Jason Gulya

I continue to be fascinated/worried about the marketing of AI as "first-stab" technology.

But I do worry about happens when that approach becomes the default, and we get so used to an AI-first and human-second collaborative model.

YouTube video by Insight Jam 🔵Are Traditional Grades Making it Harder for Education to Adapt to AI? | Keynote with Jason Gulya

My virtual keynote (“Are Traditional Grades Making It Harder for Education to Adapt to AI?”) has gotten about 24k views in a couple of weeks.

I’m hoping it struck a chord.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=uDCL...

I'm glad it's not just me! Honestly, I've played with those infographics a few times, and I just don't get it.

Am I the only one who doesn’t find AI-generated graphics useful?

Every time, I have the same impression: “wow, that’s a really noisy image…”

I’ve never had an AI-generated graphic clear something up for me or simplify an explanation for me.

They mostly just hurt my head.

I almost always ask my students to self-assess their work before I weigh in.

Doing so makes my comments so much better.

Because I can ground my comments not only in the final process/product, but in their knowledge of that process/product.

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Image: a photo of the book I’m reading now.

Here’s my worry about process-oriented teaching.

I worry that we’ll bring out students’ processes, so that we can measure them and evaluate them (and thus, flatten them out).

I worry that we’ll make the same mistake that we made with products, using process-teaching as a way to demand compliance.

I’m both laughing and crying.

Can you use gen-AI responsibly, if the tools themselves were built through irresponsible methods?

Asking for a friend.

What's the Future for AI-Free Spaces? Please let me dream...

The ongoing integration of AI and similar technologies into everyday life does not mean that every classroom needs to use AI extensively.

In fact, cultivating AI-free learning environments could make students (and us) more aware of what’s actually going on in the world and our place within it.

Same here!

I hadn’t come across it before. Thanks, Brett!

I think AI-free spaces will continue to be powerful for learning.

But…

I think they’ll have to be consensual spaces, where students opt into, create, and maintain the AI-free space.

Because I’m not sure if an imposed AI-free space will be viable for much longer (if it even is now).

Right on!

Exactly.

One of the things I really like about some forms of alternative grading is that it's iterative by design.

It's one reason why I really like "edit to mastery" (though I don't love the word master here) as a model form of assignment.

Thanks, @liznorell.bsky.social!!

I did look at that one! I couldn’t attend, because of a scheduling conflict!

If we want to talk seriously about AI and the future of assessment…

We need to talk about alternative grading.

We need to talk about whether deemphasizing grades through alternative assessment would better serve them, and help preserve classrooms as places of exploration and experimentation.

Don’t let companies and people hide behind the “neutrality” of AI.

AI programs and tools are far from neutral.

They are specific tools created by specific people for specific political purposes.

I'm all for teaching process over product.

But...

1️⃣How do we create process-focused assignments without (in the push to standardize and measure) flattening out process?

2️⃣ How can we possibly do it for hundreds of students?

There's a lot to work out.

Learning, Fast and Slow: Why AI will not revolutionize education An unexpected algorithm

Learning with AI is seductive, because it promises the chance of jumping past the arduous work of System 2 thinking to the quick, easy work of System 1 thinking

But learning science and psychology show us that often learning doesn’t work that way.

Just got my copy of “Teaching and Learning in the Age of Generative AI” (Routledge).

My chapter is called “The Age of Chat: Education and the Rise of No-Code Chatbots.”

I *may* have launched a critique of some very powerful people (Altman, Khan, Andressen, Diamandis) in print, for all to see…

Evaluating tools is an essential part of modern writing.

Some tools stand on their own.

Some tools are embedded in other tools.

Some tools are more anthropomorphic than others.

Some tools are more intrusive than others.

Some tools are more AI-centered than others.

AI is a cultural technology that intersects with discourses of power.

In other words, it’s political.

People and companies are already using AI to gain and maintain power over others.

If colleges ignore AI, they’ll lose their students.

If they adopt AI uncritically, they’ll lose their souls.

Then, they’ll lose their students.

And it’s not about incorporating AI into all courses.

It’s about designing AI-aware courses, even if we don’t use the technology.

The Defining Problem for AI and Education - EdTech Digest A tech-savvy English professor turned part-time AI consultant helps us sort through what we’re even talking about. GUEST COLUMN | by Jason Gulya I talk about Artificial Intelligence and the future of ...

One of my newest articles, this time with EdTech Digest.

It’s important that we be very specific when talking about AI, Gen-AI, LLMs, and so on.

www.edtechdigest.com/2025/02/20/t...

I’m enjoying the audiobook (and the book in general).

Those are great points!

To boost our students’ AI Literacy, we need to stop throwing “AI” around as a label.

We need to be more specific.

We need to talk about LLMs.
We need to talk about Gen-AI.

We need to be clear about how/if our terms align with each other.

Because the terms we use matter.

“In the Age of AI, the Humanities will be more important than ever.”

Ok. But…

Humanities programs are getting their budgets and staff cut every year.

What happens when the skills we need the most are in the shortest supply, because of money and public perception?

Thanks for sharing!

And I agree. Though, on the other hand, this student gives me hope. She is thinking critically about this tech and the world around her.