Takeaways from Teaching with AI: Part 1 of a 4-Part Workshop
We recently attended part one of a four-part workshop on Teaching with AI (by the authors of the book of the same name), and were reminded how quickly AI is reshaping not just the tools we use in higher ed, but also the ways we think, learn, and communicate.
This workshop highlighted a few points that stood out to us as instructional designers who work with AI daily:
1. AI is the “new average”
One of the most striking ideas: AI currently performs like a solid C student. It can produce work that is “good enough” but not exceptional. That has big implications for how we design assignments, assess learning, and help students push beyond the baseline.
The takeaway: Assignments and assessments need to stretch students in ways AI cannot easily replicate.
2. AI is labor we need to manage
The presenters framed AI as labor: something we now “employ.” That means we need to know when (and how) to bring it into our teaching and work, and how to guide students in using it responsibly, so that they can do the same.
The takeaway: By modeling thoughtful use, we prepare students for the reality of managing AI in their future careers.
3. Bias can be shifted
Humans struggle to set aside certain biases (for example, valuing credentials or titles as a stand-in for true expertise). But AI, when prompted carefully, can be instructed to ignore those factors and focus instead on the quality or relevance of the ideas themselves. This doesn’t erase the need for critical thinking, but it does give us a chance to model bias-checking in new ways.
The takeaway: Faculty can use AI as a tool to surface and interrogate bias rather than reinforce it.
4. Prompting is pedagogy
Asking better questions, giving clear context, and iterating on responses are skills we already value in higher education. AI makes these habits even more visible. In some cases, even AI’s “hallucinations” can spark new angles for discussion or analysis.
The takeaway: Teaching with AI reinforces skills we already want students to practice—like inquiry, iteration, and critical evaluation.
5. Ethical use is a curricular challenge
We face a new challenge in education: teaching students to use AI effectively while also ensuring they continue to develop core skills in writing, critical thinking, and originality. Not every instructor has to take this on, but somewhere in the curriculum, we’ll need intentional attention to helping students develop AI literacy.
The takeaway: AI ethics and literacy should be woven into programs intentionally, even if it’s not discussed in every single course.
Looking Ahead with AI
Taken together, these ideas point to a larger shift in how we think about AI in the curriculum and in our teaching practice.
This first session gave us a chance to think about AI in new ways. It confirmed some of what we already understood as regular AI users, but also added new perspectives: especially on treating AI as a curriculum-wide (not just course) outcome and rethinking how we approach it. If the baseline use of AI is “C-level” work, then the opportunity is in finding thoughtful, intentional ways to use it that strengthen our teaching and help students move beyond the average.
Another idea this session reinforced for us was that AI can be part of learning from the very beginning: not just as a support tool, but as a way to build a kind of compound effect. When students learn to use AI alongside their subject matter, they’re not only gaining content knowledge but also practicing how to question, iterate, and refine. Over time, those small steps add up, deepening both their learning and their ability to leverage AI effectively.
And perhaps the biggest takeaway: there is still so much more to learn about AI and the ways it can be used. Each session, each experiment, and each classroom application reveals new possibilities. The opportunity for us as educators is to stay curious, keep experimenting, and continue guiding students toward ways of working with AI that expand both their learning and their imagination.
About the Workshop
The series is led by José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson, authors of Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning (Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024). Over four live sessions, they’ll help participants understand the current AI landscape; address academic integrity in meaningful and fair-minded ways; design assignments that build both course outcomes and AI literacies; and explore how AI can support course design and management.
