supplying the words.
He says it works well with children who sometimes don’t want to read. With generative AI, he asks his daughters what they want to read about today, such as archeology or an archeological site. One example with his daughter, Gülce, began with the idea of an American girl visiting Türkiye. Generative AI created a 1,000-word story around that idea.
“My daughters control what they want to read. They have the autonomy. They come up with the idea, and generative AI creates the rest of it.”
For Sadik, more workshops are coming, more opportunities to showcase what generative AI and the Luddy School can do in Bloomington, in the state, in the country, and beyond.
“I can help teachers and students,” he says. “They need AI literacy to be ready for the fast-coming future.”
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Twenty-two teachers at Bloomington High School North -- about three miles from IU’s campus -- focused as Sadik and Mary Loveless, Luddy School faculty lecturer, demonstrated generative AI possibilities during a recent 45-minute workshop at the school. It was an afterschool event that drew teachers from science, math, social studies and art departments.
Asked to describe their thoughts on AI, the teachers’ one-word comments ranged from “tool” to “magic” to “innovative” to “threat” to “cheater.”
Sadik said that “mixed-feeling” response was similar to what teachers had expressed at other workshops.
The goal is to help teachers use generative AI efficiently, effectively and ethically. AI can help problem solving while addressing issues such as privacy, ethics, good decision-making and sustainability.
Science teacher Amber Dehner said she uses AI personally and professionally, but hasn’t yet used it in a teaching setting. She wasn’t sure if students would have access to it with their school-issued devices (the Monroe County School Corporation limits Internet use), but if they did, she was receptive to using AI as a “learning and refining tool.”
Overall, the teachers were interested in learning more about using AI, but wanted to ensure students were “doing their own work” and not letting AI do the work for them.
One teacher wanted to know more about the rules and policies IU has in place for generative AI use.
The bottom line, Sadik said, is that it’s important for teachers to use generative AI because it’s the future, and “the future is coming like a fast-moving train.”