Submission + - AI is Killing the Internet. Don't Let It Kill the Classroom Too. (realcleareducation.com)
schwit1 writes: AI isn’t merely churning out fluff. In one striking example, bots fueled a disproportionate share of the online discourse following mass shootings, and AI actively spreads misinformation. Online content is increasingly spun up by algorithms for other algorithms to amplify. This deluge of automated content is drowning humanity on the internet.
Lately, it seems that a similar dynamic is charging into our college classrooms with developers of educational technology at its vanguard. Let’s call it the Dead Education Theory, and it works something like this:
A college professor uses one of many dozens of free commercial AI tools to draft a rubric and an assignment prompt for their class. A student pastes that prompt into another AI app that produces an essay that they submit as their completed assignment. Pressed for time, the professor runs the paper through an AI tool that instantly spits out tidy boilerplate feedback. Off in the background, originality checkers and paraphrasing bots duel in an endless game of evasion and detection. On paper, the learning loop is complete. The essay is written. The grade is given. And the class moves on to its next assignment.
It’s entirely likely that this scenario is playing out thousands of times every day. A 2024 global survey from the Digital Education Council found that 86% of college students use AI in their studies, with more than half (54%) deploying it at least weekly and a quarter using it daily. Faculty are increasingly using AI to create teaching materials, boost student engagement, and generate student feedback, although most report just minimal to moderate AI use.
Lately, it seems that a similar dynamic is charging into our college classrooms with developers of educational technology at its vanguard. Let’s call it the Dead Education Theory, and it works something like this:
A college professor uses one of many dozens of free commercial AI tools to draft a rubric and an assignment prompt for their class. A student pastes that prompt into another AI app that produces an essay that they submit as their completed assignment. Pressed for time, the professor runs the paper through an AI tool that instantly spits out tidy boilerplate feedback. Off in the background, originality checkers and paraphrasing bots duel in an endless game of evasion and detection. On paper, the learning loop is complete. The essay is written. The grade is given. And the class moves on to its next assignment.
It’s entirely likely that this scenario is playing out thousands of times every day. A 2024 global survey from the Digital Education Council found that 86% of college students use AI in their studies, with more than half (54%) deploying it at least weekly and a quarter using it daily. Faculty are increasingly using AI to create teaching materials, boost student engagement, and generate student feedback, although most report just minimal to moderate AI use.
Exit quote: “Banning AI tools isn’t realistic; the genie has escaped that bottle. But instead of allowing AI to drain higher education of its humanity, we must design a future where AI amplifies authentic human thinking. AI will be in the classroom — there’s no question about that. The urgent question is how to keep humanity there as well.”
