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I think it's safe to say that AI, and its relationship to college students and learning, is exceptionally complicated. Even as student AI use increases, many students are concerned about the potentially negative consequences. This Harvard Crimson column, written by students, asks that the institution consider and address the "hidden costs of convenience." Dr. Sam Illingworth, professor of Critical AI at Edinburgh Napier University, detailed instances of rising student anger, frustration, and AI tool refusal in a recent article. Illingworth emphasizes that while the students are right about the cognitive costs, they risk a different cost by refusing it entirely: "Refusal looks like resistance. It functions as withdrawal. The decisions about how AI lands in education, work, and civic life are being made right now. They are being made by the people who showed up."
Coaches can take a cue from Dr. Illingworth's focus on what he calls "slow AI" which, as he describes it, "argues for embedding pause and reflection into how we design, use and teach with these tools." Indeed, pause and reflection are building blocks of the coaching conversation. Coaches can encourage students to use coaching time to pause and reflect on:
- What they think and feel about AI
- How AI tools may bypass or support learning, depending on the tool and how it is used
- Each professor's directives about how, and whether, AI tools are permitted
- The role AI may play in their desired future career area, and what AI-related skill they may need to build to be workplace-ready
- How they can build a habit of thinking before they jump to use any AI tool: "Will this tool free my brain to put effort into something more important, or will using it be a brain-weakening shortcut?"
Take some pause and reflection time for yourself with a LifeBound training — and keep in mind that LifeBound offers a self-paced version that you can adapt to your schedule.
Explore which course is right for you at www.lifebound.com.
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