As you can imagine, I have a lot to say about this as an English teacher in Cambodia. First, students using AI has become a VERY big deal. They're cheating like never before. This term was so bad, in fact, that I've decided I'm going to change the way I teach IELTS test prep from here on out. Also, phone use is a dividing issue among the teachers.
Students also have told me that they use it for math.
Some teachers argue we should lean into the technology and that the phones in the classroom are here to stay. I'd argue otherwise. Like you, I taught in low/no tech classrooms and I believe it is a useful tool, but students I'd argue, don't see it as a tool, they see it as an easy way out. The pandemic pushed students towards their phone as comfort, friend, and endless source of entertainment.
Now, AI for lesson planning is a GODSEND. It makes mistakes, so you have to check it, but it's been a valuable tool, one that is giving me the freedom to do more under less time. But I still want to use my brain.
I want to believe that my job isn't going to end soon, that human connections are not only important but a recognizable commodity worth fighting for, but change is moving very fast, and the consequences are unknown. Welcome to the jungle, baby.
I have heard similar comments from friends working at different levels of the education sector, and they say exactly what you have said - cheating is rife. I know that with IELTS there are different components like writing, reading, speaking and listening, so I can see how AI might help with writing and reading, but I think a student who used AI to help with this might show themselves up with the speaking and listening - but I could be wrong!
Personally, I am anti-phone use in schools, and it actually kinda irritates me when I have seen colleagues wandering around on duty texting or on a call. It doesn't send a good message to the kids, and it's like, just go into the staff room if you need to call someone!
I am yet to try AI for lesson plan or writing reports, but I am interested to see more of this. So if you have any suggestions for the best software for this, please let me know ☺️
I just use ChatGPT, but the hubby insists that I try DeepSeek, touting that it's way better. I might try it out later, but for now ChatGPT is working well for me because it has a memory of what my classes are.
I want to hope that human creativity will become more valuable as AI becomes more commonplace, drawing the line and verifying it will be probably impossible. Like professional and amateur sports, there are rules for drugs and enhancements, but how can anyone take the enforcement and testing seriously?
I hope so too, and I like your link to performance enhancements in sports. That makes a lot of sense, in that, there are certain enhancements that sports people can legally take like vitamin supplements, but there are plenty of others that are classified as illegal/banned. And in relation to AI, it could be used to enhance/support certain tasks e.g., like helping to write reports and completing other admin. But at the same time, I wonder if it would create MORE work to go through and check for corrections?
Plus, I saw this article today about the use of AI in English schools. So it's coming no matter what!
1) use this time now to explore using AI tech beyond prompting ChatGPT. If you haven't done so, explore using other AI agents like Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Google NotebookLLM, Microsoft Copilot, Phind, Deepseek and more to get a feel of each of them to figure out what and when you might use them for. Each AI agent has a personality and strength, like our human friends. Figure out how to use AI as a microtasker, copilot and team member.
2) learn how to create a custom GPT to learn the process of how this tech works. You can't teach students how to "beat"/leverage the tech if you don't know how it works under-the-hood. Start easy by using ChatGPT's option, graduating to perhaps doing it in Claude where they don't really provide out-of-the-box solution.
3) read Sangeet Paul Choudary's articles and figure out how you can enable your students to pick up the skills they are going to need very badly to navigate the world of work when they come of age, especially:
4) in class, use every opportunity where you notice AI being used by a student in their work to make it a class discussion and reflection of the use of tech, from "how can you tell this is written by AI?" to "when do you think we should insert human intelligence?" to "what did you <student> do to get this result? Share your workflow and thinking process" to "After this discussion, what are your takeaways?" and beyond. So much ground you can cover! Make these lessons real by having them do something, even if it is to use X AI agent for an assignment. This tech has now made it possible for any one of us who does not have experience in a particular area to just start without relying on a particular expertise, no matter the output result (we can always get better!). It has taken away our usual excuse of "I don't know how to ...". Teach students how to fish by doing and in the process, teaching them to develop their own fishing techniques, first by you teaching them textbook frameworks and models of thinking, have them practise using it, allocate lots of time for group discussion and reflection, have them go back to practise. Repeat.
5) Look for ways to enable students to learn how to think critically, work together by figuring out how to use the tech to lift everyone up instead of the tech pitting people against people. Right now in many of the developed countries, in the last 40+ years, we have been steadily heading towards competing against each other (big thanks to the Americans). Since ChatGPT launched to the masses, it feels even more now, feeding into the feelings of isolation, loneliness, stress and anxiety of job seekers. The best outcomeI can think of is students learn by-doing how to build effective teams to work together and leverage the tech to figure out how to be an entrepreneur (grow your own crops). The world of salaried employment is now disrupted. My belief is the ones who learn how to ride the waves in whatever sailing apparatus they have will have a bit easier time.
Wow, thank you for such detailed feedback, articles and suggestions about how I can get become better aware and skilled with the software.
Students are already using it, and I guess it’s how developing discussions with them about what they are taking away from their use. If it’s a bit more mindful rather than mindless, then hopefully that’s helping them to develop critical thinking skills as you highlight.
As you touch upon, I think that by seeing AI as a team mate is helpful but I do believe that providing students with zero tech experience in lessons is really valuable too.
I probably come across as a bit of a Luddite in this piece, but that is partly my inexperience/insecurity - the students will be teaching me!
Yes, I personally think it's critical to provide the space & time for students to talk about the use of the digital tool. I feel that is the big missing piece and also a major contributor to failure of change behaviours in organisations. In the spaces I have been in - at work and recently in a digital transformation and change management course - I often feel the impatience from management and the training programme team to "Hurry up, you can figure this out more in your time and we don't have time in the course/meeting to discuss more.". Everyone's learning is short-changed.
Do experiments where the students use zero tech, see what happens, ask them about it and do the same experiment if you can where there's tech involved. Vary to create the contrast in experience for them. Create that gap for reflection and discussion.
Hey! I saw your post pop up on my homepage and wanted to show some support. If you get a chance, I’d really appreciate a little love on my latest newsletter too always happy to boost each other!
As you can imagine, I have a lot to say about this as an English teacher in Cambodia. First, students using AI has become a VERY big deal. They're cheating like never before. This term was so bad, in fact, that I've decided I'm going to change the way I teach IELTS test prep from here on out. Also, phone use is a dividing issue among the teachers.
Students also have told me that they use it for math.
Some teachers argue we should lean into the technology and that the phones in the classroom are here to stay. I'd argue otherwise. Like you, I taught in low/no tech classrooms and I believe it is a useful tool, but students I'd argue, don't see it as a tool, they see it as an easy way out. The pandemic pushed students towards their phone as comfort, friend, and endless source of entertainment.
Now, AI for lesson planning is a GODSEND. It makes mistakes, so you have to check it, but it's been a valuable tool, one that is giving me the freedom to do more under less time. But I still want to use my brain.
I want to believe that my job isn't going to end soon, that human connections are not only important but a recognizable commodity worth fighting for, but change is moving very fast, and the consequences are unknown. Welcome to the jungle, baby.
Thanks for sharing your thoughts, Lani.
I have heard similar comments from friends working at different levels of the education sector, and they say exactly what you have said - cheating is rife. I know that with IELTS there are different components like writing, reading, speaking and listening, so I can see how AI might help with writing and reading, but I think a student who used AI to help with this might show themselves up with the speaking and listening - but I could be wrong!
Personally, I am anti-phone use in schools, and it actually kinda irritates me when I have seen colleagues wandering around on duty texting or on a call. It doesn't send a good message to the kids, and it's like, just go into the staff room if you need to call someone!
I am yet to try AI for lesson plan or writing reports, but I am interested to see more of this. So if you have any suggestions for the best software for this, please let me know ☺️
And yes, welcome to the jungle! 😬 😆
I just use ChatGPT, but the hubby insists that I try DeepSeek, touting that it's way better. I might try it out later, but for now ChatGPT is working well for me because it has a memory of what my classes are.
Thanks Lani, when I finally get round to planning this new course I am teaching, I may see how AI can help. Long-term planning is a nightmare!
I want to hope that human creativity will become more valuable as AI becomes more commonplace, drawing the line and verifying it will be probably impossible. Like professional and amateur sports, there are rules for drugs and enhancements, but how can anyone take the enforcement and testing seriously?
I hope so too, and I like your link to performance enhancements in sports. That makes a lot of sense, in that, there are certain enhancements that sports people can legally take like vitamin supplements, but there are plenty of others that are classified as illegal/banned. And in relation to AI, it could be used to enhance/support certain tasks e.g., like helping to write reports and completing other admin. But at the same time, I wonder if it would create MORE work to go through and check for corrections?
Plus, I saw this article today about the use of AI in English schools. So it's coming no matter what!
https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c1kvyj7dkp0o
While hard to predict what exactly, this new technology should do what others have done before, create loads of new industries. ☺️
To answer your question, I suggest:
1) use this time now to explore using AI tech beyond prompting ChatGPT. If you haven't done so, explore using other AI agents like Claude, Perplexity, Google Gemini, Google NotebookLLM, Microsoft Copilot, Phind, Deepseek and more to get a feel of each of them to figure out what and when you might use them for. Each AI agent has a personality and strength, like our human friends. Figure out how to use AI as a microtasker, copilot and team member.
2) learn how to create a custom GPT to learn the process of how this tech works. You can't teach students how to "beat"/leverage the tech if you don't know how it works under-the-hood. Start easy by using ChatGPT's option, graduating to perhaps doing it in Claude where they don't really provide out-of-the-box solution.
3) read Sangeet Paul Choudary's articles and figure out how you can enable your students to pick up the skills they are going to need very badly to navigate the world of work when they come of age, especially:
a. https://open.substack.com/pub/platforms/p/humans-as-luxury-goods-in-the-age
b. https://open.substack.com/pub/platforms/p/the-fugu-guide-to-jobs-in-a-world
c. https://open.substack.com/pub/platforms/p/the-many-fallacies-of-ai-wont-take
d. https://open.substack.com/pub/platforms/p/when-answers-get-cheap-good-questions
4) in class, use every opportunity where you notice AI being used by a student in their work to make it a class discussion and reflection of the use of tech, from "how can you tell this is written by AI?" to "when do you think we should insert human intelligence?" to "what did you <student> do to get this result? Share your workflow and thinking process" to "After this discussion, what are your takeaways?" and beyond. So much ground you can cover! Make these lessons real by having them do something, even if it is to use X AI agent for an assignment. This tech has now made it possible for any one of us who does not have experience in a particular area to just start without relying on a particular expertise, no matter the output result (we can always get better!). It has taken away our usual excuse of "I don't know how to ...". Teach students how to fish by doing and in the process, teaching them to develop their own fishing techniques, first by you teaching them textbook frameworks and models of thinking, have them practise using it, allocate lots of time for group discussion and reflection, have them go back to practise. Repeat.
5) Look for ways to enable students to learn how to think critically, work together by figuring out how to use the tech to lift everyone up instead of the tech pitting people against people. Right now in many of the developed countries, in the last 40+ years, we have been steadily heading towards competing against each other (big thanks to the Americans). Since ChatGPT launched to the masses, it feels even more now, feeding into the feelings of isolation, loneliness, stress and anxiety of job seekers. The best outcomeI can think of is students learn by-doing how to build effective teams to work together and leverage the tech to figure out how to be an entrepreneur (grow your own crops). The world of salaried employment is now disrupted. My belief is the ones who learn how to ride the waves in whatever sailing apparatus they have will have a bit easier time.
Wow, thank you for such detailed feedback, articles and suggestions about how I can get become better aware and skilled with the software.
Students are already using it, and I guess it’s how developing discussions with them about what they are taking away from their use. If it’s a bit more mindful rather than mindless, then hopefully that’s helping them to develop critical thinking skills as you highlight.
As you touch upon, I think that by seeing AI as a team mate is helpful but I do believe that providing students with zero tech experience in lessons is really valuable too.
I probably come across as a bit of a Luddite in this piece, but that is partly my inexperience/insecurity - the students will be teaching me!
Yes, I personally think it's critical to provide the space & time for students to talk about the use of the digital tool. I feel that is the big missing piece and also a major contributor to failure of change behaviours in organisations. In the spaces I have been in - at work and recently in a digital transformation and change management course - I often feel the impatience from management and the training programme team to "Hurry up, you can figure this out more in your time and we don't have time in the course/meeting to discuss more.". Everyone's learning is short-changed.
Do experiments where the students use zero tech, see what happens, ask them about it and do the same experiment if you can where there's tech involved. Vary to create the contrast in experience for them. Create that gap for reflection and discussion.
Hey! I saw your post pop up on my homepage and wanted to show some support. If you get a chance, I’d really appreciate a little love on my latest newsletter too always happy to boost each other!