The Language of AI: E9 - Embedding AI Ethics

Fellow Educators,

Consistency is key hence the standard 9:15am Wednesday “Christmas Newsletter”.

Bonus takeaways at the end - scroll down….

As we wrap up another year in education, I wanted to present a slightly different edition to the newsletter. I’m always trying to give you tools and downloads to use but this time it is a bit different.

Generative AI tools like ChatGPT are revolutionizing writing, not just in academic research but also in education. From assisting students in refining their essays to helping educators draft lesson plans, these tools hold immense promise.

However, they also bring critical challenges: how do we ensure integrity in student submissions? Where do we draw the line between AI-generated and AI-collaborated work? In this edition, we’ll explore how generative AI is influencing education and pose critical questions for educators about its ethical use in student writing​​.

Generative AI in Education - Opportunities and Challenges

1. Opportunities for Educators and Students

   • Enhanced Learning Support: Generative AI can act as a tutor, providing instant feedback, suggesting improved sentence structures, or rephrasing for clarity.

   • Equity in Education: For non-native speakers and students with learning disabilities, tools like ChatGPT offer a level playing field, making writing tasks less daunting.

   • Efficiency in Teaching: Educators can use AI to draft personalized lesson plans, create rubrics, and even design differentiated assignments tailored to varying student needs.

2. Challenges in Student Work

   • Identifying Authorship: How do educators differentiate between a student’s own effort and text generated by AI? This challenge mirrors peer reviewers' struggles in academia.

   • The "Human Touch": Student writing loses its unique voice and critical thinking when overly reliant on AI tools.

   • Ethical Dilemmas: Without clear guidelines, students may inadvertently cross ethical boundaries, blurring the line between collaboration and misconduct​​.

Generative AI offers transformative opportunities in education, providing enhanced learning support, promoting equity for diverse learners, and improving teaching efficiency through personalized tools. However, it also presents challenges, such as distinguishing student-authored work from AI-generated content, preserving the "human touch" in writing, and addressing ethical dilemmas without clear usage guidelines. Balancing these opportunities and challenges is crucial for responsible AI integration in classrooms.

Key Questions for Educators

1. What Defines Collaboration vs. Generation?

• Collaboration involves using AI as a tool to enhance a student’s own ideas, such as restructuring sentences or brainstorming topics. Generation, however, may include fully AI-written essays or projects with minimal human input.

• Ask Yourself: Should educators treat AI-generated essays differently from those AI-enhanced? Where should the line be drawn?

2. What Skills Are We Assessing?

• If students use AI tools to write essays or solve problems, are we still evaluating their critical thinking, creativity, and comprehension—or just their ability to use AI effectively?

• Consider This: Could assignments focus more on process (drafts, reflections) than final products to ensure students engage deeply with their work?

3. How Do We Teach Integrity in the Age of AI?

• Students need guidance on ethical AI use, learning when it’s appropriate to use AI and how to credit it. This parallels the push for transparency in research writing.

• Action Point: Embed lessons on AI ethics into curricula, ensuring students understand their responsibilities as digital citizens.

Educators face critical questions as AI becomes a common tool in education. First, they must distinguish collaboration from generation, where collaboration involves enhancing student ideas with AI, while generation implies minimal human input. This raises the need to define how AI-generated and AI-enhanced work should be treated. Second, educators should reflect on what skills they are assessing—whether critical thinking and creativity are being prioritized or merely a student’s ability to use AI effectively. Shifting focus to the writing process, such as drafts and reflections, can ensure deeper engagement. Lastly, teaching integrity in the age of AI is essential. Students need explicit guidance on ethical AI use, understanding when and how to credit AI contributions. Embedding AI ethics lessons into the curriculum helps foster digital responsibility and academic transparency.

Practical Steps for Educators to Manage AI in Classrooms

1. Transparent AI Policies:

   • Set clear expectations on how students can and cannot use AI tools for assignments. For example, AI can assist in brainstorming but must not generate entire essays.

   • Include discussions about AI ethics in class to encourage reflection on the tool's limitations and ethical considerations.

2. Focus on Drafting and Reflection:

   • Require multiple drafts and reflections on the writing process. This allows educators to assess the student’s thought progression and effort, minimizing over-reliance on AI.

3. AI-Assisted Writing Exercises:

   • Create assignments where students openly use AI, but with specific goals like improving grammar or brainstorming, followed by a reflection on how the AI helped.

4. Leverage Detection Tools Thoughtfully:

   • While tools exist to detect AI-generated content, their accuracy isn’t perfect. Combine detection with thoughtful questioning and feedback to ensure fairness.

To effectively manage AI in classrooms, educators should establish transparent AI policies, clearly defining permissible uses of AI tools, such as brainstorming but not full essay generation, and fostering classroom discussions on AI ethics. Emphasizing drafting and reflection helps educators assess students’ thought processes and efforts, reducing dependence on AI tools. Incorporating AI-assisted writing exercises, like grammar improvement or brainstorming tasks followed by reflective evaluations, allows students to engage responsibly with AI while understanding its role in their learning. Additionally, educators can leverage detection tools cautiously, combining them with thoughtful questioning and feedback to ensure fairness and accuracy in evaluating student work. These strategies help integrate AI into education responsibly while preserving academic integrity.

What Should We Be Worried About?
Generative AI is here to stay, but as educators, it’s up to us to decide what constitutes fair use. Should we worry more about students who generate entire essays using AI or about those who fail to understand how to collaborate effectively with these tools? The answer might not be black and white, but this question should guide our evolving policies and practices.

Embrace AI, But Set the Boundaries
Generative AI offers immense potential to enhance education, fostering creativity and efficiency for both students and teachers. But with great power comes great responsibility. As we navigate this new landscape, let’s ensure AI empowers students to think critically, write authentically, and learn ethically. The challenge ahead lies in striking the right balance between collaboration and originality.

What’s your take on AI in education? How are you addressing its use in your classrooms?

Bonus Takeaways

Tangible Takeaways for you

To make this newsletter actionable, here are some practical applications and prompts for you:

1. Teaching Transparency: Class Discussion Prompt on AI Ethics
“Discuss with your students:

• What does it mean to use AI ethically?

• Can you think of examples where using AI tools might cross ethical boundaries in writing?

• How can we ensure our own work remains authentic while using AI as a helper?”

Encourage students to reflect on how they can incorporate AI responsibly into their learning processes.

2. Drafting and Reflection Exercise Prompt
“Use an AI tool (e.g., ChatGPT) to improve grammar or rewrite a paragraph of your essay. Then answer these questions:

• What did the AI improve, and why do you think it made those changes?

• How did the AI’s suggestions align or differ from what you intended to write?

• What would you change in your next draft without AI assistance?”

This exercise encourages students to think critically about their writing process and AI's role in enhancing it.

3. Policy Awareness: Classroom AI Use Rules Template
“Create a classroom policy around AI usage for assignments. Include sections such as:

• Permissible uses (e.g., brainstorming ideas, refining drafts).

• Prohibited uses (e.g., generating full essays, submitting AI-generated content as your own).

• Reflection requirements for AI-assisted tasks (e.g., what the AI helped with, what the student did independently).”

Having a structured policy ensures consistency and transparency for both educators and students.

4. Generating Questions for Assignments Prompt
“Use AI to craft discussion or reflection questions for your lessons, such as:

• What critical thinking skills were used in solving this problem?

• If AI were a teammate on this project, how would you divide the work and why?

• Explain how AI influenced your final output and how it might differ without its assistance.”

This helps assess students’ understanding of concepts while integrating AI responsibly.

5. Detection and Accountability: Prompts for Teacher Feedback

• “Highlight areas where student writing reflects their unique voice and thought process.”

• “What evidence shows the student engaged with the material beyond AI assistance?”

These prompts ensure fair evaluation while maintaining focus on originality and effort.

I hope that you have had a year full of a balance with excitement and apprehension vs one or the other. I wish all of you a relaxing and blessed time off and we will re-connect in 2025.

Cheers,
Matthew