Another factor in reluctance toward AI may be unfamiliarity with the technology. Microsoft’s AI in Education report found that 68% of educators have used AI once or twice, and 22% say they use it daily. However, only 24% said they knew a lot about AI.
Most educators who participated in this study are likely seeking to better understand how emerging technologies can be applied to their administrative and classroom work.
AI benefits productivity and differentiated learning
Teachers are busy juggling all the demands of their jobs: managing classrooms, grading assignments, planning lessons, communicating with parents and families, meeting administrative requirements, and more. Generative AI is ideally suited to address these pressing teacher needs.
According to Carnegie Learning, teachers who use AI see a variety of benefits from using it.
42% said using AI reduced the time they spend on administrative tasks. 25% reported benefiting from AI’s ability to support personalized learning. 18% reported benefits related to increased student engagement. 17% pointed to the benefits of AI in improving student learning outcomes.
Notably, only 1% of respondents felt there was no benefit to using AI in the classroom.
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Looking at the specific tasks where AI is being applied, the majority (52%) of Carnegie Learning respondents use the technology for brainstorming and idea generation. Some people use it to create teaching materials, plan lessons, and grade assignments.
Overall improvements in productivity and personalized learning are reflected in both CoSN and Microsoft reports. Among Microsoft respondents, 24% used AI to update lesson plans and support materials and assignments.
Biggest concerns include AI training and student cheating
Although educators see valuable benefits in using AI, they also have concerns about the technology. When CoSN asked about the biggest risks of AI, 63% were concerned about new forms of cyber-attacks and 49% cited a lack of teacher training to incorporate AI into instruction. Concerns about training and classroom integration were also high among Microsoft respondents, with 50% believing lack of training and support was their biggest challenge.
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However, the most widespread concern among Microsoft and Carnegie Learning educators concerned student cheating and plagiarism.
CoSN educators echoed this concern, with 20% of respondents saying they worked in a school district that used tools to detect AI-generated answers from student work. Clearly, this is a major concern for educators and involves thorny questions of ethical considerations with no easy answers.
