The model, Inkling, is an innovation of UK school Clifton College, which requested that Elizabeth College trial the new AI tool to glean feedback that may assist in its further development.
‘The reason that we’re trialling the tool is because we were sought out as a leader in this sphere, in terms of governance and the AI guidelines we’ve put together,’ said English teacher and AI training and development lead Fran de Garis.
‘I read recently that there’s still 49% of schools in the UK that are without an AI policy, and the great thing about college is that we’ve managed to implement our own guidelines, which we’ve shared with colleagues internationally.’
Inkling is a large language model – akin to well-known chatbots such as ChatGPT and Claude – designed specifically to use Socratic questioning to help students deepen their understanding of course material, and prepare for exams.
‘I am a little bit wary of these technologies,’ said Ms De Garis.
‘A lot of people see these technologies as being effective in terms of grades, and the reason why they are under that impression is because grades are the easiest metric that an AI tool can jump on, but what that misses out is the real, core purposes of education, which go beyond grades and qualifications. It’s actual socialisation as well – integrating into a culture and a community – but it’s also subjectification, by which I mean full autonomy for the student.’
So, while AI tools may be effective supplements to classroom education, Ms De Garis emphasised that they are no replacement. As such, Elizabeth College has been trialling Inkling outside of the classroom, having their Year 10 cohort use it to assist with homework, or potentially in cover lessons as well.
‘It’s not certain whether we’re going to take it on board at this stage, but I would hope for it just to be an additional avenue for students to explore and sharpen their understanding,’ she said.
‘The positive vision that I would have for us if we were to adopt this tool is just that it would be a complement, not something to be relied on, and something that is also beneficial to the teacher as well, as we get data from it, which feeds our professional judgement.’
Ms De Garis’s own interest in the impact of AI on education precedes the school’s trial, even inspiring her pursuit of a master’s degree in education and technology.
‘I am a lifelong learner, and when AI was beginning to become more mainstream, it was only about a year into my teaching, and I fell into the hype in a big way. I thought change would be rapid, so I thought, “I’m going to wise up about this, and I’m going to learn as much as I possibly can”,’ she said.
‘Then I decided, I’m going to take this to the next level. I’ve always wanted to do my MA, so when I saw UCL was offering this long-distance course, it was brilliant.
‘It’s been a real eye-opener, and it’s taught me to slow down. In fact, I’ve been parroting professor Rose Luckin and her mantra – a mantra we’ve now adopted at EC – is “Think fast, act slow”. And that’s exactly what we’ve been doing here from the start.’
The school has collected feedback on the trial from students through several surveys, the results of which will be compiled and made available – to the general public as well as Clifton College – come September.
‘The feedback has been generally positive, though characteristically critical and wary as well – I would expect no less from our students, which is great,’ Ms De Garis said.
‘The fact that this is a peer-led initiative where our colleagues are actually asking us for our feedback in order to build a better tool makes it really exciting for us.’
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