AI & Critical Thinking

There’s a concern that generative AI “bypasses reflection and criticality." The conclusion is then that teaching, therefore, must remain the same, AI must be resisted, and critical thinking must take place in the same way it always has—as if there is something sacred about the particular process that teachers are familiar with and invested in continuing.  

Instead, assignments need to take into account the tools available to the student. With AI options, critical thinking shifts toward new places. Offloading part of the work to AI is fine — provided the mental engagement still takes place elsewhere. The problem is not including AI in the mix, but trying to force old pedagogical methods onto new paradigms. 

A couple of decades ago, some professors told students not to use the internet because doing so would cut out some of the critical thinking and learning process, gained from trudging to the library and looking things up in printed books. Having information at their fingertips was a learning shortcut. Actually, the real issues remained the same: learning what counted as reputable sources, making defendable claims, and expressing that information in a lucid and compelling way. 

Stephen Goforth