What the Humanities are For

As one student said to his professor at New York University, in an effort to justify using AI to do his work for him, “You’re asking me to go from point A to point B, why wouldn’t I use a car to get there?” It’s a completely logical argument — as long as you accept the utilitarian vision. The real solution, then, is to be honest about what the humanities are for: You’re in the business of helping students with the cultivation of their character. -Sigal Samuel writing in Vox

22 Recent Articles about AI & Teaching

Towards responsible AI in education: a systematic review on identifying and mitigating ethical risks – Nature  

AI’s giants want to take over the classroom – MIT Tech Review 

I Teach Creative Writing. This Is What A.I. Is Doing to Students. – New  York Times  

Teachers union partners with Anthropic, Microsoft and OpenAI to launch AI-training academy – CBS News  

OpenAI and Microsoft Bankroll New A.I. Training for Teachers – New York Times 

Universities are rethinking computer science curriculum in response to AI tools – TechSpot

How Do You Teach Computer Science in the A.I. Era? - The New York Times

California colleges spend millions to catch plagiarism and AI. Is the faulty tech worth it? - Cal Matters

How ChatGPT and other AI tools are changing the teaching profession – Associated Press  

Does ownership rights over original scholarship extend to the elements of a single course on AI? – Chronicle of Higher Ed  

The Computer-Science Bubble Is Bursting: Artificial intelligence is ideally suited to replacing the very type of person who built it – The Atlantic

A.I. in the Classroom: A Brave New World? - New York Times

Professors Are Using A.I., Too. Now What? – NPR  

How To Stay Ahead Of AI – The Human Skills Universities Must Teach – Forbes  

Duolingo CEO says AI teaches better than humans—but schools will exist ‘because you still need childcare’ - Fortune

My students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. Maybe they’re onto something. - Vox 

Impact of gen AI on students’ learning outcomes: a technology-mediated & motivation-driven approach – Nature  

Chatbots in the classroom: how AI is reshaping higher education - Financial Times

Integrating AI-generated content tools in higher ed: a comparative analysis of interdisciplinary learning outcomes – Nature 

Bringing GenAI into the university classroom - Times Higher Ed

I am no longer chairing defenses or joining committees where students use generative AI for their writing - Statistical Modeling, Causal Inference, and Social Science

Report: Faculty Often Missing From University Decisions on AI – Inside Higher Ed

The Student Herself is the Product

In a humanities education the student herself is the product. She is what’s getting created and recreated by the learning process. This vision of education — as a pursuit that’s supposed to be personally transformative — is what Aristotle proposed back in Ancient Greece. He believed the real goal was not to impart knowledge, but to cultivate the virtues: honesty, justice, courage, and all the other character traits that make for a flourishing life. -Sigal Samuel writing in Vox

19 Recent Articles about the Impact of AI on Students

California colleges spend millions to catch plagiarism and AI. Is the faulty tech worth it? – Cal Matters

My students think it’s fine to cheat with AI. Maybe they’re onto something. – Vox  

Panel with AI experts to review appeal of NTU student penalised for academic misconduct - The Straits Times 

How AI Is Helping Students Find the Right College – Wired

Chinese AI firms block features amid high-stakes university entrance exams – Washington Post

6 College Majors That Will Thrive In An AI-Driven Economy – Forbes

For Some Recent Graduates, the A.I. Job Apocalypse May Already Be Here – New York Times

AI cheating surge pushes schools into chaos – Axios

Here are some guiding ideas to keep in mind as you navigate college in the era of artificial intelligence – Student Guide to AU

A New Headache for Honest Students: Proving They Didn’t Use A.I. – New York Times

What My Students Had To Say About AI – The Broken Copier

Using ChatGPT, students might pass a course, but with a cost – PhysOrg

How Are Students Using AI? – AI and How We Teach

Students Are Humanizing Their Writing—By Putting It Through AI – Wall Street Journal

Why misuse of generative AI is worse than plagiarism – Springer

Students, early career workers use ChatGPT as a mentor - Axios

How Students Use and Think About Their Use of AI – Daily Nous

How AI Helps Our Students Deepen Their Writing (Yes, Really) – EdWeek

As if graduating weren’t daunting enough, now students like me face a jobs market devastated by AI – The Guardian

We miss the thoughts of our students

For a lot of us, our motivation to enter academe was primarily about helping to form students as people. We’re not simply frustrated by trying to police AI use, the labor of having to write up students for academic dishonesty, or the way that reading student work has become a rather nihilistic task.  Our frustration is not merely that we don’t care about what AI has to say and therefore get bored grading; it is that we actively miss reading the thoughts of our human students. -Megan Fritts writing in the Chronicle of Higher Ed

"Current AI Detectors are Not Ready"

"A new study of a dozen A.I.-detection services by researchers at the University of Maryland found that they had erroneously flagged human-written text as A.I.-generated about 6.8 percent of the time, on average.  'At least from our analysis, current detectors are not ready to be used in practice in schools to detect A.I. plagiarism,' said Soheil Feizi, an author of the paper and an associate professor of computer science at Maryland."  -New York Times

"Madness" on Campus

On campus, we’re in a bizarre interlude: everyone seems intent on pretending that the most significant revolution in the world of thought in the past century isn’t happening. The approach appears to be: “We’ll just tell the kids they can’t use these tools and carry on as before.” This is, simply, madness. And it won’t hold for long. -D. Graham Burnett writing in The New Yorker

Free Educator Newsletters about AI

The Academic DJ - Justin Cerenzia

The AI Edventure - Jason Gulya 

AI x Education - Stanford University

AI and How We Teach Writing - Annette Vee

AI, writing, and pedagogy - Anna Mills

The Biblioracle Recommends - John Warner

The Broken Copier - Marcus Luther 

The End(s) of Argument - Mike Caulfield

One Useful Thing - Ethan Mollick

Writing Hacks - Jane Rosenzweig

29 Recent Articles about AI & Teaching

Your Students Need an AI-Aware Professor - Chronicle of Higher Ed 

Will the Humanities Survive Artificial Intelligence? – The New Yorker

As ChatGPT scores B- in engineering, professors scramble to update courses – The Registrar

How Miami Schools Are Leading 100,000 Students Into the A.I. Future – New York Times

The effect of ChatGPT on students’ learning performance, learning perception, and higher-order thinking: insights from a meta-analysis – Nature  

Teaching journalism students generative AI: why I switched to an “AI diary” this semester – Online Journalism Blog

The Professors Are Using ChatGPT, and Some Students Aren’t Happy About It – New York Times

Everyone Is Cheating Their Way Through College – New York Magazine

AI-Aware Teaching Examples - Annette Vee Blog

I'd rather read the prompt – Clayton Ramsey  

Is AI Enhancing Education or Replacing It? – Chronicle of Higher Ed 

Draft executive order outlines plan to integrate AI into K-12 schools – Washington Post  

As ‘Bot’ Students Continue to Flood In, Community Colleges Struggle to Respond – Voice of San Diego  

Teachers warn AI is impacting students' critical thinking - Axios

Business schools ease their resistance to AI – Financial Times

A Shortcut or a Level Up? Harvard Faculty Debate Generative AI in Academia – The Crimson

AI-Powered Teaching: Practical Tools for Community College Faculty – Faculty Focus

California college professors have mixed views on AI in the classroom – Ed Source

Here's how AI has changed the way Penn faculty grade, teach courses – The Daily Pennsylvanian  

Here’s how Carolina faculty use AI – University of North Carolina  

Introducing Claude for Education – Anthropic

Teachers Worry About Students Using A.I. But They Love It for Themselves. – New York Times

Teachers warn AI is impacting students' critical thinking – Axios  

Preparing science educators to use and teach AI in the classroom – National Science Foundation

Educators seek to combat AI challenges in the classroom – The Hill 

AI works best in the classroom with professor guidance, researchers found – EdScoop 

What Can College Instructors Offer Their Students in the Age of AI? - Faculty Focus 

What's the Future for AI-Free Learning Spaces? - Jason Gulya Blog

What’s Your AI Policy? Communicate your guidelines clearly and talk about them with students  - Annette Vee Blog

Every Student Needs AI Exposure

“I very strongly feel that every student that graduates from any institution of higher education must have at least one core course in AI, or significant exposure to these tools. If we’re not doing that, we are doing a disservice to our students." -Ravi Pendse, chief information officer at the University of Michigan, Inside Higher Ed

Fake AI Students

“By the end of the first two weeks of the semester, Smith had whittled down the 104 students enrolled in her classes, including those on the waitlist, to just 15. The rest, she’d concluded, were fake students, often referred to as bots. ‘It’s a surreal experience and it’s just heartbreaking,’ Smith said. ‘I’m not teaching, I’m playing a cop now.’” - Voice of San Diego

What’s our job?

Last year, I sat in a faculty meeting while a guest lecturer gleefully explained how they had used AI to design their class, craft PowerPoint presentations, and develop exams. At the end of the presentation, a colleague leaned over and asked, “Then what’s our job?” I have thought long and hard about that question. If faculty hope to survive, much less prosper, in the age of AI, they need to come up with a compelling answer to that question: “What’s our job?” -Scott Latham writing in the Chronicle of Higher Ed

AI Attending Class

Two students in Austria created a program that is attending classes and is treated like any other student. It attends lectures, turns in artwork for assignments, collaborates with classmates and will receive grades on submitted work. ‘Flynn’ is testing the boundaries of artificial intelligence tools, and could, in theory, progress toward a diploma.” - Washington Post

25 Recent Articles about AI & Teaching

Using AI to foster self-directed learning – Times Higher Ed

More Teachers Say They’re Using AI in Their Lessons. Here’s How – Ed Week

I Used to Teach Students. Now I Catch ChatGPT Cheats – The Walrus  

There’s a Good Chance Your Kid Uses AI to Cheat – Wall Street Journal

In the age of AI, colleges need to rethink how students learn – Washington Post 

AI detectors are poor western blot classifiers: a study of accuracy and predictive values – PeerJ  

AI: Cheating Matters, but Redrawing Assessment ‘Matters Most’ – Inside Higher Ed

Stanford AI Teaching Guides – Stanford  

Here’s How Teachers Are Using AI to Save Time – Ed Week  

Cal State students are getting access to OpenAI's ChatGPT Edu — a version customized for educational institutions 

Integrate AI as a peer reviewer in writing classrooms - KJZZ

An association representing private school owners in Nigeria, has launched a digital learning platform designed to help students prepare for important national exams – Punching

How AI is reshaping teachers’ jobs – Ed Week  

Arizona’s getting an online charter school taught entirely by AI – Tech Crunch  

OpenAI Unveils New A.I. That Can ‘Reason’ Through Math and Science Problems – New York Times 

Arizona charter school to be taught by AI, not teachers - LinkedIn

ChatGPT outperforms undergrads in intro-level courses, falls short later – Arstechnica 

How to identify AI-generated text: 7 ways to tell if content was made by a bot – Mashable  

OpenAI releases a teacher’s guide to ChatGPT, but some educators are skeptical – Tech Crunch 

Cheating Has Become Normal – Chronicle of Higher Ed 

Employers Say Students Need AI Skills. What If Students Don’t Want Them? – Inside Higher Ed  

AI-powered tutor, teaching assistant tested as a way to help educators and students – CBS

The Course Is About Literature. Its Textbook Was Generated by AI. – Chronicle of Higher Ed 

California college professors have mixed views on AI in the classroom – Ed Source  

Instead of policing student use of AI, California teachers need to reinvent homework – Cal Matters

AI-detection software isn’t the solution to classroom cheating — assessment has to shift – The Conversation

15 Recent Articles about Students Using AI

Students and Instructors Say AI Tool Helps With Understanding, Confidence in Course Materials – Inside Higher Ed  

AI is a game changer for students with disabilities. Schools are still learning to harness it – Associated Press

She lost her scholarship over an AI allegation — and it impacted her mental health – USA Today

Teens Are Doing AI Research Now. Is That a Good Thing? – Chronicle of Higher Ed

OpenAI's new o3 model freaks out computer science majors - Axios

Plagiarism detection software sparks widespread student concern – Phys.org

What Students Are Saying About Teachers Using A.I. to Grade – New York Times

Is Grammarly AI? Notre Dame Says Yes – Inside Higher Ed

Judge Rules in Favor of School That Gave Student a Bad Grade for Using AI – Gizmodo

To Use AI or Not to Use AI? A Student’s Burden – Inside Higher Ed

The Scary Ways AI Has Affected Their Classroom – BuzzFeed

New AI Tools Are Promoted as Study Aids for Students. Are They Doing More Harm Than Good? – Ed Surge

Employers Say Students Need AI Skills. What If Students Don’t Want Them? – Inside Higher Ed

Should You Still Learn to Code in an A.I. World? – New York Times

4 Free AI Tools Designed for Students – Slashgear

19 Recent Articles about AI & Teaching

New AI Tools Are Promoted as Study Aids for Students. Are They Doing More Harm Than Good? - EdSurge

Cheating Has Become Normal - Chronicle of Higher Ed

Your AI Policy Is Already Obsolete - Inside Higher Ed 

California Law Requires Schools to Teach Students About AI – Gov Tech  

Is AI Really a Threat to Higher Education? – Psychology Today

Teaching Entrepreneurship Students to Self-Teach With AI - Inside Higher Ed 

Parents Sue After School Disciplined Student for AI Use: Takeaways for Educators – Ed Week  

Colleges begin to reimagine learning in an AI world - Chronicle of Higher Ed 

The art of asking questions: Does AI in the classroom facilitate deep learning in students? – William & Mary  

How universities spot AI cheats – and the one word that gives it away – Telegraph

Colleges Race to Ready Students for the AI Workplace – Wall Street Journal

Owning the Unknown: Teaching and Learning With AI – Inside Higher Ed

What Teachers Told Me About A.I. in School - New York Times 

5 Small Steps for AI Skeptics: Getting academics to teach with AI is a tough nut to crack – Chronicle of Higher Ed

W&M professor publishes children’s book to teach AI fundamentals - William & Mary

I found myself spending more time giving feedback to AI than to my students. So I quit. - TIME 

ChatGPT Can Make English Teachers Feel Doomed. Here’s How I’m Adapting – Ed Week

Some NYC teachers experiment with AI-powered tools, while Education Department develops guidelines – Chalkbeat

What Can AI Chatbots Teach Us About How Humans Learn? – EdSurge

AI abuse in College

Talk to professors in writing-intensive courses, particularly those teaching introductory or general-education classes, and it sounds as if AI abuse has become pervasive. One professor said she feels less like a teacher and more like a human plagiarism detector, spending hours each week analyzing her students’ writing to determine its authenticity. -Chronicle of Higher Ed

False Accusations of Cheating

“The students most susceptible to inaccurate accusations are likely those who write in a more generic manner, either because they’re neurodivergent, speak English as a second language or simply learned to use more straightforward vocabulary and a mechanical style. The result is that classrooms remain plagued by anxiety and paranoia over the possibility of false accusations.”

Read more at Bloomberg

Teaching with AI: Assignment Tips

Talk through various writing scenarios with the students. 

Invite your students to have an honest discussion about these and related questions.

Split assignments into two groups: Where using AI is encouraged, and assignments where using AI can’t possibly help.

Weave ChatGPT into lessons by asking students to evaluate the chatbot’s responses.  

Assign reflection to help students understand their own thought processes, motivations for using these tools, and the impact AI has on their learning and writing.

Give them the opportunity to rewrite an essay or retake a test if they don’t do well initially (students are less likely to cheat under those conditions). 

Teach students to contest it. Students in every major will need to know how to challenge or defend the appropriateness of a given model for a given question.

We should be telling our undergraduates that good writing isn’t just about subject-verb agreement or avoiding grammatical errors—not even good academic writing. Good writing reminds us of our humanity, the humanity of others and all the ugly, beautiful ways in which we exist in the world.

(from a variety of articles about teaching & AI)

13 Great Quotes about AI & Students

Understanding what AI can and cannot do well within the context of your course will be key as you contemplate revising your assignments and teaching.” -Hechinger Report

The University of Southern California rolled out its AI for Business major last year, a joint degree between the business and engineering schools. In its first year, the major received 713 applications from incoming freshmen for fewer than 50 spots. This year, over 1,000 students applied.  -Wall Street Journal

More than 1 in 6 bot conversations seemed to be students seeking help with their homework,” according to a review of nearly 200,000 English-language conversations by The Washington Post. “Some approached the bots like a tutor, hoping to get a better understanding of a subject area. Others just went all-in and copy-and-pasted multiple-choice questions from online courseware software and demanded the right answers. -Washington Post

Faculty will need to improve their own AI literacy. A good way to begin is to ask AI to perform assignments and projects that you typically ask your students to complete — and then try to improve the AI’s response. -Hechinger Report

Three in five college students say they are regular users of AI compared to 36 percent of instructors, according to research released in June by Tyton Partners -Inside Higher Ed

Magic School's Academic Content Generator: Enter your assignment description to receive suggestions on making it more challenging for AI chatbots, promoting higher-level thinking among students. -Magic School

Half of surveyed college students say they would be likely or extremely likely to use generative AI tools, even if they were banned by their instructor, according to research released in June by Tyton Partners. -Inside Higher Ed

What should a young person study in college? JP Morgan CEO Jamie Dimon recently said, “It almost doesn't matter because (we're) looking for smart, ethical, decent people. But I do think in business you should learn the language of business. So I think it would help to do accounting, finance, markets, something like that.” -Wall Street Journal

Nearly all college-bound high school seniors are familiar with generative artificial intelligence tools, and the vast majority of them have used those tools, according to a new survey. It found 19 out of 20 students are familiar with generative AI and 69% of college-bound students have used generative AI tools. -The National Desk

There are students who are leaning on AI too much. But it’s not pervasive. The number of students using AI to complete their schoolwork hasn’t skyrocketed in the past year. -Ed Week

If students don’t learn about how AI works, they won’t understand its limitations – and therefore how it is useful and appropriate to use and how it’s not. -The Conversation

The teachers will say, ‘Don’t use AI because it is very inaccurate and it will make up things. But then they use AI to detect AI.’ - a Houston high school senior quoted in EdWeek

A survey of students in grades 6-12, released by the nonpartisan think tank Center for Democracy & Technology, found that students with special needs are more likely than their peers to use generative AI and be disciplined for doing so. -Center for Democracy & Technology