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AI in the Classroom: Could you be more specific, please?

February 13, 2026

I don’t mean to be uncharitable to my teaching colleagues, but I’m seeing an unhelpful pattern in many of their posts/threads. It goes something like this:

  1. Educator makes a post, lamenting that students are using AI wholesale to do assignments, thereby damaging their thinking and undermining the educational process.

  2. A commenter enigmatically shares the nugget of wisdom “You need to be structuring assignments that use AI to build their critical thinking skills."

  3. Thirty others chime in with variations of the same answer, often twinged with a bit of condescension.

The problem: It is rare that any commenter pairs with their sage wisdom any actual concrete advice on how to specifically accomplish this.

Educators, and those adjacent, I’d like to challenge you. This is a time of change. We are all figuring this out. Let’s share examples of the things we are trying, even if they are imperfect.

Here’s one from me: 1. I teach a communications course at my university. Students deliver a personal story as their first talk.

  1. In class, I have students put their laptops and devices away. After brainstorming, coaching, and group discussion, students create a detailed handwritten outline of their personal talks.

  2. Students are then directed, as homework, to record an attempt at giving the talk, and to bring that recording and their device to the next class.

  3. During the next class we use a free tool to make a transcript of their talk. I then show them how to give that transcript, their outline, and my rubric to AI and ask for feedback. This involves asking AI to play the role of a member of their target audience.

The student did all of the creating and composing. Critical thinking preserved, perhaps? The student figures out how to give detailed instructions to an AI to elicit valuable feedback, including directing AI to role-play for a purpose. The start of valuable AI development skills?

It’s not perfect, but that's the point — we're all figuring this out, and sharing imperfect attempts beats sharing vague advice every time. So here's my challenge: Here, or anywhere else, share one specific assignment or approach you’ve redesigned for this AI era, even if it's messy. What worked? What didn't? Let's replace the platitudes with actual practice. Peace.