IDEAL Future Work Package 2 Report

51 there is going to be have to be a huge training process in place for teachers in Ireland about AI before we formally accept it into education. particularly like lesson planning and things like that. I mean, it can just fit in lesson plans and well, differentiation or inclusion ideas even like(IE P2) Furthermore there is a need to understand AI to enable those in leadership positions to develop guidelines and policies to support educators to use these in practice. It's because like see and as I understand the completely like there's no policy there because, the policy that did right today is pointless tomorrow. You know, like it is because he is changing so much every time, like, you know, so (IE P18) Although AI skills lie at the intermediary or in some cases advanced end of the digital skills continuum due to their novelty, in the near future they will probably be considered basic. In addition to these skills participants spoke about general digital skills many of these were basic such as familiarity with apps and basic functionality of different types of technology to enable educators to set up and use the relevant tools in their classroom like just knowing how to use each of the apps, like being familiar with whatever your skill is using. (IE P20) Like all the different technologies in your classroom, so you might have one child that's been recommended the use of an iPad and specific software someone else has this. (IE P21) You need to be able to go in and teach in a classroom and connect to the board and like if you if you can't even do that, you know that your chances of doing something more with the digital tech. (IE P30) In some cases it was felt that in an attempt to simplify the use of technology it has limited peoples technical skills. Like locked garden technology where like you can't go in and change it yourself and like it's all prescribed and you can't see the programs, it's all you know, it's all done for you, which I think really limits people's technical skills. (IE P24) 5.6.4 Attitudes/mindset One of the areas that was discussed in by participants in the challenges was that of mindset and attitudes. Interestingly this sub theme also emerged as part of the conversation on skills. When we consider skills it is a demonstration of knowledge however a competency is defined more broadly as a ‘motive, trait, skill, aspects of one’s self image, social role or a body of knowledge which he or she uses’ (Hornby & Thomas, 1989). Much of the research regarding digital skills at international level has been in the area of competencies and mindset and attitudes provide a key behavioral component of this. Within the interviews some of the mindset attributes participants spoke about were being adaptable/flexible, patience and risk taking. There may be suspicions on the part of management - is it worth risking innovative tools and approaches to avoid damaging, for example, exam results? The onus is very much on the educator who wants to bring something in, the management does not allow the educator to make mistakes. (LV 28 future teacher, one year teaching experience) As we have seen from the account so far digital learning requires a change to practice. As a result one of the main attributes interviewees described was that of adaptability to enable them to embrace change, as mentioned in earlier sections the constant pace of change of technology is a key challenge and so being adaptable is becoming increasingly important A teacher is a versatile person in terms of interests and skills, which is considered an important quality of a teacher. A teacher needs to be able to work with a variety of devices, including the same type of device, such as several types of interactive whiteboard, as this can vary from class to class. They need to be able to decipher work generated by artificial intelligence, such as essays in literature.