Opinion Piece: How do we Build the Capacity of our Students to Shun the Seductive Shortcut of AI?
Janet Horrocks
Our students will have access to generative artificial intelligence (AI) tools of increasing sophistication. How do we develop our student’s confidence in their own voice when AI large language models such as ChatGTP, Copilot and Claude can produce, on the surface, such seductive and persuasive answers?
What we need to do is to build within our students the confidence to own their ideas and to articulate ideas using language that they have made their own.
When we learn a new language, we start with formulaic sentences and rely heavily on imitating others. We patchwork together the words of others. As our technical knowledge grows, fluency develops and confidence builds. The formulaic sentences are left behind as we make the new language our own (Vaccino-Salvadore & Hall Buck, 2021).
In learning a new discipline, the language and communication norms of the discipline as well as the ideas are unfamiliar. We ask students to express ideas in ‘their own words’ but having confidence to use their own words in a discipline context takes time and practice. Students need to develop fluency in their discipline to own disciplinary language (Airey & Linder, 2009). This requires the opportunity to practice using disciplinary language with feedback and affirmation in the same way that learning a new language takes time, practice, feedback and affirmation.
In the active learning classroom, our students carry out tasks which have an observable output that can be discussed with peers and educators (Betts, 2024). When we use active learning, we are designing experiences and opportunities for students to not only think about disciplinary concepts but to work with disciplinary language and communication norms to articulate their ideas in their own words (written or spoken) to peers and educators. This can be a messy process, with wrong turns, that takes time and effort. But the effort is worth it to build disciplinary fluency where students become comfortable in disciplinary ways of knowing, the specific ways in which language is used in their discipline, and disciplinary tools and methodologies.
By fostering environments rich in active learning, we help students move beyond imitation to ownership. The goal is not just to resist the uncritical allure of AI, but to build thinkers who speak with clarity, conviction, and the confidence that their ideas matter.
References
Airey, J., & Linder, C. (2009). A disciplinary discourse perspective on university science learning: Achieving fluency in a critical constellation of modes. Journal of Research in Science Teaching, 46(1), 27–49. https://doi.org/10.1002/tea.20265
Betts, T. (2024). The Active Learning Network. The Active Learning Network. https://activelearningnetwork.com/
Vaccino-Salvadore, S., & Hall Buck, R. (2021). Moving from plagiarism police to integrity coaches: assisting novice students in understanding the relationship between research and ownership. International Journal for Educational Integrity, 17(1) 20. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40979-021-00085-7
About the author
Janet is a Lecturer in Academic Practice at Abertay University. She is passionate about sharing the benefits of active learning among the academic community.
