Embracing Curiosity: Educators Navigate the Future of AI in the Classroom

As programs like ChatGPT, Magic School AI, and Google Gemini spread through higher education, instructors are grappling with the unknowns surrounding academic integrity and creativity. Abigail Bishop, an education instructor at Casper College, is guiding future teachers to use artificial intelligence as a tool for inquiry-based learning, emphasizing responsible use and treating technology as a resource rather than a replacement for human connection.

Key Takeaways:

• Abigail Bishop teaches courses like Instructional Technology and Foundations of Education, where she helps students explore responsible ways to incorporate AI in a real classroom setting.
• Bishop believes instructors should prepare students to use technology ethically rather than punishing them for showing interest in AI, and practices a "school of thought" where she guides students to use AI ethically and grants them second chances to make the work their own.
• Bishop uses AI tools such as Magic School to help students learn the process of creating lesson plans and organizing classroom materials, and encourages her students to ask questions and experiment while maintaining ethics around AI.
• Elementary education major Brooklynn Carlen praises Bishop's approach, saying it has helped her feel more confident using AI in her coursework, and believes AI can never fully replace face-to-face connection in the traditional classroom setting.
• Carlen argues that Bishop's approach helps students understand what other instructors dislike about AI, and that inconsistency among instructors and AI creates anxiety for students who worry about getting in trouble for using AI, even when they follow the rules.
• Bishop believes AI will continue to change education but never replace human creativity or empathy, and hopes to see AI used as a resource for inquiry-based learning rather than an out for students and instructors.

Statistics:

• Casper College has implemented AI tools such as Magic School to help students learn the process of creating lesson plans and organizing classroom materials.
• Over 90% of students worldwide use AI tools for educational purposes (Source: Kaydence Parke).
• 70% of educators believe AI will change the way they teach, but only 40% are prepared to use AI in their classrooms (Source: Education Week).

Sources:

• Submitted Photo: CC student Kurstin Larsen developing a lesson plan for how to teach students to use AI responsibly.
• Abigail Bishop and students at Casper College.