Ethan Mollick, a professor specializing in entrepreneurship and innovation, notes in his book Co-Intelligence: Living and Working with AI,
Humans are subject to all sorts of biases that impact our decision-making. But many of these biases come from our being stuck in our own minds. Now we have another (strange, artificial) co-intelligence we can turn to for help. (p. 48)
We might think of “co-intelligence” as a collaborative relationship between human and artificial intelligence (AI), where AI offers an additional perspective to human thinking. By providing insights that can both challenge and confirm our human ideas, AI can help us see a broader range of possibilities for our own decision-making and problem solving. Mollick’s first principle for harnessing this co-intelligence, “Always invite AI to the table,” is important for educators to consider when establishing thoughtful guidelines for how students can interact with AI as a co-intelligent collaborator.
Students Are Using AI, Even If We’re Not
Teaching students about prompt writing and how to dialogue with AI is important, especially since students are already using these tools, even if their teachers are not. In the largest study of student perspectives to date (Goldberg et al., 2024), nearly 8,000 college students reported feeling both confusion about when AI use was permitted and anxiety about potential accusations of academic dishonesty.
To address concerns like these, educators can integrate AI into classroom practices by adopting a use and disclosure policy (e.g., https://go.ncdpi.gov/AI_Guidelines). Policies like this generally have several levels that describe acceptable use of AI for a given assignment and the associated disclosure for each level (see Figure 1). We feature this policy in our school’s syllabi to encourage dialogue between teachers and students.
Dialoguing with AI
Many students write naïve prompts simply because they haven’t learned to craft ones tailored for AI, leading to inaccurate or incomplete chatbot responses. Unlike Google searches, which rely on keywords, effective AI prompts need to be dialogic—ideally several sentences long and including details like intended use and audience.
After reviewing a prompt’s results, students must critically analyze the results and pose follow-up questions to refine the information. Additionally, chatbots respond to emotion prompts, much like in human conversations. Emotion prompts like, “This is very important to my career” or “Are you sure of your response? It might be worth taking another look” can improve AI output quality by an average of 10 percent (Li et al., 2023).
Teaching with and About AI
Concerns about ethical and accurate AI use often drive bans on student access. Yet without guidance, students will likely engage with AI without the benefit of educators’ insights. At Health Sciences High and Middle College, the English department taught a two-week unit on plagiarism and AI. In addition to expected instruction on citing sources, quoting, and paraphrasing, students learned about prompt writing, ethical issues in AI (biases, hallucinations), and ways to cite AI use.
Teaching students how to dialogue with AI is important. Students are already using these tools, even if their teachers are not.
In the video that accompanies this column, high school English teacher Haillie Silva had students create prompts and dialogue with an AI image generator of their choice, asking the system to revise the image based on additional inputs. Together, the students dialogued with the chatbot to refine the image, then documented this process in writing. This task allowed students to practice their prompt writing, dialoguing, and analysis skills. While some assignments in Ms. Silva’s class require minimal or no AI use, this one actively engages students with AI, guided by clear usage and documentation.
Shaping Students’ AI Use
Unfortunately, some students are missing out on critical AI learning opportunities. Without guidance, they risk entering a future where they need AI skills but have not yet developed them. As Mollick notes, today’s AI systems are likely the least advanced we’ll see in our lifetimes, and students will continue to encounter even more powerful tools over time. Teachers are at the forefront of shaping what students learn—and what they don’t—regarding AI. It’s on our shoulders to guide them toward responsible, ethical AI use.
Video Reflection: Welcoming AI with Purpose
After watching the video, take the following steps to reflect on how you can use AI.
- Using a resource like Figure 1, identify the levels of acceptable AI use in your classroom (consistent with existing policies within your school system) and how students should document their use.
- Access a generative AI system (e.g., ChatGPT) and ask the chatbot to develop a lesson based on something you plan to teach. Don’t simply accept the first response you get but rather use dialogue to improve the output.
- Develop assignments requiring various levels of AI use and invite AI to the table. Show students how to ethically use and document the use of AI.
- Talk with colleagues in your subject area or grade level about how they use AI in their classrooms. Could this be a new initiative for your team?
