Picture this: It's late in the school year, and students are growing restless. They've mastered the material and are ready to move on to something more advanced. But instead of giving them the test they've earned, their teacher opens a computer program to generate a new, personalized assignment that will keep them busy for several more weeks. This scenario highlights one of the most significant advantages of artificial intelligence in education: its ability to assist teachers in the classroom. But can artificial intelligence replace teachers in the school? Life-like AI tools ... can mimic human interaction, and they might even be able to handle some of the tasks teachers perform. This blog will help you understand whether AI In The Classroom can enhance or entirely replace the role of teachers in the classroom while providing insights on how to balance technology with human interaction for the best educational outcomes.
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What is AI in Education & How It is Transforming Teaching and Learning
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AI in education uses artificial intelligence technology to improve learning experiences. This includes machine learning, natural language processing, and adaptive learning systems. AI can reshaping traditional teaching methods, making learning more:
- Personalized
- Interactive
- Data-driven
AI-powered tutoring systems, assessment tools, and personalized learning platforms transform how students, teachers, and administrators approach education.
How Can Artificial Intelligence Help Teachers?
AI can help teachers improve their performance and refine their practice to support their students better. Researchers at Stanford University have identified three ways AI can help teachers.
- Simulating Students: AI language models can serve as practice students for new teachers. They can demonstrate confusion and ask adaptive follow-up questions.
- Real-Time Feedback: AI can provide real-time feedback and suggestions to teachers (e.g., questions to ask the class), creating a bank of live advice based on expert pedagogy.
- Post-Teaching Feedback: AI can produce post-lesson reports that summarize the classroom dynamics.
Potential metrics include student speaking time or identifying the questions that triggered the most engagement. Research finds that when students talk more, learning improves.
How Does AI Personalize Learning?
AI personalizes learning by assessing students’ strengths and weaknesses and adapting content to target individual needs.
As students progress through their lessons, AI can alter difficulty levels so learners remain challenged but not frustrated. This personalized support helps students build confidence and improve their academic performance.
Can AI Make Education Fairer?
AI has the potential to make education fairer and more equitable. For instance, it can help students from underserved populations by personalizing learning and addressing specific needs. AI can also assist teachers by providing them with actionable data to improve their practice and support all learners in the classroom.
AI can help students with disabilities by creating adaptive technologies that offer personalized support. Research shows that artificial intelligence can help reduce the stigma associated with learning differences and disabilities.
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The Creative Ways Teachers Are Using AI in the Classroom
Teachers have long recognized the value of play-based learning, and schools have used educational computer games, such as The Oregon Trail, first released in 1974—since the early days of computer gaming.
Today’s AI-powered games deliver targeted learning thanks to user-responsive programming. As players work through the game’s challenges, the AI algorithms monitor their progress, assess their performance, and adapt the gameplay to boost learning outcomes.
AI-Driven Math
Carnegie Learning’s MATHia program incorporates a game-like structure to engage students in math practice. As students build their skills in the program, the AI tracks their performance and adjusts the activities to personalize the learning experience.
MATHia is also designed to help teachers by automatically reporting data to identify class and individual student needs.
The Basics of Adaptive Learning Platforms
Educational technology leaders such as Carnegie Learning and Knewton offer adaptive platforms that customize learning activities and content in real-time.
Continuous assessment allows for immediate feedback and helps the system adjust its approach. Adaptive learning methodologies vary from simple rules-based systems to multifaceted machine learning algorithms.
Automated Grading and Feedback Systems
Artificial intelligence systems can free up educators’ time and energy for increased student contact by automating grading, planning, and administrative work. This is a common argument in support of using AI in the classroom.
Chatbots for Student Support
At many higher education institutions, university chatbots support learners by:
- Responding to admissions queries
- Connecting students to course information and student services
- Delivering reminders
Other chatbots can help students brainstorm ideas, improve their writing skills, and optimize their study time.
Intelligent Tutoring Systems
Often dedicated to a single subject such as math or language, intelligent tutoring systems simulate the one-on-one experience of working with a human tutor. Examples include the Duolingo app and Khan Academy’s Khanmigo tutoring system.
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Teachers’ Opinions On AI In The Classroom
Teachers have mixed feelings about artificial intelligence and its role in the classroom. Some view the technology as a useful tool, while others worry about its potential pitfalls and impact on learning.
According to a recent survey by the International Society for Technology in Education, 56 percent of teachers think AI positively impacts education. Only 24 percent say they are well prepared to use it in their classrooms.
Real Teacher Experiences with AI in Education
As part of our outreach for our report, AI in education: where we are and what happens next, we spoke to our communities of school and English language teachers to hear about the impact AI is having in their classrooms on both themselves and their students. Here, we highlight three stories from:
- Hong Kong
- Italy
- Spain
Chan Sui Ki Vice Principal, La Salle College, Hong Kong
“On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give ChatGPT a score of 6: AI has provided a good start for us, but we need to rely on ourselves to reach full marks.”
How does artificial intelligence (AI) impact your school and learners today? Are you or your students using AI or other digital technologies to support your teaching? The rise of generative AI is dramatically impacting the future of education.
User-Friendly Tools
Whether ChatGPT or multimedia authoring tools use prompts, the language model greatly lowers the technical threshold for using the tools.
We may soon live in a world where everybody knows how to operate these tools with essential knowledge and, as all of them are web-based, you don’t need to spend time installing software. The tools are available anytime, anywhere with internet access. All controls are at your fingertips, and some of them are even free of charge.
Widespread Adoption
Based on the two features mentioned above, generative artificial intelligence (GAI) will reach a far wider range of people and at a much faster speed than any technology, and this will be a big change for humans.
Take ChatGPT as an example: it is like a 24-hour teaching assistant for students, teaching knowledge inside or outside of the classroom. It is also a companion you can talk to and share secrets with. Teachers' attitudes are crucial to empowering students to learn with AI tools.
Teacher's Role
Do we resist ChatGPT and not allow students to use the tool in class? Or, on the other hand, do we actively explore ChatGPT's flexibility in teaching and flipped learning, where learners acquire knowledge before class, which can facilitate the exchange of ideas during lessons?
GAI could create personalized learning, with teachers able to offer guidance and demonstrate how to use it properly based on individual student needs. So, how do I leverage GAI tools to improve student learning outcomes?
Personalized Expression
In the past, I used to ask students to express their understanding and feelings toward the learning materials in multimedia formats, such as through videos, songs, animations, and so on.
But now, students can use AI tools to express their points of view and create the same kind of media by writing prompts, which may take much less time and make learning more efficient.
Overcoming Challenges
This also provides a chance to work on their weaknesses: for example, shy learners could use an AI presenter tool to help them express themselves more easily.
They could never experience self-fulfillment and achievement by doing that through the existing learning model.
Teacher's Perspective
Based on your experiences, how do you feel about AI's rise in education? GAI is very helpful to teachers when preparing for lessons. I always get inspired by ChatGPT's suggestions for questions related to daily life or its analysis of students' learning gaps.
Although its answers may need to be revised, communication keeps improving. On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give ChatGPT a score of 6: AI has provided a good start for us, but we need to rely on ourselves to reach full marks.
Challenges and Opportunities
AI may give out wrong answers to simple math questions. We are also aware of unanswered questions about quality and security. All in all, it depends on how we embrace the benefits of
AI in education and make good use of it. As a beginner, there is a lot to be shared on how to prompt AI and get started using it. Let’s explore the transformative potential of GAI in education systems and improve learning outcomes at all levels.
Massimo Soranzio Teacher, I.S.I.S. Michelangelo Buonarroti, Monfalcone, Italy
“As a teacher, [AI] can rapidly give me new material to work on, but as an educator proper, I am more interested in making my students understand how not to turn it into the “new frontier” of cheating.”
What impact is AI having in your school and on your learners today? Are you or your students using AI or other digital technologies to support your teaching? With the advent of ChatGPT, I have actually stopped assigning certain homework tasks, like “write a 300-word essay on…”
School Integration
AI can be helpful for guided and individual work in class, where the teacher can mediate and stimulate a critical approach to technology use. My school's new AI course was inaugurated in the 2022/23 school year.
I am not teaching that specific course, but I have always been keen on trying new things: my first internet use at school dates back to 1994! As I like playing with the language and giving students an idea of what language can do, I also assign my older students creative tasks, such as writing poems.
Student Engagement
I then invite them to try using ChatGPT to see what the machine can produce. This is fun and rewarding, albeit often far from decent quality. Students will tend to discuss the results, usually disagreeing and using even more language to justify their opinions.
Based on your experiences, how do you feel about AI's rise in education? I am worried about homework and individual study. New ways of motivating younger students to use AI as a tool that can help them, not as a bot to do their homework for them, need to be devised.
Ethical Considerations
That’s why I think it has to be part of our work in the classroom: teaching students how to use this new tool and recognizing its limits and each student’s talent.
As a teacher, it can rapidly give me new material to work on. Still, I am more interested in helping my students understand how not to turn it into the new frontier of cheating.
Sonjie Kennington Language Coach, Spain
“AI is going to revolutionize education (and almost every other aspect of the way we live) in ways we cannot yet imagine.”
What impact is AI having in your school and on your learners today? Are you or your students using AI or other digital technologies to support your teaching? Some students use ChatGPT to help them when they have to use English at work.
Student Feedback
They have told me that ChatGPT's changes to their writing draw their attention to mistakes or new phrases, vocabulary, and structures they would never have thought of using.
I think it’s helping them advance more quickly—it’s like having a free, 24/7 teacher available to correct their work and give feedback. Another way I am beginning to use AI with my students is as a more customizable form of learner’s dictionary.
Language Tool
The definitions in some learners' dictionaries sometimes need to be simpler for lower-level students. In contrast, if you ask ChatGPT for a simple definition using a clear prompt, the definitions may need to be completed but are more straightforward to understand.
Based on your experiences, how do you feel about AI's rise in education? AI will revolutionize education (and almost every other aspect of our lives) in ways we cannot yet imagine.
Future Implications
Some of these may be negative, but in the same way, every huge technological advance has some negative consequences. I think, on the whole, it’s going to be a considerable leap, giving teachers and learners more tools and resources.
Can Artificial Intelligence Replace Teachers in the Classroom?
Artificial Intelligence, or AI, is transforming many industries, from agriculture and transportation to health care and education. The education sector is already using the technology to enhance learning.
In the classroom, AI can provide intelligent tutoring systems that support students and help teachers personalize learning. As AI becomes more sophisticated, many wonder how it will impact the role of teachers. Will machines replace human educators entirely? Or will they simply augment the teaching profession?
AI's Impact
A 2023 survey by McKinsey & Company found that around 30 percent of tasks associated with teaching could be automated with generative AI. That’s no small number. It means that AI will change the game for teachers. But what does that mean?
The answer is nuanced. It depends a lot on your perspective and definitions. The first thing to clarify is how you define the role of a teacher. The answer also depends upon your assumptions about the quality of human connection students get. Are there deficiencies that artificial intelligence can help address?
Future Trends
It also depends on how quickly you think AI will develop and the future supply and quality of teachers. I certainly think it’s possible, if not probable, that AI will replace some teaching functions. However, the last several months have made me rethink this position. I now think it’s definite. Again, there are caveats, but hear me out.
I teach business studies, and one of the core concepts is efficiency. Another is production types, particularly job production (one-off bespoke made-to-order) vs mass/flow production (production at scale).
Education System
The mainstream education game is one of mass production. We are transferring/developing knowledge and skills to students at scale.
As any teacher knows, we would love to do this via job production. But that is costly, and so it is out of the question for an education system funded by the taxpayer (depending on the sector).
Teaching Efficiency
So, when we consider teaching students this way, how efficient are current teaching methods with a human as the teacher versus an AI?
I look at four inefficiencies that may require us to move from a labor-intensive education system to a capital-intensive system.
The AI Teacher vs. The Human Teacher: Teaching Inefficiencies AI Can Address
Inefficiency of Task
Look at the Teachers’ Standards, which define the minimum level of practice for teachers. Going through this one bullet point at a time and keeping in mind the rapid development of AI over the next 5-10 years, rather than focusing on just what it can do now, I can only see sections 7 and 8 (and Part 2) which an AI will struggle with.
The rest will be confidently surpassed gradually over the next decade. I am a good teacher with many years of experience. When Ofsted used to grade teachers, I received outstanding judgments during inspections.
Teacher Evaluation
Reflecting on my practice over an average year, if I were to grade each lesson against each bullet point out of 10, I would range somewhere between a 5 and 7 overall (and 7 is probably generous!).
Mass production to a class of 30+ students could be more efficient for consistently completing any of these standards at a level above 7 over the year. This is no fault of the teacher.
The Inefficiency of Numbers
Depending on the sector you work in, class sizes of 15-30 may be typical. We cannot deliver personalized learning with those ratios if we try to get to job production with highly bespoke learning.
When we compare what an AI can and will be able to do, it will deliver highly personalized learning to each individual, providing just the right nugget of information and coaching to push the students learning to the next level.
Student Engagement
It will give bespoke feedback and a range of tailored, highly engaging, and even addictive options for students to tackle next, and they will enjoy it.
Just as much as they enjoy sitting in front of the current basic AI of TikTok (often for hours and hours!). A human teacher cannot do this. It's not our fault; as teachers, we are only human.
Private Tutoring
Many parents recognize this and choose to pay for 1:1 teaching with tutors (they also pay for job production if they want it bespoke).
The Inefficiency of Expertise
For argument's sake, let's pretend that we ignore these first two inefficiencies and look at the best teachers in schools, the absolute high-energy performers. How many of these artisan craftspeople do you think we have in the average school?
Are those at the absolute peak of expertise in the profession? If you’re lucky enough to be in a school, you may have one or two for short periods. Like an artisan baker, they bake bespoke breads personalized to the individual student and often do this via one-to-one tutoring.
Private Tutoring
There are more efficient ways to educate the nation's many students, but it is certainly convenient. It is also very costly. In a recruitment crisis, these staff are few and far between.
When people rally against the “will teachers be replaced argument,” they often think of these teachers. Of course, these teachers are much less easily replaced by machines, but they will eventually be because of the following and final inefficiency.
The Inefficiency of Scope
So what could be more irreplaceable than a teacher who is the absolute expert in their subject? The artisan delivers one-to-one, highly personalized education. How about an AI that is an artisan of ALL subjects?
One that can draw on the knowledge and skills of English, Maths, Science, Geography, History, Religion, Art, the list goes on. When teaching, they can draw on the insights of numerous disciplines of true cross-curricular learning.
How Will This Change Happen?
This kind of revolutionary change is hard to imagine. Unfortunately, no major change in society happens without significant turbulence. People need to be more motivated to change deeply embedded systems when they feel comfortable.
Things are about to get uncomfortable. The current system will start to dissolve and necessitate change.
Future Trends
Attendances will decrease even more since the pandemic as parents and students opt for more flexible ways of working in line with the corporate world. High-ability students who do not get quality teaching at school will opt for an artisan AI teacher.
Other parents/students, perhaps the more vulnerable, will say their child can do better at home without the distractions of other students and opt for AI home learning. The behavior will decline as students exit their increasingly highly stimulating online VR/AR/XR home lives to come to school to experience a teacher in front of a board with:
- PowerPoint slides
- Videos
- Worksheets
Teacher Retention
The recruitment crisis will continue as staff feel the increasing burden of the mass production system and see their friends in other professions with a more flexible work-life balance.
The quality of teaching will continue to decrease, and attendance and behaviour will decrease further.
Let’s Not Lose the Human Element
A few weeks ago, I watched a cringe-worthy Apple commercial. Like many viewers, I had a visceral reaction to the message because it created this false dichotomy between the digital and the physical, the technological and the human, the compressed and the expansive.
I immediately sat down and sketched out a video, which I then turned into a video using my trusty MacBook. If you’re not familiar with the Apple commercial, it features a house full of colorful, vibrant, idiosyncratic objects that are crushed by a giant industrial machine.
Tech Evolution
The iPad lives. It’s so thin. I was so compressed. So sexy and skinny. It’s also breakable. Drop it down a set of stairs, and you get a spiderwebbed screen, but let’s not look at that. The message was clear. Why bother with the clunky, the human, the messy, the colorful, the vibrant?
Just opt for an iPad. Why strum my fingers on an acoustic guitar learning the chord progression to Stairway to Heaven like my father did (and maybe Grandpa?) when there’s GarageBand? Why spend hours playing Space Invaders with your friends at the arcade if the App Store can get it much cheaper and faster?
Human Experience
Why embrace the memory of emptying my spit valve in the marching band as I look up, embarrassed at my crush staring back at me, if I could just stare at the likes on my latest social media update?
It’s so inefficient to hold onto the tangible in an age of automation. I get it. I love tech. I’ve been using a Mac since my childhood. The Apple Ecosystem is how I do much of my creative work, like crafting videos, making podcasts, and creating books. And yet, we have a grand piano in the living room.
Cultural Significance
It takes up far too much space and is filled with many memories. It needs a tune-up and not an update, and a very old man fiddles around for hours to make this thing feel timeless. But when someone pounds those keys, I swear I can hear entire generations before me.
It’s a sacred object that I don’t want to crush. The most powerful iPad ever? I’m not looking for power. The thinnest iPad ever? I don’t wish for more compression.
Tangible Experiences
Give me a can of spray paint so Micah and I can make art in the garage. Give me an acoustic guitar and see if I can play New Kid in Town and feel the memories of my dad singing that song to me while I fell asleep.
Give me a truckload of hardback books covered with annotations that are passports to all kinds of worlds. Forget compression. I want duct tape, cardboard, and a maker space full of random objects that can’t be digitized.
Human Connection
I want an acoustic guitar beside a campfire while we have another IPA. Life is short. We don’t need to compress it any more than it already is. In a world of automation, I don’t want to crush creativity. Of course, we should enjoy the tech. It’s amazing.
Also lo-fi, vintage, tangible, messy, and human. I share this because I keep seeing the message that AI will spark unique educational innovations.
Human Focus
But we center innovation on machine learning. In that case, we risk chasing the fleeting novelty of techno-futurism instead of preparing students for the profoundly human skills they will need in a changing world.
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Practical Tips and Strategies for Using in The Classroom
Culture First: The Heartbeat of AI Integration
Culture drives everything. Fostering a culture of innovation that encourages experimentation is a prerequisite for creating fertile ground where AI can thrive. District leaders like to use the word innovation but often interfere with innovation out of fear.
A culture of innovation allows for exploration and mistakes. We must be bold and willing to take risks and acknowledge that experimenting with new technology will involve hiccups and failure points. Having structures in place to understand where the entry points to introduce AI are will help smooth its integration into the classroom.
Age-Appropriate Use
An entry point for elementary students could be learning to use AI to find prompts for a creative writing piece. In contrast, a middle school student could use AI to study and research datasets to aid in visualization later.
One caveat: If your culture is one where initiatives continually fail, you need to audit it to ensure you don’t repeat the same mistakes. Are you listening to all your stakeholders:
- Teachers
- Parents
- Students
Are there entry points that consistently prove challenging?
AI: The Anti-Burnout Tool for Teachers
Messaging is essential to generating enthusiasm for implementing AI. District leadership must present AI as a tool to reduce prep time and the proverbial grunt work teachers endure as part of their daily routine.
We must highlight that AI is a resource that frees up teachers to have more time to engage in more meaningful interactions with each student. And that's what we all want. Think of the resource room teacher who needs to quickly create review materials for the children on their caseload.
Teacher Efficiency
Using AI tools such as Magic School AI, Almanack, Diffit, and Curipod, teachers can swiftly create those materials, giving them more time to interact with students and eliminating the stress of creating 3-5 subjects worth of material per student.
Leaders Must Model AI Use
To ensure widespread adoption, district administrators, particularly building-level leaders, must model the use of AI. This top-down approach involves district leaders actively using AI tools to reduce their prep time, boost their productivity, and enhance the quality of their interactions with teachers.
Administrators can use AI tools to better track school monies spent to avoid wasteful expenditures, speed up clerical tasks, such as tracking absenteeism or tardiness, and fulfill requests to find a specific bit of information in a 200-page study.
Admin Benefits
Instead of spending hours Googling for resources for the faculty meeting, the building principal can use Perplexity for precise searches or Gamma.ai to generate stunning slides filled with foundational content when preparing a presentation.
The superintendent is pivotal in initiating the adoption process, guiding school administrators, and creating a seamless integration aligned with curriculum goals.
Leadership Modeling
This modeling strategy helps build confidence and acceptance among teachers. It helps to designate someone willing to model how to use AI and start the conversation.
Ideally, the superintendent or an assistant superintendent modeling it for their cabinet will help spread the word about how they use it.
Gather a Cohort of AI Pioneers
More companies are beginning to roll out paid subscription models for use in the classroom. Educators need to know what makes sense for their needs.
Gather the pioneers (the teachers already exploring AI's potential) and start bi-weekly or monthly conversations so all benefit from their experiences.
Teacher Collaboration
The cohort can discuss how AI has made their lives easier and explore how to make AI adoption more efficient and desirable. It’s more comfortable for teachers to leap into the unknown after seeing colleagues successfully use it. These teachers can form a collaborative group to identify effective ways AI can enhance teaching and learning.
They can be valuable resources for shaping district-wide strategies and identifying secure and scalable AI solutions. Once they develop an inventory of what is safe and scalable district-wide, they can start sharing it with other buildings.
Create Incentives for Learning and Adoption
As school districts consider how to implement AI, they should fund comprehensive, scaffolded professional development time to allow teachers to learn the technology, use it to its full potential, and navigate the hiccups that will likely develop.
Offer incentives, such as in-service credits, graduate credits, or paid registration for courses and conferences, to encourage teachers to explore and implement these technologies.
Professional Development
Districts can also investigate the various AI education platforms to see if they provide in-house professional development. Investing in ongoing professional development ensures teachers can leverage AI to its full potential and stay updated on the latest advancements.
One of the districts' most significant challenges when implementing new instructional technology is understanding that learning the technology is more than just a one-and-done scenario.
Ongoing Support
Continuous professional development is essential. Whether through updates to existing tools or the introduction of new AI solutions, educators need ongoing support to adapt their pedagogical approaches.
The successful integration of AI in the classroom requires a holistic approach that addresses cultural, administrative, and pedagogical considerations.
Future Readiness
By truly fostering a culture of innovation, modeling AI use at the administrative level, encouraging collaboration among educators, providing incentives for learning, and embracing continuous evaluation, school districts can address the complexities of AI integration and prepare students for the future of work.
Be Transparent with Students
If you’re considering using an AI tool in your course, let students know beforehand. That’s especially important if they must share personal information (such as a phone number to create an account) to access the tool. Here are some steps to set the scene:
- Provide context.
- Before introducing an AI tool, offer a brief overview of how it works and why it will benefit students’ learning.
- Highlight the importance of data privacy.
- Educate your students on generative AI data privacy practices.
- Distribute readings or resources that delve into data privacy in AI.
- Consider sharing articles from reputable business journals or case studies that discuss real-world implications of data privacy breaches.
- Offer alternatives.
- Always provide students with an alternative if they’re uncomfortable sharing their data.
Learning Alternatives
This could be another tool, a different assignment, or a manual approach to achieve the same learning outcome. By taking these steps, you’re not just asking students to use a tool but preparing them to make informed decisions as future business leaders.
Microsoft Copilot provides the MIT Sloan community with data-protected access to GPT-4 and DALLE-3 AI tools. Chat data is not shared with Microsoft or used to train their AI models. Access Microsoft Copilot by logging in with your MIT Kerberos account at https://copilot.microsoft.com/. To learn more, see what Microsoft Copilot (AI Chat) is.
Mitigate Known Limitations
Generative AI tools have limitations that can cause problems if not addressed proactively. One challenge is that AI can produce content that seems accurate but isn’t – we call this a “hallucination.”
ChatGPT might provide a compelling yet incorrect explanation of a business model—Cross-reference AI-generated content with trusted sources, such as the MIT Libraries’ resources. Treat any AI content as needing validation.
Mitigating Bias
AI can also produce output reflecting harmful biases in its training data, which can lead to skewed representations. When an MIT student provided her photo to AI image creator PlaygroundAI and asked it to generate a “professional LinkedIn profile photo,” the AI gave her paler skin and blue eyes.
Racial and other biases are a recurring issue with AI tools. To mitigate the impact of biased AI output, consider these approaches:
- Use inclusive content.
- Actively seek out inclusive teaching materials to ensure that your teaching materials include a wide range of perspectives.
Addressing Bias
Consider integrating resources from Harvard Business Publishing (HBP)’s Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion:
- Resources for Educators.
- Foster open dialogue.
- Create a classroom environment where students feel empowered to discuss and challenge any biases observed in AI outputs.
- Proactively addressing AI’s limitations can help you responsibly harness its potential to support your teaching.
For a deeper understanding of the biases, misinformation, and errors associated with generative AI tools, see our article When AI Gets It Wrong: Addressing AI Hallucinations and Bias.
Guide Student Engagement
Consider these strategies to help maximize AI’s positive impact on your course and mitigate potential challenges. Collaborate with students on AI decisions.
- Students are our most important stakeholders: Consider involving your students in decision-making about how and when to use AI for teaching. Collect student feedback throughout the term to hear their perspectives on the AI tools they’ve been using.
- Try before you teach: Before integrating a new tool into your teaching, take the time to explore its features in-depth. If you encourage students to use this tool, ensure I’ve tested its outputs and functionalities comprehensively enough to guide them effectively.
- Ensure accessibility: Ensure that any tool I encourage students to use is compatible with screen readers, voice commands, and other assistive technologies. I will also avoid assignments that will disproportionately benefit students who can afford access to expensive AI tools.
- Support academic integrity: Review our recommendations for maintaining academic integrity in the age of AI.
- Encourage critical thinking: Encourage students to think critically about AI’s limitations. Highlight the danger of hallucinations and offer students resources and methods for fact-checking.
- Discuss AI’s potential to reproduce harmful biases: Emphasize the importance of carefully reviewing AI-generated content.
By taking these steps, we can help students engage with AI thoughtfully, responsibly, and effectively.
Develop AI Literacy
AI literacy is “a set of competencies that enables individuals to critically evaluate AI technologies, communicate and collaborate effectively with AI, and use AI as a tool online, at home, and in the workplace.”
Generative AI is becoming particularly relevant in higher education. Consider the rise of AI-driven tools that simulate business scenarios or generate financial models based on input parameters. Such tools can be invaluable in a classroom setting, allowing students to explore many business situations without manually crafting each one.
By integrating these tools into their curriculum, faculty can offer students hands-on experiences that were previously hard to achieve. Many resources can help you develop AI literacy and become a savvy user.
You can talk about AI with your colleagues and students. You can join workshops or courses focused on AI. You can read expert articles. You can also explore relevant courses on platforms like LinkedIn Learning. The more you know, the more effectively you can use AI yourself and guide your students.
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