Abstract:
Over the past two years, the CSinc Research Centre at TU Dublin has facilitated several NVIDIA-certified workshops, specifically on The Fundamentals of Deep Learning. Prior to these Artificial Intelligence workshops, other professional learning events which the research team facilitated, typically had very low attendance (5-8 teachers per workshop), where these included events on the upper second-level computer science curriculum covering more general topics such as data analytics or Python programming. Conversely, the NVIDIA workshops were very well attended by second-level teachers, with around 100 teachers attending each workshop.
Given the substantial increase in attendance, we aimed to investigate what motivates teachers to engage with this type of technical Continuous Professional Learning workshops. To this end, we conducted several surveys with participants, investigating why they elected to attend an industry-level certification workshop, their self-reported importance of AI concepts in the classroom and, finally, what follow-on resources and professional learning events they would like in order to support their teaching. Our initial results indicate that improving technical understanding is a priority for teachers (even over industry-level certification itself). Furthermore, teachers prioritised technical learning for themselves, but ethical/human-centred AI for students. A positive note is that teachers predominantly report that they believe that human-centred AI is the most important concept in second-level Artificial Intelligence education. Supports which teachers would like to see developed included: linking content to the curriculum; an introductory approach to Machine Learning and the generic use of Artificial Intelligence.
As the integration of AI into the evolving Irish upper second-level curriculum continues to develop, alongside an increasing emphasis on human-centred approaches to AI design and application, there is a growing need for structured Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) initiatives supported by accessible resources and pedagogically grounded supports for teachers.
Given the substantial increase in attendance, we aimed to investigate what motivates teachers to engage with this type of technical Continuous Professional Learning workshops. To this end, we conducted several surveys with participants, investigating why they elected to attend an industry-level certification workshop, their self-reported importance of AI concepts in the classroom and, finally, what follow-on resources and professional learning events they would like in order to support their teaching. Our initial results indicate that improving technical understanding is a priority for teachers (even over industry-level certification itself). Furthermore, teachers prioritised technical learning for themselves, but ethical/human-centred AI for students. A positive note is that teachers predominantly report that they believe that human-centred AI is the most important concept in second-level Artificial Intelligence education. Supports which teachers would like to see developed included: linking content to the curriculum; an introductory approach to Machine Learning and the generic use of Artificial Intelligence.
As the integration of AI into the evolving Irish upper second-level curriculum continues to develop, alongside an increasing emphasis on human-centred approaches to AI design and application, there is a growing need for structured Continuous Professional Learning (CPL) initiatives supported by accessible resources and pedagogically grounded supports for teachers.