How can we prepare students for a future with AI?
January 6-10, 2025
ChatGPT for Education explores how AI can help you teach and learn more effectively. In this post, we share relevant news in AI and education. Subscribe to receive these in your email inbox.
A question on most educators’ minds these days is: How can we prepare our students for a future with AI?
This week, Higher Ed Dive shared how different colleges are redesigning their curricula to address AI literacy as a learning outcome for students.
Some institutions, like the University of Pennsylvania, are focusing on distinct AI credentials, offering both bachelor’s and master’s engineering degrees in artificial intelligence to prepare students for careers in AI-powered industries.
Other colleges, like the University of Florida, are taking a more integrated approach, incorporating AI education into nearly every major, and offering general and discipline-specific AI certificates in areas like hospitality, geography, and public health.
Building dedicated programs can establish a college as a leader in cutting-edge AI education, and integrating AI across all disciplines ensures that every graduate, regardless of their major, is prepared for a world increasingly shaped by AI.
Also this week, author Dan Fitzpatrick published a piece in Forbes responding to our CEO Sam Altman’s prediction that the first AI agents might “join the workforce” in 2025. He offered three mindset shifts that will be critical for school leaders to help their students navigate and thrive in the future:
AI as a collaborative partner
“For educators, this presents a call to action for us to reframe AI not as a competitor but as a collaborator. This shift may require educators to rethink their roles. [...] The interplay between human and machine intelligence could redefine what it means to ‘learn’ and ‘teach.’”
Fostering critical thinking and resilience
“Interdisciplinary thinking and the ability to synthesize information from diverse sources will be crucial to success in this new world. [...] Education must also prepare students for the ethical challenges posed by AGI. By incorporating lessons on digital ethics, data privacy, and the societal impact of technology, educators can equip students to make informed decisions about AI’s role in their lives and communities.”
Lifelong learning in a rapidly changing landscape
“For educators, this means fostering a culture of lifelong learning. Students must be encouraged to view education not as a finite process but as an infinite journey of skill acquisition and adaptation.”
How do you prepare your students for a future with AI?
Do you have any guidance for your students? What core skills do you believe they should focus on developing to be equipped to navigate a future where machines may outperform humans in certain tasks? We want to hear from you.
What we’re reading on Substack this week
Community member and learning design expert
reflects on powerful pedagogical approaches that AI can help us design and deliver at scale: shared examples of process-based assessment methods in the age of AI from educators like , , and Bruce Clark: discusses the challenges of higher-education institutions establishing policies on generative AI:
AI and EDU perspectives from the week
Altman describes AGI as ‘the most impactful technology in human history.’ With this claim comes a recognition of AGI as a tool of immense promise but also a potential source of profound disruption. Education becomes central to ensuring its benefits are broadly distributed as we inch closer to the reality of AGI transforming our world.
—Dan Fitzpatrick in Forbes
AGI Is Coming in 2025. Schools Urgently Need a Strategy
Schools everywhere have been wrestling with how and where to incorporate AI, but many are fast-tracking applications for students with disabilities. Schools are using the technology to help students who struggle academically, even if they do not qualify for special education services.
—AP News
AI is a game changer for students with disabilities. Schools are still learning to harness it
How can universities better align their offerings with the needs of industries disrupted by automation and AI? What steps can be taken to design flexible, high-impact programs that not only meet local labor demands but also provide professionals with the digital fluency required to thrive in a tech-driven economy? Universities have an opportunity to position themselves as essential partners in shaping the workforce of the future.
—Sara Leoni, founder and CEO of Ziplines Education, in Forbes
AI Education and Digital Credentials Decouple Knowledge from Degrees
Critical thinking is one way to look at it. In regard to journalists, Hemingway called it "crap detection." Like search, LLMs are an extraordinarily powerful way to summon information and knowledge, with the caveat that like Internet search, it is up to the seeker to distinguish the real info/knowledge from the misinfo and disinfo. In addition to a critical mindset, learners will need to learn specific strategies and tactics. For Internet search, it can start with doing another search on the author. How to crap detect LLMs is a skill that has yet to emerge. Educational institutions didn't do such a great job with Internet search crap detection. Can educators get an early start on this one?
Great stuff! I'm writing about AI and higher ed here. https://hollisrobbinsanecdotal.substack.com/p/ai-aced-your-states-gen-ed-now-what