ChatGPT and imaginaries of the future of education: insights of Finnish teacher educators
| Date | 13 August 2024 |
| Pages | 75-90 |
| DOI | https://doi.org/10.1108/ILS-10-2023-0146 |
| Published date | 13 August 2024 |
| Author | Henriikka Vartiainen,Teemu Valtonen,Juho Kahila,Matti Tedre |
ChatGPT and imaginaries of the
future of education: insights of
Finnish teacher educators
Henriikka Vartiainen,Teemu Valtonen and Juho Kahila
School of Applied Educational Science and Teacher Education,
University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland, and
Matti Tedre
School of Computing, University of Eastern Finland, Joensuu, Finland
Abstract
Purpose –In 2022 generative AI took the Internetwor ldby storm. Free access to tools that can generate text and
images that pass for human creations triggered fierydebates about the potential uses and misuses of generative AI
in education. There has risen a need to check the popular utopian and dystopian narratives about AI against the
diversity of hopes, concerns and future imaginaries that educators themselves associate with generative AI. The
purpose of this study is to investigate thepers pectivesof Finnish teacher educators on the use of AI in education.
Design/methodology/approach –This article reports findings from a hands-on workshop in teacher
training, where participants learned about how generative AI works, collaboratively explored generative AI
and then reflectedon its potential and challenges.
Findings –The results reveal nuanced, calm and thoughtful imaginaries rooted in deep understanding of
educational policy,evaluation and the sociocultural context of education.The results cover teachers’views on
the impact of AI on learners’agency,metacognition, self-regulationand more.
Originality/value –This articleoffers a unique exploration into the perceptionsand imaginaries of educators
regarding generativeAI in specific (instead of “monolithic AI”), moving beyond dystopian views and instead
focusing on the potential of AI to align with existing pedagogical practices. The educators contrasted the
common techno-deterministic narratives and perceived AI as an avenue to support formative assessment
practices and developmentof metacognition, self-regulation, responsibilityand well-being. The novel insights
also include the need for AI education that critically incorporates social and ethical viewpoints and fosters
visions fora future withculturally, socially and environmentallysustainable AI.
Keywords Generative AI, ChatGPT, Teachertraining, Tertiary education, University, Imaginaries,
Artificial intelligence
Paper type Research paper
© Henriikka Vartiainen, Teemu Valtonen, Juho Kahila and Matti Tedre. Published by Emerald
Publishing Limited. This article is published under the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY 4.0)
licence. Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article (for
both commercial and non-commercial purposes), subject to full attribution to the original publication
and authors. The full terms of this licence may be seen at http://creativecommons.org/licences/by/4.0/
legalcode
This work was supported by the Strategic Research Council (SRC) established within the Research
Council of Finland under Grant #352859 and Grant #352876. The authors would like to thank January
Collective for core support.
Information and
Learning Sciences
75
Received17 October 2023
Revised23 July 2024
Accepted23 July 2024
Informationand Learning
Sciences
Vol.126 No. 1/2, 2025
pp. 75-90
EmeraldPublishing Limited
2398-5348
DOI 10.1108/ILS-10-2023-0146
The current issue and full text archive of this journal is available on Emerald Insight at:
https://www.emerald.com/insight/2398-5348.htm
Introduction
The revolution in deep learning during the 2010s has profoundly impacted on the
information and communication technology landscape. Given the availability of massive
amounts of data, growth in computational power and more sophisticated statistical
techniques (Darwiche, 2018), artificial intelligence (AI) and especially machine learning
(ML) has become ubiquitous and deeply embedded in our everyday life. But AI itself is
currently undergoing a paradigm shift due to the emergence of foundation models
(Bommasani et al., 2021).Foundation models, which are trained on massive amounts of data
and can be adapted to a wide variety of tasks, have expanded our understanding and
imagination of what is possible for AI as well as raisedvarious kinds of concerns. Risks and
opportunities of foundation models have become a topic of intensive discussion worldwide,
ranging from their capabilities, technical properties and applications in various domains to
their societal impact, including complex economic, environmental, legal and ethical
questions (Bommasani et al.,2021). In the midst of these significant changes, the hype
around AI has given rise to various kinds of visions and imaginaries of how value is
extracted, social order and relations re-organized, the future of work transformed and power
distributed, to name a few (e.g. Brynjolfsson and McAfee, 2014;Crawford, 2021;Zuboff,
2019;Eubanks, 2018).
Lupton and Watson (2022) have argued that the future of AI and human relationship is
typically portrayed with either techno-utopian or techno-dystopian visions. For example,
imaginaries of commercial actors often propagateoverhyped and unrealistic expectations by
presenting AI as a much needed solution to our social, environmental and economic
problems. In contrast, alternative narratives are put forth by news reports, op-eds, and
science fiction, which oftenpresent dystopian visions of AI that exploit people and strip them
of their free will, agency,jobs, and much more (Lupton, 2021;Lupton and Watson,2022). AI
is also present in national strategies, which often portray AI as an inevitable and highly
disruptive technologicaldevelopment by using rhetorical devices such as a grand legacy and
international competition(Bareis and Katzenbach, 2022).
According to Jasanoff (2015), these kinds of “sociotechnical imaginaries”are visions of
the desired future, put forth by a variety of actors (Jasanoff, 2015, p. 27). They create a
backdrop of assumptions and expectationsthat can influence not only public acceptance and
uptake of new technologies, but alsothe ways that these systems are designed and regulated
(Cave and Kanta, 2019;Fisher, 2006). Imaginaries are not just a description of a desired
future, but they also drive action and changein the present (van Lente, 2012). As Borup et al.
(2006) have pointed out, imaginaries are fundamentally generative, as they also give
guidance, provide structure and legitimation, attract interest, and foster investment. From
this perspective, it is important to proactively challenge the futures these technologies
promise to bring to bear, rather than just uncritically follow their potentially widespread
adoption and normalizationin society and in education (Egliston and Carter, 2022).
While there always are multiple imaginaries of the desiredfuture of education (Jasanoff,
2015), dominant imaginaries have tended to neglect the everyday realities, values, and
concerns of people whose work and practices are impacted by these emerging technologies
(Pink, 2022b). Yet, learning and teaching are always context-bound,and cannot be divorced
from the values, rules, and social structures that shape our practices and tool-mediated
actions (Vygotsky, 1978;Cole and Engeström, 1993). In advancing our understandingof AI
in education, it is thereforeimportant to investigate the imaginaries of teachers, as they playa
key role in educating future generationsin the age of AI.
However, little is known about the hopes, concerns and future imaginaries that teacher
educators associate with AI, particularly with regards to conversational language models
ILS
126,1/2
76
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