If You’re Not Teaching Students About AI… Who Is? Let’s Guide Students into the Age of Artificial Intelligence

 

Written by

Corey Gill

Generative AI Consultant in the CTL

"AI is not taking our jobs; it’s transforming them. As educators, it’s our responsibility to transform education to align."

By now you know that Generative AI is here, and no, it’s not waiting for permission. It’s in our emails, our grading tools, our students’ essays, and often our own lesson planning process (whether we admit it or not).

But have you stopped to think what it means to our students? Their future careers, workplaces, and even their casual conversations.

But here’s the thing: AI isn’t just showing up. It’s learning. It is acting on our behalf. But it doesn’t always know how to be like us!

AI Can Do the Work, But It Doesn’t Know the Why

AI can produce. It can respond. It can even adapt.

But unlike us, it doesn’t understand purpose. It doesn’t have values, beliefs, or lived experiences to draw from. It doesn’t know what matters unless we tell it.

That’s where authenticity comes in.

Authenticity is more than being “real.” It’s being intentional. It’s about knowing what we stand for, what we want to communicate, and why we’re doing what we’re doing. When we act authentically, we move with purpose—not just efficiency.

And when it comes to teaching students about AI, that’s what we need to pass on.

Why This Matters in the Classroom

Incorporating AI into education isn’t about chasing trends or replacing human effort—it’s about enhancing learning with tools that reflect real-world expectations.

At Durham College, we’ve seen that when students engage with AI intentionally, outcomes improve:

• Final grades increase
• Failure rates drop
• Engagement in assignments and classroom discussions rises

But here’s the catch: students need our help to do it well. Without guidance, they tend to focus on what AI can do, not whether it should. That’s where we step in—not as gatekeepers, but as mentors who model authentic engagement.

Teaching Students to Engage with AI Authentically

So, what does it look like to embed authenticity and intentionality into your course?

It starts with you!

Before we can expect our students to use AI responsibly, we need to understand it ourselves. That means:

• Educate yourself: Stay curious. Read, attend workshops, test tools. Learn not just how AI works, but what it means in your field; understand its risks, ethical implications, and possibilities.
• Use AI personally: Explore how AI can support your own work; lesson planning, feedback enhancement, research summaries. The more you use it, the more authentic your conversations with students will be.
• Explore AI in your discipline: Each field has its own ethical considerations. What does responsible use look like in business? In nursing? In engineering? In creative fields? Knowing this lets you model and teach ethical standards relevant to your program.
• Integrate AI into your assignments and classroom: Don’t treat AI as a side conversation. Bring it into your curriculum. Let students show you how they’re using it; and reflect together on when it’s helpful, when it’s not, and why.

Then, build in intentionality by embedding the following practices:

• Start conversations early: Ask students what they think AI is for and how they’ve used it already. Surface assumptions and set a foundation for intentional use.
• Model responsible use: Be transparent. Let students know when and how you use AI in your teaching, and why. It builds trust and models ethical behavior.
• Make reflection part of the process: Assign tasks where students critique AI’s output, compare it to their own thinking, or revise it to align with their voice. Let them explore how and why they used it.
• Teach prompt literacy: Good AI use starts with good inputs. Help students understand how thoughtful, clear, and values-driven prompts create more meaningful results.
• Highlight impact: Ask students to consider not just what AI produces, but what it could influence. “What could this output lead to in the real world?” is just as important as “Did this answer the question?”

The goal isn’t to discourage AI use, it’s to elevate it.

Just like research, writing, or public speaking, AI literacy is a skill. It needs practice, feedback, and purpose. When we embed these habits into our teaching, we prepare students not only to use AI, but to lead with it.

Not sure where to start, reach out to me or the CTL and we can help!