AI (Artificial intelligence) Homework Assigned by AI*

*Homework Assigned by AI*

[Source: Zaobao, 2025-07-13]

Translated by ChatGPT 

https://www.zaobao.com.sg/forum/views/story20250713-7119840?utm_source=android-share&utm_medium=app

By Wang Huirong

Deputy Editor of Local News Lianhe Zaobao

=======

Most people of our generation have built a foundation of knowledge through rigorous study, and have acquired the ability to discern and filter AI-generated information through accumulated experience. How to cultivate a new generation that has been exposed to AI from a young age to possess true wisdom, judgment, curiosity, and an innovative spirit is something that school education must continuously instill.

Today, when a teacher wants to assess a class of students’ reading aloud skills, the students only need to upload their recordings. An AI-powered assessment system will then evaluate their performance according to preset scoring criteria. What used to be a one-on-one assessment can now be conducted one-on-40 simultaneously. Although the accuracy of such assessments still needs improvement, there is no doubt that it is an effective way to conduct the most practice in the least amount of time.

About two years ago, schools began introducing AI tools for teachers and students. Media reports on the use of AI in mainstream local schools initially highlighted only a few model cases where teachers took the lead. Today, AI tools have penetrated classrooms across the schools for both teaching and learning. As one teacher said, assigning homework now requires the mental preparation that students will use AI to complete it.

The Student Learning Space (SLS), rolled out by the Ministry of Education for primary and secondary schools since 2018, has been continuously updated and optimized. Over the years, the platform has undergone substantial and ongoing upgrades—including the integration of AI-powered tools. These tools customize learning paths based on each student’s strengths, weaknesses, and learning styles, providing adaptive and personalized guidance to enable them to learn at their own pace.

AI, which seems to empower teaching, indeed makes lesson preparation, administrative tasks, and classroom management more efficient for teachers. At the same time, however, they must be flexible when assigning homework. The aforementioned teacher who assumed students would use AI to complete their assignments did not prohibit it. Instead, she designed other in-class activities to ensure that when students returned to school, they would present AI-generated answers through their own understanding, either in written or oral form—training them in expression, critical thinking, and adaptability.

In a learning environment where everyone uses AI, concerns about overreliance are inevitable. Recently, Education Minister Chan Chun Sing, in school visits and during his speech at a teacher appointment ceremony, emphasized the need to return to fundamental skills and values even as we utilize AI in education. He specifically mentioned the importance of ensuring that students have a solid knowledge foundation and social-emotional skills.

While continuously developing and leveraging AI tools to optimize learning, maintaining focus on these two learning priorities is critical. Most people of our generation built their knowledge through solid learning and developed the ability to evaluate and filter AI-generated content through experience. How to nurture a new generation—exposed to AI from a young age—to possess real wisdom, sound judgment, curiosity, and creativity is a question school education must keep addressing. This is also one of the key questions Minister Chan posed to new teachers preparing to enter classrooms: How do we ensure that students not only master learning methods but also maintain a passion for learning both inside and outside the classroom?

As for social-emotional skills that enable young people to better integrate into society, their essential elements—empathy and values—require guidance from teachers in students’ daily lives. Even if AI can provide related knowledge, data-driven systems cannot guide students to form correct value judgments.

Therefore, as AI teaching becomes widespread, the Ministry of Education’s plan to recruit more than 1,000 new teachers annually in the coming years is a forward-looking initiative. Although the aging teacher workforce is the main reason for the expansion, continued recruitment amid declining student enrollment further highlights that the education model based on interpersonal interaction and value guidance is irreplaceable by AI.

Affirming AI’s functions and effectiveness in teaching does not mean teachers lose their value. On the contrary, the use of AI prompts us to reflect on previously unconsidered issues and redefines and affirms human value and capability.

Using AI in teaching and learning can reduce the time teachers spend on daily assessments and administrative tasks, which is a positive outcome. But how can we ensure that the freed-up time is used meaningfully to facilitate deeper interactions between teachers and students? Additionally, should the formats and content of assessments be adjusted in response to the widespread use of AI, so they can more accurately test students’ capabilities? These are the assignments AI has given to educators—requiring true wisdom to complete.

(The author is the Deputy Editor of Local News at Lianhe Zaobao.)