AI in Education Pt. 1: How to Guide Students in Using AI

AI is everywhere. Your phone, your emails, your favorite streaming service - and yes, it’s also in your classroom, too. While it might feel like AI snuck in without an invitation, the reality is, your students are already using it. Whether it’s ChatGPT helping with essays or creating images, AI has become a part of how students learn and create.

So, what should we do about it as teachers? Ban it? Pretend it doesn’t exist? Neither approach will work for long. Instead, the key is to teach students how to use AI consciously and responsibly. And that starts with understanding a crucial concept: AI literacy.

Why you can’t escape AI (even if you try)

AI in education isn’t some passing trend. It’s been around since the 1950s when researchers started using it to explore personalized learning. Today, AI tools are so accessible that students can generate essays, solve math problems, or even create digital art in minutes.

It’s natural to worry about this. Common concerns include:

• Will students cheat using AI?
• How can we assess original work?
• Will AI replace traditional learning skills?

These are valid questions, and many educators instinctively want to ban AI tools outright. But this approach might do more harm than good. Here’s why:

1. Let’s be honest - banning AI is like banning calculators in math class. It’s not realistic. Students will find ways to use it, whether we know it or not.
2. Without guidance, students may misuse AI or fail to understand its limitations, treating it as a shortcut rather than a tool for growth.

Instead of banning AI, let’s focus on teaching students how to use it consciously and effectively. 

What Is AI Literacy, and Why Does It Matter?

AI literacy is about more than just knowing how AI works. It’s a set of skills and understandings that help students (and teachers!) engage thoughtfully with AI technologies.

A study (Ng et al., 2021) provides a detailed overview and also helpful framework for AI literacy, breaking it into four key aspects:

1. Know and Understand: The basics: what AI is, how it works, and what it can (and can’t) do.
2. Use and Apply: Learning to use AI tools effectively, whether for brainstorming ideas, analysing data, or simplifying repetitive tasks.
3. Evaluate and Create: Critically assessing AI-generated outputs and even using AI as a partner in creating new things.
4. Ethical Issues: Exploring big questions like: Is this tool biased? How does it handle privacy? Who’s responsible for its mistakes?

By teaching AI literacy, we prepare students to interact with AI as a tool - not a crutch or shortcut - while understanding its strengths, limitations, and ethical challenges.

5 First Steps to Improve AI Literacy in Classroom

Here are five approachable, practical steps to bring AI literacy to life in your classroom.

#1 Start Small: Explore AI Yourself

Before diving in with your students, take some time to play around with AI tools. Try generating writing prompts with ChatGPT or testing a text-to-image generator.

By exploring AI yourself, you’ll discover what it’s good at and where it flops. This hands-on experience will make you feel more comfortable and help you anticipate student questions (and maybe even impress them with your new AI tricks!). 

#2 Bring AI Into Discussions

AI is already part of students’ lives, even if they don’t realise it. Start conversations that tap into their curiosity and experiences:

• “What’s the coolest thing you’ve seen AI do?”
• “Can AI create something original, or is it just copying?”
• “What happens if AI gets something wrong?”

These open-ended questions can lead to lively debates and help students develop a balanced understanding of AI’s potential and limitations. Bonus: It’s a great way to break the ice with learners who might already have strong opinions on the topic.

#3 Teach Critical Thinking About AI Outputs

AI doesn’t always know what it’s talking about. Sure, it sounds confident, but its answers can be inaccurate, biased, or even nonsensical.

Use this as a teachable moment:

• Give students an AI-generated paragraph and challenge them to verify its claims.
• Ask them to identify where AI might have misunderstood the context or oversimplified complex ideas.
• Have students input the same question into different AI tools and compare the results.

Teaching critical thinking in this way helps students approach AI-generated content with a healthy dose of skepticism, an essential skill in today’s information-overloaded world.

#4 Promote Transparency with Policy

AI is a tool, not a cheat code. Make this clear by creating classroom guidelines that encourage accountability. For example:

• If students use AI, they must explain how they used it (e.g., brainstorming ideas, refining grammar).
• Encourage them to reflect on what the AI did well and where they had to step in.

This isn’t about penalising students for using AI, it’s about helping them understand how to use it responsibly. Transparency fosters trust and keeps the focus on learning, not shortcuts.

#5 Highlight Real-Life Uses of AI

AI isn’t just about writing essays or solving math problems; it’s transforming industries and shaping careers. Share real-world examples to inspire students and show them the possibilities:

• Healthcare: AI diagnosing diseases or streamlining medical research.
• Art & Design: Tools like Adobe AI assisting in creative projects.
• Business: AI analysing market trends or automating repetitive tasks.

When students see how AI is being used to solve real-world problems, they’ll start to view it as a powerful thing, not just a tool for schoolwork.

Final Thoughts

AI in education might feel overwhelming, but it doesn’t have to be. By teaching AI literacy, you’re empowering students to navigate this new frontier responsibly and thoughtfully. So, take a deep breath, embrace the challenge, and maybe even have a little fun with it.

What’s your take on AI in the classroom? Have you tried incorporating it into your teaching? Let us know: we’d love to hear your experiences! Until then, see you in our next episode of exploring AI!

Sources:

Ng, D. T. K., Leung, J. K. L., Chu, S. K. W., & Qiao, M. S. (2021). Conceptualizing AI literacy: An exploratory review. Computers and Education Artificial Intelligence, 2, 100041. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2021.100041