In my last post, I mentioned the idea that just updating a user interface does not update an assignment, we need to update user experience as well. Previous Post [Rethinking the Assignment in the Age of AI]
Just like in tech, updating the user interface doesn’t guarantee transformation. A better interface can improve usability, but if the underlying system (the instructional design) stays the same, then the learning and the learning experience doesn’t really evolve. Just a marginal improvement on the usability.
That’s the current risk with AI. We could be using a groundbreaking technology to marginally improve yesterday’s assignments.
We say we’re "using AI in education," but often, we’re just using AI to do old things faster. Rewriting a worksheet with ChatGPT might make the language more engaging, but if the assignment is still a static, one-directional task, we’ve missed the deeper potential.
So What Should We Do Instead?
Start treating AI not ONLY as a teacher productivity tool, but as a student learning partner.
Instead of asking, “How can AI help me write this worksheet faster?”
Ask: “How can AI help my students think more deeply, more independently, and more collaboratively?”
Here are three steps to shift the model:
Redesign the Task, Not Just the Format
Ask students to explore, create, analyze, and reflect, not just complete. AI can help them do research, generate ideas, simulate perspectives, or test theories. But only if the task is built for that.Put AI in Students’ Hands
Let students prompt the AI, question it, refine its output, and critique its suggestions. This builds agency, metacognition, and a real-world skill. It also moves the AI from being a delivery mechanism to a thinking partner.Shift from Answers to Thinking
Replace “What’s the right answer?” with “What are all the ways we could approach this?” That’s the difference between automation and transformation. And AI can guide students through multiple perspectives if we let it.
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