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Generative AI in Education:

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Exploring When to Use It, When to Skip It, and How to Decide

Tamara Tate, PhD

Associate Director, Digital Learning Lab

University of California, Irvine

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For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.

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What technology were they talking about?

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Writing

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For this invention will produce forgetfulness in the minds of those who learn to use it, because they will not practice their memory. Their trust in writing, produced by external characters which are no part of themselves, will discourage the use of their own memory within them. You have invented an elixir not of memory, but of reminding; and you offer your pupils the appearance of wisdom, not true wisdom, for they will read many things without instruction and will therefore seem to know many things, when they are for the most part ignorant and hard to get along with, since they are not wise, but only appear wise.

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Tools Shape Thinking (and Writing):

From Socrates to AI

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    • Every new tool transforms the way humans write and think.

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Tools Shape Thinking (and Writing):

From Socrates to AI

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    • Every new tool transforms the way humans write and think.
    • Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral [Kranzberg].

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Tools Shape Thinking (and Writing):

From Socrates to AI

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    • Every new tool transforms the way humans write and think.
    • Technology is neither good nor bad; nor is it neutral [Kranzberg].
    • Tools simplify processes but raise concerns about cognitive shortcuts.

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Tools Shape Thinking and Writing:

From Socrates to AI

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    • An example
    • Good? Bad? Does it matter?

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Why do we write?

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How does it matter?

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Do you use generative AI?

Yes, fairly regularly

Not really

A bit

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What Is Generative AI?

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    • AI tools like ChatGPT generate coherent text based on text prediction.
    • Trained on HUGE dataset of text (looking at you Google Books & Reddit).
    • Additional human training.

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What Is Generative AI?

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What Is Generative AI?

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Why should I care?

    • Is generative AI already impacting your course?

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Why should I care?

    • Is generative AI already impacting your course?
    • Are there equitable issues to consider?

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Why should I care?

    • Is generative AI already impacting your course?
    • Are there equitable issues to consider?
    • Do I have an obligation to teach students how to use generative AI?

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    • Personalization at scale

(tutoring, coaching)

    • Thinking partner (organizing thoughts)
    • Feedback (iterative writing)
    • Perspective taking

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Opportunities:

Opportunities and Challenges of Generative AI

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    • Personalization at scale

(tutoring, coaching)

    • Thinking partner (organizing thoughts)
    • Feedback (iterative writing)
    • Perspective taking

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Opportunities:

    • Risks over-reliance, hinders authentic skill development
    • Ethical, IP, environmental & privacy concerns
    • Faculty time & energy

Challenges:

Opportunities and Challenges of Generative AI

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What Decades of Research Tell Us About Writing Technology

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Tamara Tate Beth Harnick-Shapiro Mark Warschauer Michael Dennin

PapyrusAI Team

Daniel Ritchie Jaeyoon Choi Waverly Tseng Maura White

Dana Saito-Stehberger Soobin Yim Kristi Werry Gerardo Jr. Lopez Meera Jagota

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PapyrusAI.org

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What Our Research Tell Us About Writing with GenAI

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What Our Research Tell Us About Writing with GenAI

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Best Practices for Integrating Generative AI

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Good pedagogical practice is the foundation of an AI-infused curriculum

Digital Learning Lab

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Use It When:

      • Productive struggle requires scaffolding.
      • Use requires critical thinking.
      • Authentic.

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Skip It When:

      • Simply off-loading task without higher order effort required.
      • Human connection or imperfection is a value.
      • Students are not in a position to corroborate & that matters.

Use It When:

      • Productive struggle requires scaffolding.
      • Use requires critical thinking.
      • Authentic

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How to Decide:

      • Align with learning outcomes.
      • Consider the student’s developmental stage.
      • Do risks of over-reliance outweigh benefits?
      • Do you have the time to do it well?

Skip It When:

      • Simply off-loading task without higher order effort required.
      • Human connection or imperfection is a value.
      • Students are not in a position to corroborate & that matters.

Use It When:

      • Productive struggle requires scaffolding.
      • Use requires critical thinking.
      • Authentic.

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    • AI-Assisted Peer Review
      • Read the writing. Make some notes on things you notice. Consider the assignment and rubric.
      • Prompt the AI to provide feedback.
      • Consider the AI output for accuracy and clarity.
      • Consolidate your thoughts and the additional information from the AI and give your peer consolidated feedback.
      • Consider what you did well, where the AI helped, and what the AI got wrong or missed.

Example #1

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    • Reverse Outline
      • Ask the AI to outline your writing.
      • Look at the outline--what is missing? Are there logic gaps? Could you reorganize the flow?
      • Think about whether the outline helped you revise and strengthen your writing.

Example #2

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    • Debate Opponent
      • Give the AI the debate topic and tell it to act as your opponent.
      • Tell it your position and arguments.
      • Have it counter you.
      • Then come up with counter arguments.
      • Ask it for suggestions of other things you might have argued or countered.

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Example #3

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    • Challenges in maintaining academic integrity.
    • Importance of transparency and student buy-in.
    • Institutional policies for fair and ethical use1 .
    • Environmental impact, intellectual property.

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Ethical Questions in the Age of AI

1Caution re: AI detectors

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    • How/will you integrate generative AI into your teaching?
    • How/will you help students navigate this tool responsibly?

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Generative AI in Education

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Questions and Discussion

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Resources

DigitalLearningLab.Org

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Interested in working with us?

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Thank you!

Tamara Tate, PhD

Associate Director, Digital Learning Lab

University of California, Irvine

tatet@uci.edu

This material is based upon work supported by the National Science Foundation under Grant No. 2315294 and the California Educational Learning Lab AI Grand Challenge

© 2025 The Regents of the University of California

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Tools Shape Thinking and Writing:

From Socrates to AI

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A palimpsest

    • a manuscript or piece of writing material on which the original writing has been effaced to make room for later writing but of which traces remain.
    • something reused or altered but still bearing visible traces of its earlier form.

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Tools Shape Thinking and Writing:

From Socrates to AI

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Tension and threads …

    • Authorship & agency in the age of AI
    • Art vs. craft? Affordances and limitation of AI

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Activity / Lesson

Learning Goal

Students will explore the capacities and limitations of generative AI.

Students will be able to use generative AI to efficiently generate feedback and understand their own role in ensuring that feedback is accurate and useful.

Students will be able to use generative AI to efficiently generate suggestions for peer feedback and understand their own role in ensuring that feedback is accurate and useful.

Students will be able to selectively use generative AI to produce concise summaries of a text, while also recognizing its supportive role and their responsibility to ensure the summary is accurate and meets their objectives.

Students will be able to use generative AI to receive feedback from an imagined audience and explore ways to improve their writing to meet the expectations and needs of different audiences.

Students will be able to use generative AI to create a reverse outline of their draft, analyze the structure of their writing, and identify areas where the organization can be improved. They will also learn to adjust the flow of their work to ensure clarity and cohesion.

Students will be able to use generative AI to effectively brainstorm writing topics, explore background knowledge, and refine their ideas to align with assignment goals. They will also learn how to evaluate each potential topic.

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Syllabus

  • You should have an AI policy
  • It should clearly, transparently say what is/not permitted (easier said than done)
  • Discuss it in class
  • Resources
  • Anna Mills slides