If You Don't Wait, You're Wasting Your Time

Justin Steele, Educational Technology Supervisor at CADDO PARISH SCHOOL DISTRICT

As educational technology leaders, we’re blessed with being highly inquisitive as well as early adopters. To the former point, we thrive on the act of knowing, and tend to be what Malcolm Gladwell calls “Mavens”.¹ We are constantly devouring the latest news from our aggregators, or subreddits, and can’t keep this knowledge to ourselves. We spread the information as far and wide as we can, sometimes with little more thought into our sharing other than, “Hey, I think you’ll find this interesting…”

To the latter point, we’re who all of our friends call when they need help knowing which router to buy. We’re who are tasked to provide a detailed, almost academic, analysis of paid streaming TV platforms (because we’ve tried them all, and let me tell you this one is best). Whether by experience or research, we’re the trusted voice for all new tech coming into our friends’ and colleagues’ homes.

The COVID pandemic has perfectly encapsulated our work in both of these realms while exposing a new problem. Once COVID hit our districts, there was little time to think, and even less time to act. Five-year roadmaps for 1:1 device implementation were abbreviated and completed within a couple of months. District central offices became distribution hubs as we rapidly deployed thousands of devices into the hands of our students with an efficiency which until then had been unrealized. We developed habits and patterns that have become hard to shake, thanks to our reputations and successful handling of the COVID pandemic. And therein comes the problem- the expected quickness with which we have to address every crisis, from molehill to mountain.

“we’re who all of our friends call when they need help knowing which router to buy.”

The rapidity with which we as leaders and service providers adapted to external circumstances was also unprecedented. Our calls to action in March 2020 have since influenced our decisions regarding new tech and trends. Now, we’re faced with another shifting landscape and expected to have the answers just as quickly- the influx of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and bots in our schools and classrooms. While teachers' predilections are shifting in favor of tools like ChatGPT for themselves (their favor of it for students still lies in question), from my conversations, district leadership’s view of these tools remains a toss-up from district to district.

This is where I give you permission. Permission to pause. Permission to rest. To reflect, and reconcile. At a recent event, a speaker said, “If you don’t wait, you’re wasting your time.” This expression was used in concert with horticulture and the growing seasons. To explain the metaphor, those less experienced in horticulture will catch the first warm weather of the season, and then immediately tend to their flowers, trees, and crops. But inevitably, there’s one more freeze lurking around the corner, which means all that work will have been for nought. If you don’t wait, you’re wasting your time. This is applicable when looking at ChatGPT and other AI based tools- don’t rush so quickly to make a determination of its place in your district. New information appears nearly daily about how detrimental OpenAI’s privacy policy and user protections² are, and conversely, there are growing conversations about the inherent inequities faced by students in districts that block ChatGPT and other AI tools.

Just this week (March 13th), Open AI demoed the latest model of ChatGPT called GPT-4, which among other improvements can detect items in images and generate prompts based off of what is found. That alone raises a new level of privacy and ethical concerns, while at the same time, Microsoft announced they were letting go of their AI Ethics³team to further drive innovation in the AI space. And I’m aware that to you early adopters, these points may seem antithetical to the argument I’m making, but it isn’t. It’s true that if you wait for your perfect smartphone that you’ll either be waiting forever, or long enough that you buy it and the newer, improved version is released soon after. But, privacy and ethical considerations aren’t features on a smartphone. Especially as it pertains to the safety and security of our staff and students.

Let’s celebrate and recognize how successfully we addressed technology needs during the pandemic. However, now that we have time to pause, reflect, and respond, remember: If you don’t wait, you’re wasting your time.

Microsoft

Artificial Intelligence

Educational Technology