Month: February 2025

Podcast Reflection:

https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/edsurge-podcast/id972239500?i=1000683061969

Michael suggested I access a book, titled “The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI.” He also recommend this podcast that addresses the themes in the book. I enjoyed listening to the podcast because the author of the book and the podcast guest, Tricia Bertram Gallant, has “hit the nail on the head” when it comes to the current collision of artificial intelligence and education. Tricia suggests there is no way around this collision, the only way is through it; which requires an enormous upheaval of our current classroom curriculum and assessments. The podcast is exactly relevant to my thesis project because she contextualizes the current situation that educators face and also provides potential solutions and ways forward. Although she is speaking primarily about post-secondary institutions, the issues are similar to the issues we are facing at a high school level. Tricia highlights that many professors are adjusting the best way they know how, doing in-class writing assignments as assessment rather than essays where students can potentially use AI. Tricia shockingly states that many professors are at the point where they would rather retire than try to tackle these huge shifts in their teaching practices. She uses the analogy that we (educators) are being held hostage on a plane:

“And when it came out, everybody just said, oh professors, stop worrying about cheating. Just redesign your courses and assessments, as if that’s easy to do.

And so I’ve said, it’s like we were being held hostage on an airplane. That we’re flying, while being told we have to rebuild it…”

Tricia Bertram Gallant

(EdSurge Podcast, 2025.)

Here is a screenshot of my Table of Contents in my Thesis Project. Under the red highlighted section is where I would include information from the podcast and Tricia Bertram Gallant’s book. “Challenging the Traditional Views on Knowledge and Assessment”. I might change this title to something else, like: “Challenging the Status Quo” or “Challenging Curriculum, Knowledge, and Assessment”

In the podcast, Tricia goes on to highlight three main takeaways:

1. Learning Outcomes & Assessment:

In the podcast, she asks the very important questions of, are our courses and our assessments still relevant in the age of AI? We need to be asking ourselves, what is the foundation of knowledge that students need to learn?

“So every discipline is going to need to look at its learning outcomes and say, what’s the foundation of knowledge that students have to learn, even with ChatGPT out there? Then we’ll have to have secure assessments for that, where they can’t use ChatGPT to pretend that they’ve learned it when they haven’t. Then we’ll allow them, we’ll scaffold a cognitive offloading to those tools once they have, like I said, the knowledge and skills to be able to assess the output that they’re getting.

But the problem is right now, students just don’t have that expertise, so they’re just blindly using it. And they’re handing in work that’s just not worthwhile reading, let alone producing. So that’s the first thing.”

Tricia Bertram Gallant

(EdSurge Podcast, 2025.)

2. Process over Product:

Tricia outlines a second issue that we have to address, which is putting the value on the process over the final product. This really is the fundamental purpose behind us having core and curricular competencies be directed at skill rather than content, a theme that I’ve reiterated over the last year and a half of the Master’s! Our curriculum is set up for us to assess skills, but it’s not always put into practice.

“The second thing is we have to figure out ways to assess process more than products. So we have been relying as products for far too long as artifacts of learning, and they’ve been defunct for a while because of internet, because of copying and pasting, because of contract cheating, because of all these things.

But what’s important is, how did this, how, what did the student learn throughout the process? What are the skills they used to get to that product? And we need to be able to assess that piece better.”

Tricia Bertram Gallant

(EdSurge Podcast, 2025.)

3. Upheaval of Current Structure:

Lastly, and perhaps most boldly, Tricia questions the way our education system is set up into disciplines that focus on content knowledge. If put up against GenAI, a student is unlikely to be able to out-think the computer. However, our human abilities should be what we focus on developing so that we can be set apart from the computers vast capabilities. These three points are all reminiscent of the same theme mentioned in the documentary, “Most Likely to Succeed” and other research I’ve come across over the last year and a half. Perhaps the changes we need to make aren’t in alignment with the structure of our current education system and bigger, fundamental shifts need to take place.

“… should we be organized around disciplines anymore, around content knowledge, or should we be organized around human or durable skills that sets us apart from this gen AI, right?

…”So should we be moving towards a competency education model?

…It’s simply out of date, and it’s time to revisit.”

Tricia Bertram Gallant

(EdSurge Podcast, 2025.)

Tricia doesn’t leave us hanging without more solutions to how this huge upheaval might need to unfold. She suggests giving educators and faculty release time to work with instructional designers and revamp the structure of courses to fit a competency-based approach.

Works Cited:

EdSurge Podcast. (2025). How AI Has Changed Student Cheating—And How to Respond [Broadcast]. https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/how-ai-has-changed-student-cheating-and-how-to-respond/id972239500?i=1000683061969

Monday, February 10, 2025

I met with Jeff Fitton, a teacher in a neighbouring School District, to talk about Artificial Intelligence integration. I came away with some newfound perspectives including an excellent tool to use in the classroom to communicate with students varying levels of Artificial Intelligence use. Below is our interview, followed by additional notes, reflections, and slides from a Powerpoint provided by Jeff to help communicate his conceptual understanding and application of AI.

Photo by Matt Howard on Unsplash

My first question to Jeff was about his progression and journey into Artificial Intelligence. He emerged with a reflection that he’s always enjoyed the “connections between things” and was blown away by his initial interaction with AI and how it was able to synthesize a challenging request.

His initial interaction with AI was so powerful he equates it to the impactful experience of the tragedy of 9-11. The use of AI was a pivotal moment for him, “in my life there have been a few things that were revolutionary” and that he believed will change the world as much as AI will.

Red Light, Yellow Light, Green Light:

A Framework for AI Use in the Classroom

Perhaps the most impactful part of the conversation for me, was the application of a framework for students and teachers for regulating AI use in the classroom. Jeff shared the above resource with me from a Google Slideshow he has created from compiling interesting information from a variety of internet sources and colleagues. Jeff wanted me to be clear that this is not his own created framework. This information came from a resource called “Rocket PD” that was shared by his administration. In this framework, there are three categories. In the red light, students can’t use AI tools at all. In yellow light, they have to get permission – collaborate it as a partner, or design a few hooks, sentence stems, grammar, create a lesson for me, are all examples. In green light, AI interaction is encouraged, there’s a plan in place for what that looks like. Jeff said there’s an “elegant simplicity” to this framework and I agree that it facilitates open and clear communication for students and teachers. He said that AI use without any conversations, clarity or framework is “driving a wedge between our student / teacher relationship.” I believe we need simple frameworks like these to progress with clarity. Another tool he uses is having students screenshot each of their interactions with AI as a way to stay accountable and understand that they are pulling ideas from outside of their knowledge base.

Cheating or Not? Survey for Students

In these slides, Jeff introduces a continuum of AI use and the subsequent perceived level of ‘cheating’.

Students read the scenario’s, then respond with what level they believe the use of AI to fall under, ranking the level of cheating from 1-5. Level 1 is considered “Human Powered” while level 5 is considered “Bot Powered.” This survey looks to be helpful in facilitating conversations around AI use, as well as enhancing critical thinking and perspective on situational uses.

“Innovation only comes when we’re dancing around the edge”

Jeff Fitton personal communication Feb 10, 2025

Benefits for Educators:

Jeff said his expertise is mostly in helping educators use AI to save time and energy. Here are some of the benefits and tools:

• Teachers save time and these tools give them their life back
• Notebook LM – podcasts – beautiful application for teachers to use
• GAMA AI – instant powerpoints – helped a lot of teachers 
• Lesson plans or making things more concise
• Draft back – google plug in – key stroke

Critical Perspectives:

Jeff also warned against using AI without critically looking at the potential pitfalls. AI doesn’t have a soul, we still need to create AI proof lessons, and this demands even more creative thinking from teachers.

Works Cited:

Deanna Fester (Director). (2025, February 11). Interview Jeff Fitton [Video recording]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w6dDfKE6-Sk