I spoke in a conference focusing on the role of emerging faculty in leading learners in the AI driven world at Northeastern University College of Professional Studies Faculty Conference in Oct 2024. While there were a lot of concerns on the adoption of AI due to the plagiarism, the major concerns was towards the lack of critical thinking as people can always get the answers! The goal has become more on prompt engineering rather than critical thinking!
While prompt engineering itself is not bad as it also makes one think of the Five Whys or Socratic thinking approaches, I found one example of a middle school learner asking why they should know about using calculators when they can ask Siri or Alexa! Perhaps I am outdate in my thoughts that I used the logarithmic book once upon a time. While scientific calculator was great, when it broke, I was not stuck! But, now, I see people not knowing how to read time on an analog clock or not knowing how to find time when their Alexa is out of commission!
As I thought through ideas, I came up with a handout that trainers and teachers can use to augment critical thinking with specific methods and some tools. People felt and have since then mentioned that this was a very good resource and so I am sharing for my readers.
PROMOTE AI LITERACY AND CRITICAL THINKING
Methods
Integrate AI into the curriculum, discussing its capabilities and limitations.
Teach students to use AI responsibly, i.e. fact-check and verify AI outputs
Encourage and invite students to critically evaluate AI-generated content
Assign projects that involve using and analyzing AI tools.
Tools
AI ethics courses (e.g., MIT's "Ethics of AI" course materials).
Critical thinking frameworks (e.g., CRAAP test for evaluating sources).
AI-powered fact-checking tools (e.g., Factmata, Full Fact.)
USE AI FOR PERSONALIZED LEARNING EXPERIENCES
Methods
Use AI to ensure that lesson plans are current and relevant.
Use AI-powered tutoring systems for additional support.
Customize individual study plans based on AI analysis of student performance.
Employ AI to identify learning gaps and suggest targeted resources.
Tools
Experiment with custom agents like Claude, OpenAI, Copilot, and Gemini.
Research AI thinking courses on MOOC and include as supporting content.
Evaluate dashboards of student learning outcomes weekly.
LEVERAGE AI FOR AUTOMATED GRADING AND FEEDBACK
Methods
Use AI to grade objective assessments and provide instant feedback.
Implement AI-powered writing evaluation tools for essays and reports.
Use AI to evaluate student work for plagiarism, ensure compliance with academic integrity standards.
Combine AI grading with human review for a balanced approach.
Tools
Automated essay scoring systems (e.g., ETS e-rater).
Plagiarism detection software (e.g., Duplichecker, Turnitin, Copyleaks).
AI-powered feedback tools (e.g., Revision Assistant, WriteLab).
INCORPORATE AI-ASSISTED CONTENT CREATION
Methods
Use AI to generate diverse examples and practice problems.
Employ AI tools to create multimedia content for lessons.
Utilize AI for language translation to support multilingual classrooms.
Collaborate with AI to develop interactive simulations and scenarios.
Tools
AI content generators (e.g., GPT-3 based tools can help with PPP structures.)
Text-to-speech and speech-to-text tools (e.g., Amazon Polly, Google Cloud Speech-to-Text.)
AI-powered design tools (e.g., Canva AI, Adobe Sensei); virtual reality platforms (eg. Labster, zSpace).
