AI and Learning: Helpful or Detrimental?

AI is a topic that we hear about in every aspect of our lives. In the article ‘Is Education Just An Illusion? AI and the new crisis of purpose’[1] in The Chronicle, Sarofian-Butin shares his experience as a professor who feels he is in a battle with AI, pushing everyone to look at AI as a supplement to our work rather than a replacement of our work. He has run across examples of students writing papers with ChatGPT and professors writing feedback on those papers with ChatGPT. A reference to the WWE (World Wrestling Federation), which is well known as entertainment that everyone involved knows is not real, but pretends that it is real, is made with the question posed of whether education is headed in this direction. AI is supercharging disinterest amongst students in learning, Sarofian-Butin says, giving AI such as ChatGPT the ability to collapse the entire process of teaching and learning into an “instantaneous polished transaction,” with no learning occurring.

Curriculum discussions are commonplace on university advisory boards, and a common theme of these discussions is whether action should be taken to prevent AI from being used in class assignments, or if the assignments should be written with AI in mind and its use be encouraged in a model that balances learning and the benefits of AI.  Like so many topics, opinions are split. I can see both sides, as although I always use a calculator to do math now, knowing how the math works enables me to understand the why behind the calculations. The why may not matter for a single calculation, but it matters in the bigger picture.


AI can provide significant value in many aspects of work and life. It can improve outcomes, create efficiencies, and it can support the learning process by bringing a significant amount of information to the process.


It is important we remember the learning aspect.

 



References:

  • [1] Sarofian-Butin, Dan. “Is Education Just an Illusion?” The Chronicle of Higher Education, vol. 71, no. 15, March 28, 2025, page 34 – 35.

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