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      Some years ago I took a short online course called 'The Mind is Flat' which proposes that much of our behavior, thoughts, and feelings are shaped by external influences and immediate contexts, we basically learn from the available surroundings. 
    
      Back in the early 80's when I was first at college our learning was shaped by our tutors and the books available to us despite the fact that at the time I was on a computing course with no internet and even no word processing. The computers were just for programming and everything else was painstakingly handwritten.
    
      In the 1990s the internet appeared and despite the initial novelty and a lack of real depth of information this has grown exponentially over the years, and so has trust in the ability to quickly find resources using this medium. This has not always been the case, a fellow colleague comically shouted to me some years ago in response to learner actions in a computer room 'They're watching YouTube! Can't we stop it?'.
    
      We now have data synthesis in the form of generative AI, or ChatGPT as learners like to call it, which reminds me of people calling the vacuum by the common brand name 'hoover'. This is the scary stuff of many a Sci-Fi horror movie as it makes sense of not just what you are asking but it can seemingly work things out and tell you the answer in a friendly non-robotic way including via voice. I can imagine this horror has been played out several times over with the introduction of calculators, video tapes etc. Technology never stands still.
    
      So for Gen Z, the digital natives there is an expectation that technology will take some of the load of the learning process, even using copy/paste with generative AI. Some people suggest that this dangerous practice is enough for the magical latest technology to be banned. Did they ban the calculator (erm, yes actually in some exams!), were books initially banned (yes, throughout history). 
    
      The point I am making is that technology moves on and education must embrace and evolve with it. You wouldn't paint the Forth Bridge using a toothbrush, so why restrict the opportunities for research that can involve active discussion and collaboration. Rather than being a passive tool, it acts as an engaged participant, helping to refine ideas, explore diverse perspectives, and spark meaningful dialogues. There has always been various shortcuts to 'achievement' and generative AI only serves to show up the education system rather than the other way around. Rather than endless rote learning we are now in the fascinating world of expert analysis and discussion which should be championed. Exams and assignments are no longer fit for purpose, creative thinking should instead replace these with practical projects where problems have to be solved, something which will encourage collaboration with these tools and could lay out thought processes from start to finish. Embracing new ways of measuring achievement would not only stop the copy and paste culture but would encourage growth mindset learning. 
    
      AI may be the stuff of scary sci-fi horror movies but a future filled with repetition-based learning is more robot-like than the natural language processed tools of the future, embrace it!
    Digital Apprenticeship TutorGreat article James Thomson. I'm using AI multiple times a  week to show apprentices how to use it for research and personal learning. My current favorite is https://www.perplexity.ai/ it can review 10's of websites in seconds, always gives multiple further reference areas at the end of it's response and creates a link to the summary it has created that I can share with the apprentice and they can refer back to. Gone are the days of spending all day in the library trolling through a stack of books to find and cross reference learning. Its a fantastic tool in the toolbox to help learning and development.
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      I have had a fair few jobs in my time, in industry and also in education over the last 20 years. People come to FE for…
  
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