4 Ways to Integrate AI into the Learning Cycle

The evolution of AI in the classroom has already traveled many paths. We’ve discussed concerns around cheating and looked at ways that AI can actually help with student creativity. Schools and states across the country are quickly putting together polices and guidelines around AI usage in school as well. However, when it comes down to it, the teacher is ultimately the gatekeeper of how it should and shouldn’t be used.

Teaching students how and when to integrate AI into the learning cycle can be a bit of a challenge depending on age and subject area. That said, I believe it’s important that we begin to model times when it should be used during that process. What follows are 4 different times you could use AI during the learning process. A word of caution here, I don’t think these should all be used during one lesson or project.

Utilizing AI as part of the CONCEPT phase

When my father passed away last spring, I was tasked with writing and reciting the eulogy at his funeral. I had two weeks to prepare and decades of writing practice, but every time I sat in front of the computer to start putting my words down, they failed me. I couldn’t do it. So, I turned to ChatGPT. I fed it a prompt that outlined the general highlights of my father’s life and asked it to formulate a eulogy for the man. While I only ended up using about 20% of what it wrote, it was able to give me the jump start I needed.

Getting started on a project can be one of the most stressful times for a student (or adult). Staring at a blank piece of paper or screen tasked with writing about their feelings on the war of 1812 or how the Bohr’s model works can be intimidating. Sometimes, students just need a little nudge to get their ideas flowing.

For the “concept” phase of the learning cycle, why not have students utilize AI to help them brainstorm ideas about a subject? Prompting Large Language Models (LLMs) like ChatGPT or Microsoft’s CoPilot to come up with a list of terms to include or create some probing questions can help open up creative pathways. In my recent book Learning Evolution, I point out examples of when I use AI, students could do the same as part of their learning process.

Utilizing AI as part of the DESIGN phase

After you’ve had the students learn the ins and outs of LLMs to help them with brainstorming concepts in one lesson, in the next lesson have them brainstorm on their own human intelligence. However, this time, show them how they can utilize AI to help with the design phase of their project.

Maybe it’s using AI to help organize an outline of your brainstormed ideas. I recently used AI to help me with family dinner. I knew I had several ingredients but needed to design a plan of action so I asked it to create different recipes that utilized chicken, lettuce, and waffle fries. The resulting buffalo chicken wraps were a huge hit in the Hooker household.

Moving beyond LLMs and into AI image generators, students can prompt tools like Adobe Firefly and Canva’s Magic Media to create visuals to go along with a presentation. It could help them create a prototype or model of what they are thinking of building or making. In some cases, you could even have students create a first draft of a paper using AI, with their charge of being to improve it.

Utilizing AI as part of the TEST phase

After doing one lesson where students use AI for brainstorming and another where they use AI to help with design, in this next lesson, students will only use AI for the build and testing phase of learning. Students might have created the first draft of a paper but now need some critical feedback on how to improve their writing. They could use it to create a simulation of what their final project might become.

Doing this with peers and the teacher can be helpful, but it also adds an emotional element when someone is critical of another. Utilizing AI as a “research assistant” or “feedback coach” at this phase of learning can help a student see areas where they need to make improvements without the emotional pain of being told they did something wrong.

AI could also be a tutor in a sense. Tools like Khanmigo will help students through a math problem without giving them the answer. Societally we have long accepted a student hiring a tutor to help them write their college essay or a child having a parent help them with their homework. However, as I pointed out in this post, this is an equity issue as not every student in our school system has access to a tutor or parent.

Utilizing AI as part of the REFLECTION phase

One of the greatest things I struggled with early on in my teaching career was giving students time to reflect. When I did make time for it, often it was the same types of questions like “what’s one thing you learned during this project” or “name a student on your team that you collaborated well with and why.” Reflection is such an important part of the learning process when it comes to internalizing knowledge and understanding.

After a student has completed an entire project from concept to design to test to final product, have them utilize AI to give them some thought-provoking feedback and reflection questions. Used in this way, AI becomes more of a “thought partner” in learning rather than a tool that can help students cut corners to finish a paper.

Ask AI to come up with a list of thoughtful reflection questions based on the project and then have the students answer those as part of their final product. This not only allows for that important reflection component, but also gives the teacher better insight into the learning process regardless of what the final product might be.

Summary

Using AI during different parts of the learning process is a powerful way to help student understand it’s uses and limitations. As I mentioned at the beginning, being intentional with students about when to use AI in this process is key. Students shouldn’t use it for every phase of learning, but learning where and when to use it along that journey is empowering.

AI is here to stay. It’s our job to model with students how it should be used and why it can be an important part of learning more deeply going forward. I designed the following graphic (not created with AI 🙂 to help summarize the thoughts of this post. Feel free to share to the masses!

Carl Hooker is an international speaker and trainer. He works with schools and events across the country to thoughtfully integrate tools like AI into learning. His latest book Learning Evolution shares several examples, strategies and ideas like this one. If you are interested in booking Carl for your next event or professional development day, fill out this speaking form to get more information.