Stop Chasing the Algorithm: Re‑architect Classrooms for an AI‑Powered Future

Educators express various apprehensions about artificial intelligence, but I believe two concerns stand above the rest.

(1) Students are using AI to do their assignments, which educators define as “cheating.” A recent artice in the New Yorker highlighted what has become obvious.

(2) Faculty think they cannot keep up with the AI developments. Marc Watkins wrote about this in a recent article in The Chronicle of Higher Education.

While I understand these concerns, I think they are misplaced and focusing on them represents a fundamental misunderstanding of our educational challenge. Rather than attempting to outpace AI technology, educators would be better served by reimagining assessment approaches that emphasize emphasize capabilities like critical thinking, creative application, and collaborative (human-human, human-AI-human) problem-solving.

If we truly want to prepare students for a world where AI is ubiquitous, we must integrate these tools meaningfully into our curriculum. This means designing learning experiences that teach students to work alongside AI effectively (Pratschke)—understanding its strengths, limitations, and ethical implications. By shifting our perspective from viewing AI as a threat to recognizing it as a powerful collaborative tool, we can transform education to better reflect the technological reality students will navigate throughout their professional lives.

1. Teach How to Partner with AI, Not Just Use It

Instead of one-off assignments asking students to “try ChatGPT,” help them build sustained workflows that combine human judgment and AI capabilities. This means:

• Designing semester-long projects where students co-develop work with AI.

• Teaching reflection: when should you trust AI output? When should you challenge or override it?

• Reframing assignments from “What do you know?” to “What can you do with tools at your disposal?”

---

2. Shift the Curriculum from Content Mastery to Meta-Learning

In a world where AI can summarize, solve, and simulate, knowing the answer matters less than knowing how to learn and re-learn. Students must master:

• Learning how to learn with AI.

• Managing workflows and navigating uncertainty.

• Building adaptable skill stacks instead of fixed specialties.

---

3. Foster Human Strengths

AI may be able to write, code, and analyze. But it still struggles with:

• Building trust in a team.

• Leading others through ambiguity.

• Understanding complex human contexts, like ethics or emotional nuance.

Faculty should double down on:

• Interpersonal communication

• Emotional intelligence

• Leadership under uncertainty

These skills will distinguish tomorrow’s professionals in an era of artificial labor.

---

4. Rethink Assessment: From Recall to Real-World Relevance

If AI can ace your test or write your essay, the problem isn’t the AI—it’s the assignment. Instead, try:

• Grading the process (how students work with AI) as much as the product.

• Including collaborative, peer-reviewed, or AI-integrated projects.

• Designing capstones that solve real-world problems using AI-enabled methods.

---

5. Model Honest Engagement, Not Tech Skepticism

Faculty shouldn’t pretend that AI is a fad or inherently flawed. Students see through that. Instead:

• Acknowledge the power and limits of the technology.

• Share your own evolving process of using and understanding AI.

• Help students think critically—not cynically—about AI’s role in society.

Faculty are not software reviewers. They are architects of the future workforce—and the future citizenry. Preparing students to live and lead in an age of artificial labor — cognitive and physical — is far more impactful than memorizing the change blog of the latest AI release.

By focusing on mindset and integration, not just tools—on fluency, not just functions—educators can stop chasing the noise and start shaping the signal.

Insructional redesign has a number of benefits -

1. It prepares students for the world they’ll actually live in.

2. It restores the credbility of academia, as students know they will use AI at work and need to learn how to do so.

3. It solves the “cheating” problem.

4. It makes the “keeping up with the AIs” less relevant.
   

   For more on instructional redesign, see me, Quidwai, Crisci, Dasey, Marcus yesterday, Kentz, others. Debate, PBL, educational games, experiential learning are all within the repetoire of educators (or at least they should be).