By Dr Nick Jackson, a member of the Courageous Minority group.

I have invited members of the Courageous Minority group to write about their experiences. Here is another one.

A discussion I had yesterday with the Head of Faculty in English about poetry, AI, and younger learners.

We were talking particularly about Year 7 and middle school students, and the problem he is having regarding plagiarism in poetry. There was a sense that some students simply do not see the worth of investing their own time, thought and creativity into that kind of writing.

That made me wonder whether, instead of beginning with how we limit AI in this space, there is value in shifting the focus of the activity and how it provides an opportunity for young learners to see where AI can reimagine creative works which in turn provides space to position the human (themselves) in the creative work.

1. The ICEE lens that helps me see this entry point is…

AI now gives students the ability to create high-quality multimedia content incredibly quickly. Any user beyond simple chats knows this. Anyone can create high quality audiobooks, animations, films, websites, visual interpretations and any other forms of media without first having to overcome the traditional barriers of technical expertise, expensive software or lengthy production processes.

That changes what becomes possible.

What if we let young people loose with these tools and said: bring this work to life in a way that means something to you? Create things you want to watch/listen to/play, etc?

Learners could find their own pathway through the tools and mediums that attract them. They could also begin to think more deeply about the kinds of media that engage them as learners, but also simply for pleasure and leisure. And why those mediums (metacognition).

I have been thinking about this through my own recent experience. I have recently listened to audiobooks of books I had previously read, and found myself experiencing them differently. I have been doing this on commute to work in the car. I realised that, previously, when reading these books, I had skipped over details and descriptions that suddenly became much more noticeable when I heard them spoken aloud. Did the environments I was listening to these in make a difference? Did I find them a way to switch off, absorb myself while in my own ‘coccon’ of the car influence things?

I have also, already watched film adaptations of some of those same books. That seems to change the experience again. Once you have seen an actor play a character, for example, I think it can completely change how you visualise that character when returning to the text.

Dont get me wrong I’m not saying one of these forms necessarily replace the original. They offer different ways into it.

I think there is something important here for learning.

2. If this begins to work, the growth I might observe is…

Perhaps the first step is not to insist that students immediately value poetry, or any particular form of writing, in the way that we think they should. (I truly believe we have spent too long insisting on writing as the ‘ultimate’ medium and still do. But, I’m not sure it is as vital as we think it is).

Could we first give learners the opportunity to create things that genuinely engage them?

If students can use AI to take ideas, stories, poems or other texts and turn them into multimedia experiences for themselves and for one another, they may begin to see that creative work has value because it can be transformed, interpreted, shared and experienced in different ways. And that the worth of AI is in being able to enable those transformations effectively.

Then we can begin to move back towards the writing itself.

We can say: if you want to write poetry, this should be something that expresses you. AI might assist you. It might help you experiment, suggest possibilities, provide feedback or help you bring the finished work to life, in that writing or voice-to-text experience. But it should not replace what you have to say, what you feel, why you are expressing what you are expressing.

The important part is your human perspective, your experiences, your choices and your voice.

There are, also, obviously other connections here with contemporary forms that young people can relate to such as hip-hop. We can use these as greater influences to point to writing that matters because it carries the voice, identity, experience and perspective of the person who created it.

Hence, there is a clearer and stronger message: We want to see THEIR ‘writing’, not AI’s ‘writing’.

The growth I would hope to observe, therefore, is not simply students producing better poems. I would hope to see students becoming more aware of what engages them, making intentional choices about medium and form, experimenting creatively, talking about why they have made particular decisions, and beginning to see their own ideas as something worth expressing.

3. One question I would like the CM (Courageous Minority) community to help me think about is…

If we allow AI to remove some of the barriers to multimedia creation and let students experience what is possible, can that help us draw a clearer distinction between AI as a tool for bringing ideas to life and the distinctly human work of having something to say in the first place?

Bio:

Dr Nick Jackson has worked in education for over 26 years across the US, UK, India, and Australia. He’s held leadership roles in universities and schools, and is currently Leader of Digital Technologies at Scotch College. He has co-authored 2 bestselling books on AI and education, The Next Word: AI & Teachers and The Next Word: AI & Learners. He also founded Now Future Learning offering professional learning for educators and businesses on integrating AI. 
Nick is passionate about how technology can open up new pathways to learning. His work focuses on empowering students and teachers to use AI and digital tools thoughtfully and meaningfully. His repertoire spans educational technology, AI in education, digital innovation, and learner-centred design.