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Lately, I've found myself overwhelmed by the volume of articles on genAI and higher education. I bookmark the links and flag the emails and tell myself I'll come back to them, only to keep adding to the "should read" list. This looks familiar, doesn't it? I often coach students around how procrastination creates a "laundry pile" of tasks that grows ever larger as motivation to handle it shrinks ever smaller. As I do with them, I asked myself: What is blocking or hindering my motivation to read and think about this topic? For me, there are several factors — a lack of time in the face of bigger priorities (coaching and supervising), the complexity of the rapidly changing genAI landscape, and perhaps most significantly, a fear that overuse of genAI will lead people to abandon the productive discomfort of learning.
The interface of genAI and higher education is a complex and high-stakes topic, and opinions about it encompass a wide range, from the hopeful sharing of possibility (example: from Educause, "Shaping the future of learning: AI in higher education") to concerned discussions of dangers (example: from The Conversation, "The greatest risk of AI isn't cheating — it's the erosion of learning itself"). Exploring the range is important, especially if you find yourself biased toward one end (as I admittedly do). This exploration demands time and critical thinking — two commodities in short supply for both educators and students, especially when genAI companies are moving at breakneck speed to maximize earnings and fight for market supremacy.
With that short time in mind, let's cut to the chase. How can coaching principles and conversations help students think critically about how to use genAI to enhance, and not sidestep, learning?
- Establish and emphasize a no-judgment space and sense of trust. Within that, a student is more likely to freely share how and when they use genAI, even when they suspect or know that they are out of bounds.
- Bring up genAI in your conversations, asking students what they know about it and what they use.
- Encourage students to look up and understand the school policy on genAI as well as individual instructor's policies, which can vary widely even under the umbrella of the school policy.
- Emphasize that the discomfort of effortful learning builds knowledge and skill strong enough to be used in higher-level thinking actions.
- Ask students to analyze: Does a given genAI tool facilitate learning, or facilitate avoiding it?
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