Brett Salakas calls for AI use in classrooms to be balanced with ‘humanity’

AI could be a useful tool to alleviate teachers’ workloads during a critical staff shortage, but an expert says the technology must be balanced with ‘humanity’.

AI in NT classrooms

AI use in content-heavy classes will see an “explosion” in the next year, but an expert warns the technology needs to be used in balance with humanity.

HP Education Ambassador Brett Salakas said the tool’s best use in the context of classrooms would be in alleviating teachers’ workloads, such as when giving personalised feedback or instructions to students for their work.

By way of example, Mr Salakas said a maths teacher with advanced and struggling students in one class could use AI to deliver a personalised introduction to the coursework.

HP Education Ambassador Brett Salakas.

“Really good teachers will differentiate the introduction so that the advanced kids get challenged and the kids that need extra support, get that extra support,” he said.

Mr Salakas said Australia was currently trialling AI “tutors” to deliver similar content in schools where a teacher for a particular subject is unavailable.

He pointed to the Territory’s teacher shortages, which had a particularly keen impact on remote schools.

“You might have a kid that really wants to do physics in a remote location, but maybe there’s no local physics teacher,” Mr Salakas said.

“If you had an AI tutor that was able to give effective introduction into a topic that wasn’t being carried by a school otherwise, then that’s a huge win for that community.

“The risk is the dehumanisation of the content, because... no 15 or 16-year-old does linear equations because a computer screen tells it to do linear equations.”

HP managing director Brad Pulford and Berry Springs Primary School principal Carlie Mamo celebrate the school's digital transformation in February.

Mr Salakas said students’ relationship with their teacher was usually a key motivator to complete schoolwork.

“AI almost highlights the need for humanity in the classroom, because we know it’s kind of like two sides of the same coin,” he said.

“It can help get content and expertise into areas where maybe there’s not any, but at the same time, it sort of highlights the fact that we also disadvantage a child if there’s not that human contact in the delivery of that content of that subject.”

Mr Salakas said adjusting the type of assignments students are given would mitigate the risk of students’ using tools like ChatGPT to complete their schoolwork.

For example, he said issuing group projects or oral presentations – tasks ChatGPT cannot complete on its own – would be the first step towards ensuring the quality of students’ learning is still high.

It comes as Berry Springs Primary School celebrates international recognition for its own digital transformation.

Mr Salakas previously worked with the school on its Reinvent the Classroom project, which received national recognition in February.