More than half of educators鈥�59 percent鈥攁re not currently using ChatGPT and other artificial intelligence tools, according to an EdWeek Research Center survey.
What鈥檚 more, 37 percent of respondents鈥攚hich included district and school leaders and teachers鈥攕ay they have never used the tools and don鈥檛 plan to start. More than one in five鈥�22 percent鈥攕ay they don鈥檛 plan to give the technology a try this school year, but hope to do so in the future.
The most popular reason among teachers for eschewing the game-changing technology, at least for now? An already full plate of responsibilities. Nearly half of the teachers surveyed鈥�46 percent鈥攕aid 鈥淚 haven鈥檛 explored these tools because I have other priorities that are more important.鈥�
The EdWeek Research Center鈥檚 nationally representative survey of 924 educators, including teachers and school and district leaders, was conducted online from Nov. 30 to Dec. 6 of last year. (The chart featured in this story includes responses from teachers only.)
Educators 鈥渄on鈥檛 see that they have an AI problem right now,鈥� said Pat Yongpradit, the chief academic officer for Code.Org and leader of Teach AI, an initiative to help K-12 schools use AI technology effectively. 鈥淭hey have a learning loss problem. They have a teacher turnover problem. But they don鈥檛 have an AI problem. It鈥檚 not like parents are knocking on the door, saying 鈥極h, you don鈥檛 have guidance on AI.鈥欌��
Other common answers appear to point to the need for more professional development on AI. More than a third of the teachers surveyed鈥�36 percent鈥攕aid they aren鈥檛 using the tools because they don鈥檛 know how to. And another third鈥�33 percent鈥攕aid they were avoiding them because their districts hadn鈥檛 yet outlined a policy on using AI.
Other teachers said they weren鈥檛 sure whether they could use the tools effectively, don鈥檛 understand how AI works, or have data privacy concerns.
And nearly one in five said they weren鈥檛 using the tools because they don鈥檛 believe AI is appropriate for a K-12 setting, given its potential to help students cheat.
Some states and districts are beginning to help teachers learn the basics of AI to help bridge the knowledge gap.
One of the reasons California became one of the first states to release guidance on using AI in classrooms was because 鈥渨e needed to let the education community know what this is all about. What to be careful of, what to be excited about,鈥� said Katherine Goyette, the computer science coordinator for the California Department of Education.
Data analysis for this article was provided by the EdWeek Research Center. Learn more about the center鈥檚 work.
