Artificial intelligence: SP will have newsroom ambassador – 07/03/2023 – Educação

The government of São Paulo will create a new position for teachers, that of “newsroom ambassador”. Teachers will be chosen to support the use of the artificial intelligence platform for the production of students’ texts, to be launched by the end of the year.

The information was given to Sheet by the state secretary of education, Renato Feder. According to him, “teachers who stand out in the use of the platform will be invited to leave the classrooms to act as newsroom ambassadors”. They will then visit the units to answer questions about using the system.

In Paraná, where a similar program was installed, there is criticism from teachers for flaws in the tool, lack of computers and internet and pressure for goals.

According to Feder, the ambassadors’ program will be similar to that of Paraná – he was the state’s Secretary of Education from 2019 to 2022.

At the end of 2020, he launched Redação Paraná, an artificial intelligence system that corrects student texts. The platform was developed by the government of Paraná and will serve as the basis for the São Paulo version.

The tool uses artificial intelligence to pre-correct the students’ essays, pointing out spelling and grammar errors. Afterwards, the student forwards the text to the professor, who answers questions that systematize the correction, such as “How does the text adhere to the proposed theme?”, “Does it work with the argumentation?” etc. The program then assigns a grade to the essay.

During his term in Paraná, according to Feder, the newsroom’s ambassadors did not receive a separate remuneration. “They earned as if they were giving classes, but they could choose to act in that other role”, explained the secretary.

Feder told Sheet who will still study how the program will be organized in São Paulo, which faces a lack of teachers.

Redação Paraná is the target of a series of criticisms from educators who use it. “The platform came up with many problems, including formatting the texts. Furthermore, it only manages to avoid plagiarism among the students’ own essays, it does not detect copies of external content”, said Cláudia Gruber, 54, who has a master’s degree in literary studies from Federal University of Paraná, public school teacher in Paraná for 30 years and currently teaches writing for the 3rd year of high school.

According to her, the fact that the text already comes to the teachers with the corrections makes the work easier, on the one hand. “But, on the other hand, it distances the teacher from the difficulties of the students”.

“The system corrects the text, but it doesn’t guarantee that the student understands what he made a mistake and learns the right thing. And the teacher gets everything corrected, without knowing what mistakes the students are making”, said Cláudia, who is director of the Workers’ Union in Public Education of Paraná.

Another problem, in his assessment, is that the platform does not allow the teacher to take notes on essays. “The teacher’s role is restricted to answering the questions that will define the grade, which makes correction something cold.”

Cláudia also pointed out that the platform limits the writing models, focusing on the text standard required by Enem.

The teacher also pointed out that, in Enem, as well as in most entrance exams, essays are handwritten. “Training handwriting is different from writing on the computer, including from a neurological point of view. Students also have to learn to write in an aesthetically appropriate way, with understandable handwriting.”

She admitted that the artificial intelligence platform “can be interesting for students to practice writing”.

“The biggest problem was the imposition of use for all schools, which have different realities”, he said. “There has always been enormous pressure on teachers to set goals for producing essays ‘within the box’, which disregards the fact that it is often necessary to seek alternative ways in the classroom.”

Finally, one of the strongest criticisms is that, despite this charge, the government did not guarantee computers and internet access for everyone.

Simone Soares, 41, who has been a public school teacher in Paraná for 15 years, said that the schools’ Wi-Fi doesn’t always work and that she even has to use her cell phone’s 4G for students to connect to the Paraná Newsroom. Not to mention the insufficient number of computers. “How is a school that has only one laboratory with 20 computers for 12 classes of 40 students each going to handle this?”, asked the teacher, who teaches writing for the 8th and 9th grades.

“Most students don’t have a computer at home and many don’t even have a cell phone. You can’t require them to use the platform without offering them the conditions to do so”, said Simone.

Feder said that the platform in Paraná is being improved and that this experience will be used in São Paulo. He stated that, in the São Paulo teaching network, the number of students per computer in schools is between 6 and 7. “It is a good proportion. In Paraná, until last year, there were 20 students for each computer”, he said.