Students and AI:
A Framework for Understanding the Benefits, Challenges, and Impacts of AI on Learners
A Library 2.0 / Learning Revolution Webinar with Steve Hargadon
OVERVIEW:
We have mixed feelings that big technology breakthroughs will either "wreck" or "revolutionize" education, and now the focus is on Artificial Intelligence (AI). This is a BIG technology breakthrough. Before the machinery of education typically absorbs technologies into the system (often turning them into shadows of their transformative potential), there’s a robust discussion about both the benefits and potential drawbacks of that technology on teaching and learning—a pedagogical debate that reminds us of our enlightened hopes for schooling to bring out the potential and capacity of every student and to encourage their ability to think, reason, and participate actively in society.
AI feels different than previous tech innovations that have impacted learning--more profoundly transformative and more important to get right. For many of us who have adopted AI quickly, our personal learning lives have felt dramatically turbocharged and forever altered. (If you missed my webinar on "How to Read a Book (and More) with AI," I covered some of these historic changes and my own breathless wonder at the ability to use Large Language Models [LLMs] to fulfill intellectual desires mankind has had for millennia.) But just as the potential benefits loom large, so do the tangible challenges: multiple sources report losses in writing and reasoning skills for students and adults when there’s reliance on AI. I call this the "calculator effect," where the benefits of calculator use are clear, but so are the resulting losses in basic math capabilities.
The language of AI gifts us with two serendipitous words: "generative" and "agentic." If we take "generative" for teaching and "agentic" for learning, they fit like they were made for this challenge. "Generative teaching" (echoing Erik Erikson) reflects adults selflessly nurturing the next generation’s growth—teachers guiding with care, sparking curiosity for an uncharted future. (“The mind is not a vessel to be filled but a fire to be kindled.” - Plutarch) That’s my idealized version of teaching, steeped in the values of a liberal arts education from growing up on college campuses. "Agentic learning" is a great phrase for what we’ve called (and still should call) self-driven, self-directed learning. AI provides amazing—even historic—opportunities for both. But AI is a tool we need to understand and use carefully. We’d do well to follow the "Amish Test," first determining our educational principles and then measuring the use of AI in education against those values.
Here is what we will be exploring with "Students and AI:"
Benefits
- Customized Learning Paths: AI adapts to each student’s pace and style, boosting engagement.
- Constant Support: 24/7 AI tutors and learning coaches empower learners beyond school walls.
- Engagement Potential: AI inspires exploration and original thinking.
- Skill Preparation: Prepares students for an AI-driven world with hands-on experience and usage frameworks.
Challenges
- Cheating Concerns: When is using AI a valuable enhancement, and when is it cheating?
- Privacy Risks: What happens when AI knows too much about students?
- The "Calculator Effect": How do we address overreliance on AI reducing thinking and reasoning?
- The Reality of Equity and Access Gaps: The risk of AI widening educational divides.
- Emotional Ties: Could students bond with AI at the cost of real relationships?
- Influence: Technologies building psychographic profiles on users evolve specific commercial, attention, and persuasion agendas.
- Information Literacy in the Age of AI: How language fluency and personalized responses alter critical thinking.
Impacts
- The Personalized Learning Revolution: How AI tailors education to individual students, both in classrooms and beyond.
- The Shift in Assessment Strategies: From summative to formative assessments required by AI use.
- Redefining Education’s Purpose: Will AI finally challenge the hidden curriculum of compliance and conformance or just perpetuate it?
We’ll start with a regular presentation and then shift to a community discussion to share your ideas on these topics. A copy of the chat log will be included with the recording.
DATE: Friday, May 16, 2025 at 2:00 - 3:00 pm US - Eastern Time
COST:
- FREE - includes any-time access to the recording, the presentation slides, the chat log, and a participation certificate.
TO REGISTER:
- Click HERE to register.
NOTE: Please check your spam folder if you don't receive your confirmation email within a day.
Steve is the founder and director of the Learning Revolution Project and Library 2.0, the host of the Future of Education and Reinventing School interview series, and has been the founder and chair (or co-chair) of a number of annual worldwide virtual events, including the Global Education Conference and the Library 2.0 series of mini-conferences and webinars. He has run over 100 large-scale events, online and in person.
Steve's work has been around the democratization of learning and professional development. He supported and encouraged the development of thousands of other education-related networks, particularly for professional development, and he pioneered the use of live, virtual, and peer-to-peer education conferences. He popularized the idea of "unconferences" for educators, and for over a decade, he ran a large annual ed-tech unconference, now called Hack Education (previously EduBloggerCon).
Steve himself built one of the first modern social networks for teachers in 2007 (Classroom 2.0), developed the "conditions of learning" exercise for local educational conversation and change, and inherited and grew the Library 2.0 online community. He may or may not have invented an early version of the Chromebook which he demo'd to Google. He blogs, speaks, and consults on education, educational technology, and education reform, and his virtual and physical events and online communities have over 150,000 members.
His professional website is SteveHargadon.com.
