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Six AI-Related Learning Risks and How to Counter Them

There is no question that artificial intelligence (AI) offers a myriad of opportunities to enrich learning for our students. With AI, learning experiences can be more personalized, resources can be more tailored and be accessed quicker, information about student learning progress can be more complete, and suggestions for next steps can be more focused.

However, AI is not a risk-free or an infallible answer to student learning challenges. In fact, there are several potential problems and pitfalls of which we need to be aware and for which we need to be vigilant. Expecting students to rely on AI as their primary learning guide can be a mistake. Without our engagement, coaching, and direction, AI can undermine critical aspects of learning, distract from crucial elements of understanding, and even mislead students regarding what they have learned and need to retain in memory.

Multiple studies have documented the impact of heavy reliance on AI relative to depth of understanding, temporal nature of recall, and absence of accurate information. Here are eight learning risks that AI can present for our students—and strategies we can employ to counter them.

Cognitive off-loading. Rather than memorizing general information or automatizing key skills, dependence on AI can lead learners to defer to digital sources to provide answers and consequently fail to develop fundamental skills such as mental math, problem identification, and critical thinking. The absence of independent thinking skills and strategies can diminish the effectiveness of students’ use of digital resources and leave them lost when technology tools are unavailable.

Counter strategy: Identify and teach relevant foundational skills in your content area that students need to support their learning and engagement with AI. Periodically review and refresh these skills with students.

Short-term learning focus. A 2024 study including approximately 1000 students found that solving math problems using AI led to significant performance improvement over students using traditional tools—notes and textbooks. However, when retested without access to AI, their performance growth fell dramatically. While we want students to show short-term learning growth, little is gained when students cannot retain what they have learned.

Counter strategy: Emphasize to students the importance of retaining what they learn. Coach students to engage in such recall-building strategies as distributed practice, retrieval practice, and other activities to strengthen their ability to recall what they learn.

Diminished attention span. A recent research study on attention spans found that the average attention span has decreased by approximately two-thirds since 2004! The availability of immediate information, constant switching of devices and information sources, and lack of focus have all undermined the discipline necessary to stay with a problem, issue, or topic for extended time. Yet, these are the behaviors necessary to gain full understanding, reflect, and engage in sensemaking.

Counter strategy: Design learning activities that build and strengthen attending skills. Challenge students to gradually extend their focus and build their concentration capacity. Coach them to use approaches such as the Pomodoro Technique that intersperses short breaks following extended (typically 20-25 minute) study sessions.

Superficial learning. Educational games and applications often focus on success in the simulation but can actually divert attention from the intended learning. Additionally, the immediate availability of answers using AI can compromise depth of understanding and lead to overconfidence in what is learned. Lack of deep understanding can leave students able to answer surface questions but unable to apply and use what they have learned.

Counter strategy: Design learning activities that expose students to deeper concepts and issues. Select instructional and learning strategies that position students to investigate, organize, examine, synthesize, apply, and create as they learn.

Reliance on biased information. Large language models are a type of AI that rely on information fed into the system to synthesize said information, compose responses, and provide solutions. To the extent that bias has been a part of the information fed into AI systems, it becomes part of what AI accesses for its processing. Several studies have documented the presence of bias in programs ranging from evaluating job applications to facial recognition.

Counter strategy: Give students strategies for recognizing the potential presence of bias. Coach students to consider elements such as the source of information, potential motivation of the source, consistency with other sources, and so on.

Misled by misinformation. Just because information is generated by AI does not make it true. When AI tools rely on inaccurate data, faulty resources, and inadequate programming, they can produce results that are misleading or inaccurate. Without consulting other sources or benefiting from our guidance, students can find themselves misinformed, misled, and mistaken by the information they access from AI.

Counter strategy: Like examining for bias, we can teach students to identify inaccuracies by consulting other sources, comparing to other known information, and being skeptical when information does not seem correct or is inconsistent with what students already know.

AI can be a valuable resource to support learning and provide access to instant information and insight. However, without our monitoring, coaching, and teaching, AI can also undermine many of the skills and habits our students need to become successful in work and life.

References:

Bastani, H., Bastani, O., Sungu, A., Ge, H., Kabakcı, Ö., and Mariman, R. (2024, July 15). Generative AI can harm learning. The Wharton School Research Paper. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4895486

Mark, G., and Mills, K. (Hosts). (2023, February). Why our attention spans are shrinking. In Speaking of Psychology. American Psychological Association. https://www.apa.org/news/podcasts/speaking-of-psychology/attention-spans

February 21, 2025

Why AI Will Not Replace Teachers

Artificial intelligence (AI) is predicted to replace a significant number of jobs throughout the economy. However, while teachers may find that AI provides efficiency, real-time information, rich content resources, and other supports, there are crucial aspects of the teaching role that teachers alone can offer.

Teachers provide a learner-centric value that AI cannot replicate. Teachers play roles beyond just the transfer of knowledge and development of skills. AI can teach and share knowledge, sure, but it lacks the key elements of human modeling, nurturing, and connecting that are essential components of a comprehensive learning process.

In fact, experts predict that teachers are among the least vulnerable professions to replacement in an era of AI. However, the aspects of teaching that make the role less threatened are not content knowledge, instructional techniques, and other technical aspects of teaching. Instead, what makes teachers difficult to replace are the intangibles of modeling, inspiring, improvising, adapting, caring, and connecting in the learning process and relationships with students.

Teachers play at least five key roles in the learning process and context that present a challenge for AI to replicate or replace:

Teachers nurture values, ethics, and social norms. Teachers communicate to students what is important, appropriate, and expected in thousands of ways. They transmit social norms through formal and informal interactions. Teachers utilize explicit instruction and provide modeling and corrective feedback to help students understand and internalize important values and practice ethical conduct.
Teachers build communities of respect, belonging, and connectedness. Much important learning occurs within a social context. Teachers are uniquely positioned to build social communities, foster a sense of connectedness, and nurture in students a sense of belonging. Such experiences are nearly impossible to replicate in a technology context.
Teachers manage emotional, social, and behavioral elements of learning. Teachers constantly respond to student moods, concerns, and psychological needs and routinely anticipate and respond to student behaviors. Nonverbal cues such as facial expressions, eye contact, physical positioning, and posture can have powerful but highly nuanced impacts on behavior and learning.
Teachers motivate and inspire. Teachers understand that the process of motivating others requires more than a set of tricks and techniques. The relationships teachers develop with students permit them to do more than share possibilities, make predictions, and deliver inspirational messages. Motivating and inspiring require an understanding of who students are and what is important to them. Motivation and inspiration involve sharing passions, tapping emotions, and revealing possibilities that are meaningful and connect with students’ values and interests at a time that yields maximum impact.
Teachers integrate the social context of learning. They bring cultural insights and awareness to educational experiences, and their understanding of culture provides an important context for learning, adds meaning to content, and connects students to their cultural identity.

Artificial intelligence can offer much to assist teaching and learning processes. However, it does not have the capacity to replace the most essential contributions we make in our work with students. We need to own and leverage our special role, with the assistance of AI, to offer the very best learning experiences for our students.

June 13, 2024

AI: Six Summer Reflection Questions

Throughout the year, we have been bombarded with news, opinions, and advice regarding the presence, potential, and power of artificial intelligence (AI). With so much information swirling around us, it can be difficult to sort what is relevant and useful from what is just hype and noise. Yet, we know that AI is making an impact all around us, and we need to pay attention.

Now, with the summer ahead of us, we can take some time to absorb, reflect, and learn. It can be a challenge to know where to even begin. Because each of us is on our own journey and will have our own individual learning needs and levels of readiness, it will be helpful to consider what is most relevant in terms of our unique needs and potential uses. Here are six questions to guide reflection within your personal context with accompanying discussion to provide support for your journey.

A logical first question is, what steps do I need to take to expand my understanding of how AI can increase the efficiency of my work and effectiveness of my practice? AI is a potentially powerful tool to help us to manage much of the time-consuming work that has been part of our world forever. Lesson planning, correspondence, and brainstorming are just three examples. Further, AI offers access to a wide array of ideas, resources, activities, and perspectives that can enhance the learning we design for and with students. Innovative approaches, creative applications, and novel strategies to support learning can be part of our regular practice without us always having to spend hours developing them.

Second, we might ask what additional information and resources do I need to understand where and how can I use AI to add learning value for my students? This question is related to the first question, but it shifts the focus to how AI can add to the arsenal of learning skills students are developing. AI can add dimensions to their learning experiences that go beyond what we have been able to provide in the past. As examples, AI can position students to view world events from the perspectives of people from other cultures and regions. It can help students to understand and experience the value of what they are asked to learn in ways that extend far beyond what we might be able to provide without extensive research and planning.

A third reflection question is, what additional guidelines and safeguards do I need to put into place to ensure that my students are using AI appropriately and safely? As amazing as AI can be as a resource, it also can create important dilemmas, questions, and quandaries for learners. We need to think through what our students need to know about protecting their privacy and safety. We can examine with students crucial ethical issues regarding the use of AI. Further, we need to equip our students with the skills to be aware of and recognize bias and fabrication of information, and we need to prepare them with options and strategies to respond when they believe they are victims of inappropriate use of AI.

Fourth, how can I increase the engagement of parents as learning partners and supporters to help students use AI in safe and meaningful ways? Communication with parents is key to ensuring safe, ethical, and meaningful AI engagement. Parent engagement will likely be a key element in determining the level and nature of their support as students begin to utilize AI in more integrated, impactful, and extensive ways. Parents will want to know and be reassured that their children’s safety is being protected and that students are continuing to learn and develop skills beyond those necessary to use AI.

Fifth, how can I best support students’ utilization of AI to stimulate, build, and extend learning while avoiding potentially unfounded suspicions and accusations of plagiarism and other forms of cheating? Once introduced to the power of AI, students will want to utilize it—regardless of our approval. Our best choice is to teach students the proper ways in which to access AI to support their learning rather than to replace it. Students need to know how to cite AI sources, how to use AI to stimulate their ideas, and how to access important support AI can provide while not ignoring the importance of their own learning. Predictably, some students will attempt to shortcut their learning by relying on AI to provide the work product for which they are responsible. In response, we might be tempted to use commercially available tools to identify AI content, but caution is warranted as many of them have been shown to be unreliable. Striking a balance is key.

Finally, how am I using engagement with AI to help students to build their resilience, critical thinking, communication, and other durable skills they will need in a tech-driven world? Building the skills necessary to utilize AI is an important challenge for students. However, we also must give attention to the life and work skills students need to be successful in a world where relationships, sound judgement, decision making, problem solving, and other competencies remain crucial. In fact, the existence of AI in no way lessens the importance of these skills. On the contrary, AI arguably make these skills even more important and their application even more consequential.

Obviously, these are questions we can ask ourselves repeatedly as we learn and our experience and skills continue to evolve. It is reasonable to assume that AI will continue to grow and evolve, and our utilization of it will also need to be frequently reconsidered, reoriented, and renewed.

May 30, 2024

Five Things Teachers Do Every Day That AI Cannot

It is hard not to be amazed by what artificial intelligence (AI) can and promises to do. We wonder how much AI will change the ways in which we engage students and support their learning. It seems clear that there will be new opportunities and unexpected challenges as we adjust to this new reality.

However, we need to remember that many of the most important influences we have on students cannot be duplicated by AI—because they are uniquely human. Their power resides in the relationships we build with students, and our relationships with students are among the most powerful influences on students’ choices related to their learning.

Consider that each day we reach out to students to discern their mood, learn what is happening in their lives, and understand how their emotional state may influence their behavior and probable success in upcoming lessons. Here are five of those routine behaviors and the important implications they hold for students and their success.

First, we welcome students at the door with a smile, and we check out their emotional state. Initial contact between students and teachers sets the stage for the learning experience designed for the day. Eye contact and other nonverbal cues can tell us when students will need more attention, some additional space, or have exciting news and experiences they want—and need— to share.

Second, we offer a wink, frown, or raised eyebrow to connect and encourage. We possess a variety of communication tools beyond words. In fact, among the most effective tools for managing the classroom are nonverbal signals, facial expressions, and “looks.” When teachers know their students, they can anticipate what students are likely to do next, “nudge” their behavior, and prevent a variety of behaviors that otherwise might necessitate intervention or redirection.

Third, we offer high-fives and fist-bumps to celebrate or a pat on the arm to comfort and reassure. Physical contact can be a powerful communication tool. Celebrating with students in a moment of success and triumph can reinforce the experience and create a lasting memory. Reassurance and encouragement can also be powerfully communicated by a gentle touch. Of course, physical contact requires sensitivity and thoughtfulness. However, it remains an important way to communicate caring, support, and confidence.

Fourth, we look over a shoulder or stand next to a desk to refocus attention and discourage distractions. Physical proximity can have a significant influence on student behavior. Experienced and insightful teachers for generations have known that moving close to a student can be a reminder of the task at hand and lead to engagement in expected behavior. This move can influence students to shift their behavior or attitude without having to say a word.

Fifth, we send students off with a personalized comment or words of encouragement to carry them through the day or evening. During the time we spend with students, we often learn much about what may be on students’ minds, what may be worrying them, and what they may be looking forward to during the remainder of their day. This information positions us to provide students with specific reassurance, support, and encouragement as they move to their next challenge or experience.

We need to be open and ready to learn how AI can support our work with students. However, we would also do well to remember the power of our connections with students, how we build relationships with them, and how influential we are in nurturing their well-being and success.

May 18, 2023

Ten Ways ChatGPT Can Save Time and Support Instruction

It can be challenging to figure out how to respond to the emergence of artificial intelligence, especially in the context of education. Some school districts have responded by banning the use of ChatGPT. Others are experimenting but remain unsure of the benefits and drawbacks. Of course, what we are seeing is just the beginning of the impact artificial intelligence will have on teaching and learning.

Regardless of what may lie ahead, there are immediate opportunities for educators to leverage chatbots, such as ChatGPT, to lighten their load and reduce the time they spend with a variety of common, but time-consuming tasks. Of course, just because these tools are available does not mean that they should become a substitute for professional judgment and skills. Nevertheless, here are ten ways in which chatbots can save time and provide opportunities for educators to engage in other high leverage activities:

Plan lessons. Chatbots can make activity suggestions, provide instructional strategy ideas, and identify potential resources. Benefit: Less time must be spent planning and more ideas are available to draw from.
Collect information and research. Chatbots can reduce the amount of time spent searching the internet and elsewhere for information to support instruction. A well-formed prompt can generate a succinct summary of a wide variety of information. Benefit: Less time spent searching and researching.
Generate ideas to help students see purpose and utility in what we are asking them to learn. We can infuse these ideas in discussions to reinforce connections and help students to place greater value on what they are learning. Benefit: Ideas and strategies to draw from, and students who are more engaged.
Locate examples and suggest applications for new content and skills. We can use these examples and suggestions to help students see utility in what they are learning, and we can design activities that take advantage of potential applications to keep students engaged. Benefit: Reduced time researching and better learning connections for students.
Modify content to match student learning readiness. Students learn best when presented with content that they can comprehend and that matches their skill level. Benefit: Less time spent modifying or interpreting challenging content and more learning success.
Provide succinct background information. Many students need additional background knowledge to benefit from our instruction. Chatbots can collect information and present it at the specific grade or reading level of the student. Benefit: Immediate resource to tap and more learning success.
Suggest ways to connect one academic discipline to another. Cross discipline learning tends to be more meaningful and can aid in retention of content and skills. Students often fail to make these connections and finding meaningful connections can be challenging and time consuming. Benefit: Reduced time spent researching and planning and improved student success.
Provide feedback and suggestions in response to student work. Chatbots can offer guidance for word choice, grammar, and syntax. Our follow-up conversations can add our feedback on the content and quality of their work. Meanwhile, we remain aware of areas of struggle and positioned to provide support. Benefit: Reduced time analyzing and providing supplemental feedback on mechanics while remaining focused on the concepts and content of student writing.
Grade student tests and quizzes. For some types of assessment, such as multiple choice and short answers, chatbots can grade student responses, and in some cases provide feedback to students. Of course, chatbots can also generate questions and develop writing prompts. Benefit: Reduced time spent preparing assessments and grading by hand.
Compose correspondence drafts. Deciding where to start and how to frame information in correspondence, particularly sensitive correspondence, can be a challenge. Chatbots can provide a place to start and content to edit and shape to support our message while maintaining our voice. Benefit: Access to starter ideas and wording and reduced time planning and composing correspondence.

Of course, the next question is how best to use the additional time that chatbots help us to create. Here are five ideas to consider:

Conferencing with students about their learning
Providing high-level feedback to students
Counseling students regarding effective study strategies
Building strong relationships with students
Engaging students in authentic, performance-based assessments
Taking a breath . . .

We may not be able to predict the future and artificial intelligence’s impact on education. However, there are important and useful purposes to which the technology can be applied now. Of course, the more experience we develop with artificial intelligence the better able we will be to make decisions about it and leverage its potential.

May 15, 2023