The Department of Education has published the culmination of research supporting the potential of generative AI across different use cases in education, though more work is to be done to develop the tools.

The two research papers – one on user research and one on the technical aspect of genAI in education – were published as the UK government’s Department for Science, Innovation, and Technology (DSIT) announced a £4 million investment in developing AI tools for use in education.

Tools would be used by teachers and administrators to lessen their workload, and involve tools to check for plagiarism, grade work, and provide feedback to students.

The research papers revealed the processes involved in testing genAI technology in educational contexts, including several hackathons where teachers used AI tools to help them grade papers and provide student feedback.

Focussing on how AI could reduce teacher’s day to day workload and accomplish repetitive tasks, the hackathons involved educators, computer scientist, and researchers coming together to develop the AI tools.

However, while each use case piloted by the hackathons had significant potential, none were thought to be ready for a rollout across schools.

The project did develop a proof of concept tool that was able to take a student’s work, detect any errors, including anything linked to the national curriculum, and generate feedback for both student and teacher, as well as create a series of studying activities directly linked to any mistakes or key lesson areas.

Teachers had mixed opinions on the tool, with some ultimately seeing the positives of genAI’s impact on their workload, with others concerned about associated risks, such as a lack of trust and an over-reliance on the tool.

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Further, teachers wanted training, funding, and help from experts to increase their knowledge of genAI in their education, and how to do so safely.

The research paper did admit that genAI is rapidly evolving, as well as educational tools using the emerging technology. This has put its own research at risk of soon falling behind AI’s continued advancement.

“For example, in the time since the hackathons, new EdTech tools have come to market that address (or partly address) some of the use cases explored, and a key part of the challenge for schools and educators in the adoption of genAI is navigating this changing landscape,” the paper read.

According to a survey from TeacherTapp, around half of teachers are already using AI tools to help them with their work.