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AI has taken the world by storm, and the education field is no exception. After over two decades teaching at The Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine, I have seen lots of changes related to curriculum, teaching resources and students. However, I’ve seen nothing quite like the wave of AI tools popping up in classrooms. It’s exciting, a little daunting and definitely something we all need to talk about.
So, here’s the deal: I’m not an AI expert. But I have spent a lot of time experimenting with AI, learning from my mistakes and figuring out what works and what doesn’t. I’d like to share some of these experiences with you.
AI is already here, whether we’re ready for it or not. According to Cengage research, use of AI has nearly doubled among instructors, from 24% in 2023, to 45% in 2024. Many of us are using AI to create lectures, craft assignments and even grade assessments. The challenge is not whether we adopt AI. Rather, it’s doing so in a way that enhances our students’ learning outcomes, while maintaining academic integrity in our courses.
In my online undergraduate business law course, I have always required my students to take written assessments, where they analyze a set of facts to reach a legal conclusion. Not only am I trying to teach them the principles of law, but I want them to improve their writing skills.
A few years ago, I noticed a subtle increase in the overall scores for these written assessments. I have taught this course for over 20 years, so I knew what the historical scores were. Looking into it further, I started hearing about how some students were using ChatGPT in their courses. This got me wondering whether some of my students had already been using it to take my written assessments. Quick answer: yes, they were. This now presented a problem: what do I do about it? In an online course, how can I prohibit the use of AI tools on a written assessment while effectively enforcing that ban? I shifted my focus from policing and enforcing a ban on the use of AI in my courses to teaching my students how to use AI responsibly.
In my course, I developed assignments called “Written ApprAIsals.” These three-part writing assignments combine traditional learning with AI-assisted refinement. These teach students how to use AI responsibly while improving their critical thinking and writing skills. Here’s how it works:
Students are given a law and related news article about a current legal issue. They must write a memo which analyzes the constitutionality of this law. I also provide them with guidance on utilizing the standard legal memo format, known as IRAC (Issue, Rule, Analysis, Conclusion), to help organize their thoughts and writing.
Students are permitted to use whatever materials they have, including eBooks, my lecture videos and outlines, Cengage’s online learning platform, MindTap and its resources, and any other information they ethically obtain online. But, they’re not permitted to use AI.
The purpose of this first draft is for them to demonstrate the foundational knowledge they should have already learned. Students must attest to completing this first draft without using AI, and it’s worth 30% of the total “Written ApprAIsal” grade.
Once I have given them feedback on their first drafts, students are required to use AI to improve their first draft. Students must submit the URL to their AI queries and responses (“AI log”). Or less ideally, they can submit a PDF or screenshot of them. I can assess the effort they put in, evaluate their queries, and provide guidance on how to more effectively use AI. This part is worth 40% of the total “Written ApprAIsal” grade.
Using what they’ve obtained from AI, along with my feedback, students must transform their first draft into an improved final draft. Students are permitted to continue using AI as well. They must turn on track changes in their document so I can see what changes they’ve made to the first draft.
It takes a lot of effort to find the right law and related news article to use. Not only does the law have to be current, but it also must be interesting and relevant to the students. Legal issues must be presented in a way which are factually neutral to avoid bias. And, the news articles must be factual and not cluttered with distracting commentary or opinions.
Additionally, rapid feedback is required. With up to 150 students in my course, I only have a little more than 24 hours to turn around written feedback and comments on their first drafts and AI logs. Frankly, it can be overwhelming.
I have learned a few things along the way about integrating AI into my courses.
Establish clear rules: Be upfront and clear about when, and how, AI can be used. Stick to those rules and enforce them.
Consider accessibility: Not every student has easy or affordable access to AI tools. Make sure you have alternatives available for these students.
Teach foundational knowledge first: Students need to know the core concepts so they can critically evaluate any AI-generated content.
Require transparency: Students must show how they used AI. It is a great way to keep them honest.
Be flexible and open to experimentation, most importantly: Mistakes are inevitable. There will be times where something you thought would work just doesn’t. That’s ok. Adjust and keep innovating.
AI is here to stay, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing. AI is a tool that can help students learn. But, it’s up to us to show our students how to use AI responsibly. Whether it’s helping them improve their writing skills, gain foundational knowledge or develop critical thinking skills, AI has so much potential in our courses. Let’s embrace it and figure out how to make it work for each of us.
Got ideas or experiences with AI in your courses? Let’s connect. I would love to hear how you are using it!
Machiavelli (Max) Chao is a full-time Senior Continuing Lecturer at the Paul Merage School of Business at the University of California, Irvine and Cengage Faculty Partner.
The newspapers dubbed it “unprecedented”, “historic”, “landmark”.
Then-U.S. President Barack Obama called it a “tribute to strong, principled American leadership”.
When 195 countries came together nearly 10 years ago to adopt a legally binding agreement to try to avert the worst effects of climate change, it was considered a triumph of diplomacy and a potential turning point for the world. The deal that emerged is now so well-known it is referred to simply as “the Paris Agreement” or “the Paris Accords” — or sometimes just “Paris”.
But with a stroke — or several — of his black-and-gold pen, U.S. President Donald Trump has taken the United States out of the fight to stop global warming, casting the future of the pact and everything it hoped to accomplish into doubt.
Has the departure of the United States doomed the campaign to cut greenhouse gas emissions to failure? And if not, who will take up the torch Trump has cast aside?
The good news is that climate change experts believe the benefits of a transition to renewables — from energy independence to cleaner air — are so compelling the shift will go with or without the United States.
The bad is that Trump’s actions will give many countries and companies an excuse to leave the battlefield. And that may make it impossible to meet the Paris Agreement’s goal of holding temperature rises to well below 2 degrees Celsius.
Listing all the steps Trump has taken so far to undermine the climate campaign would take hundreds of words. So here are just a few.
Since 20 January 2025, the newly-minted U.S. government has:
• Withdrawn from the Paris agreement for the second time – joining the ranks of Yemen, Iran and Libya as the only countries outside the pact.
• Said the Environmental Protection Agency would look at overturning a 2009 ruling that greenhouse gases threaten the health of current and future generations – effectively gutting the agency’s legal authority to regulate U.S. emissions.
• Rolled back dozens of Biden-era pollution rules.
• Abandoned a deal under which rich countries promised to help poorer ones afford to make the transition to sustainable energy.
• Eliminated support for domestic and international climate research by scientists.
• Halted approvals for green energy projects planned for federal lands and waters.
• Removed climate change references from federal websites.
• Set the stage to fulfil Trump’s promise to let oil companies “drill, baby, drill” by declaring an energy emergency, which will allow him to fast-track projects.
Eliot Whittington, chief systems change officer at the Cambridge Institute for Sustainability Leadership, said that the United States is entering genuinely uncharted waters.
“The Trump administration is making changes far in excess of its legal authority and drawing more power into itself and away from Congress, states and the courts,” Whittington said. “It is doing so in service of an explicitly ideological agenda that is hostile to much green action — despite the popularity of environmental benefits and high level of environmental concern in the U.S.”
Trump has repeatedly — and falsely — called the scientifically-proven fact that mankind’s actions are leading to planetary heating a hoax. In November 2024, following the onslaught of deadly Hurricane Helene, he said it was “one of the greatest scams of all time”.
For a hoax, climate change is packing a painful punch.
Last year was the hottest on record, and yet even with countries touting net-zero gains, emissions also hit a new high. According to World Weather Attribution, the record temperatures worsened heatwaves, droughts, wildfires, storms and floods that killed thousands, displaced millions and destroyed infrastructure and property.
In other words, the need to curb emissions is only growing more urgent.
Alister Doyle, a News Decoder correspondent who authored “The Great Melt: Accounts from the Frontline of Climate Change“, believes Trump’s anti-green policies will slow but not stop the move away from fossil fuels.
“But while other nations will stick with the Paris Agreement, almost none are doing enough,” he said. “Trump’s decision to quit will provide an alibi for inaction by many other governments and companies.”
Ambivalence about net-zero policies had been on the rise even before Trump took office, stoked by populist political parties.
There are clear long-term economic benefits of the transition — from faster growth to the avoidance of costs linked to natural disasters. But Whittington said that the short-term sacrifices and infrastructure spending it will require have proven a tough sell when voters are facing difficult financial circumstances at home.
“After a global inflation shock post-pandemic, governments have little financial space to defray the costs of upfront investment and generally voters feel like they don’t have the space to take on additional costs, even as a down payment on a better future,” Whittington said.
This is further complicated by a powerful lobby against climate action led by oil and gas companies, which have devoted hundreds of millions of dollars to the effort. While most have also made public commitments to green goals, the sentiment shift has led several to abandon most or all of these in the past few weeks.
Whittington believes that, despite these setbacks, the energy transition will eventually gain enough momentum that even fossil fuel producers will be unable to step on the brakes. It will be led by multiple countries and propelled by a variety of forces.
Chief among these is the need in today’s politically fractured world for energy security: the guarantee a country will have access to an uninterrupted — and uninterruptible — supply of energy at a price it can afford. This is particularly important to countries dependent on imported energy.
In its pursuit of energy self-sufficiency, China — both the world’s largest fossil fuel importer and the world’s top greenhouse gas emitter — has earned itself a less dubious distinction: it now leads the globe in the production of renewable energy and electric vehicles.
“The International Energy Agency says that China could be producing as much solar power by the early 2030s as total U.S. electricity demand today,” Doyle said.
Europe, meanwhile, has been on a quest to wean itself of Russian oil and gas and has rapidly increased its adoption of renewables. The United Kingdom, meanwhile, is currently the world’s second-largest wind power producer and plans to double capacity by 2030.
“Europe as a whole — including the UK — generally is leading the world in showing how to cut emissions and grow the economy,” Whittington said.
The United States, he added, will likely stay involved in areas where it holds a technical edge, such as battery development.
Even the Middle East will have an increasingly compelling motive for going green(er): the need for other sources of income as fossil fuel demand falls from a peak expected in 2030.
Public pressure itself may again become a driving force for change.
As hurricanes, wildfires, droughts, heatwaves and other climate-related disasters increase — and as a younger, more climate-aware generation finds its voice — voters may start worrying less about their personal finances and more about the future of the planet.
1. What is meant by the “green economy”?
2. How can a government encourage or discourage climate action?
3. What, if any, changes to your lifestyle have you made to help our planet?
The US House Bill to restore GI Bill funds to those who have been ripped off by predatory schools has had little traction so far. While politicians like to say “thank you for your service,” only nine House members have signed on to the Bill, all Democrats. Both Republicans and Democrats have received funds by these schools, which also have lobbyists in DC to promote their agenda.
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The program, which provides incarcerated individuals with access to scholarly materials including academic journals, books, and research papers, crossed this threshold in December 2024. Two pivotal agreements helped fuel this expansion: a new partnership with the Federal Bureau of Prisons that introduced JSTOR to two federal facilities, and an expansion of an existing arrangement with the Arizona Department of Corrections, Rehabilitation, and Reentry (ADCRR).
The ADCRR agreement is particularly noteworthy as it evolved from initially serving approximately 3,000 people enrolled in higher education programs to now reaching nearly 40,000 individuals in Arizona’s prison system, regardless of their educational enrollment status.
“People in prisons use JSTOR the same way as people on the outside,” said Stacy Burnett, senior manager for the Access in Prison program. She explained that while many users pursue structured educational goals like degrees and certificates, others engage in self-directed learning, highlighting the diverse educational needs being met.
The impact of this access extends far beyond traditional education. Users have reported that JSTOR has helped them build community connections, save money on research-related expenses, and gain new perspectives on their circumstances. In one remarkable case, research conducted through JSTOR led an incarcerated individual to request a health screening that ultimately saved that individual’s life.
Some users have even leveraged their research to draft legislation supporting prison reentry programs, with one such proposal currently under consideration in North Carolina’s legislature.
These success stories underscore the program’s value in developing academic research and analytical skills that can serve as important bridges to life after incarceration. “It’s a valuable reentry tool for civic engagement. It gets people to think more deeply,” Burnett explained.
Since 2019, the program has seen dramatic growth, supported by grants from the Mellon Foundation and the Ascendium Education Group. Today, more than 95% of U.S. state and federal prison facilities provide access to JSTOR, with the program active in 24 countries worldwide.
Building on this momentum, the JSTOR Access in Prison program has secured $800,000 in new funding commitments to support expansion into U.S. jails, which typically operate at local rather than state or federal levels.
Despite the impressive one million user milestone, Burnett emphasizes that this represents just half of the incarcerated population in the United States and only 10% of those incarcerated globally. ITHAKA, JSTOR’s parent organization, has stated its ambition to eventually make educational resources available to all incarcerated individuals worldwide.
As the program continues to grow, supporters add that it’s a powerful example of how access to educational resources can transform lives, even within the constraints of incarceration.
Key points:
“Why are we learning this?”
This is a question every educator has faced before. To be fair, it’s a valid question. Students are naturally curious, and it’s normal for them to wonder about the knowledge that they’re acquiring. The real issue is how we, as educators, choose to respond to them.
In my experience, teachers have two standard replies to this question:
Either way, the result is the same: Students lose all legitimacy in the lesson and they’re unable to connect with the content.
If we want our students to engage with the material in a way that’s memorable, meaningful, and fun, then we need to help them discover why it is important. Teachers can accomplish this by introducing real-world connections into the lesson, which reveal how the information that students acquire can be practically applied to real-world problems.
Without building these connections between the concepts our students learn and real-world applications, students lose interest in what they are learning. Using the strategies below, you can start to build student investment into your classroom content.
The everyday enigma
Use everyday items that operate with mystery and frame your lesson around them. Your students’ curiosity will drive them to learn more about the object and how it functions. This allows students to see that the small concepts they are learning are leading to the understanding of an object that they interact with daily. When choosing an item, pick one that is familiar and one that has multiple STEM elements. For example, you could use a copper wire to discuss electrical currents, a piece of an automobile to explore chemistry and combustion, or shark teeth when teaching about animal adaptations and food chains.
Interest intersect
Connect your students’ personal hobbies to the subject matter. For instance, if you have a student who is really passionate about soccer, try having them create a mini poster that connects the sport to the concepts learned in class. This gets them to think creatively about the purpose of content. This strategy has the additional benefit of helping teachers learn more about their students, creating opportunities to build communication and rapport.
Get an expert
Invite professionals (scientists, engineers, etc.) to talk with your class. This gives students a first-hand account of how the concepts they are learning can be applied to different careers. If you’re teaching chemistry, consider inviting a nurse or doctor to share how this subject applies to human health. If you’re teaching math, a local architect can expound on how angles and equations literally shape the homes in which students live. Not only does this provide a real-world example of students, but it helps schools connect with their community, creating vital relationships in the process.
Problem to progress
Create an engineering investigation based on a local, real-world problem. For instance, I once knew a music teacher who was frustrated because pencils would regularly fall off his music stands. I challenged my 5th grade students to create a solution using the engineering design process. Not only did they succeed, but the experience allowed my students to see the real-world results of the inventions they created. When students understand that their work can make a tangible difference, it completely changes their relationship with the material.
Project-based learning
Project-based learning is driven by inquiry and student ownership. This allows students to make contributions to the real world through hands-on investigations. What makes these inquiry-focused lessons so useful is that students are the driving force behind them. They choose how to approach the information, what questions to pursue, and what solutions they want to test. This makes the learning intensely personal while taking advantage of students’ natural curiosity, creativity, and critical-thinking skills. If you need a little help getting started, consider using one of these Blue Apple projects from Inquiry Outpost.
By linking our STEM lessons to real-world experiences, teachers can provide a meaningful answer to the age-old question of, “Why are we learning this?” We can equip our students with the skills to not only navigate everyday challenges but also create positive change within their own communities. So, let’s empower young learners to see the relevance of STEM in their lives, and lay a strong learning foundation that will support them well beyond the classroom.
BALTIMORE — When educators operate with separate goals and don’t engage in authentic collaboration, it creates friction and can ultimately hurt student progress, said Casey Watts, an educator and team leadership expert, in the opening keynote address at the Council for Exceptional Children’s annual convention on Wednesday.
“I believe that people deserve to be part of collaborative teams that move forward, make an impact together and leave them feeling empowered, inspired and essential,” said Watts, who is also a pre-K-5 instructional coach at Hudson Independent School District in Lufkin, Texas.
When educators and administrators are siloed, there can be an “us versus them” mentality, she said. “I believe that when we function in silos as educators, we unintentionally create silos in our students.”
To dismantle barriers between general and special educators and between teachers and administrators, Watts recommends three core concepts:
Maintaining a strong sense of identity and purpose in your work can help eliminate ambiguities and assumptions others have of your role at school, Casey said. This goes for all educators in the school, including special education teachers, general education teachers, counselors, administrators and others.
To ensure clarity, educators should work on their “elevator pitch,” or a brief summary of their role in the school. “When you create an elevator pitch, what you are essentially doing is pulling people in to become the main character of the story, and you are addressing their pain points, and you’re giving them new narratives for your position, which in essence, is bridging the gaps that exist between us as adults in education,” Watts said.
In developing their elevator pitches, educators should think about how their role serves others in the school building and the skills they offer to educators and students.
Authentic collaboration is easier said than done, Watts said. And some “faux collaborations” can seem promising — such as an offer to share resources and materials — but really don’t break down barriers among educators.
True collaboration takes courage and vulnerability and can include difficult conversations. It also means using everyone’s strengths and listening to all voices, she said.
Establishing protocols where each person in the school community is a contributor can help break down silos, Watts said.
When everyone is on the same path, they know where the team is headed and how to get there. But when goals are unclear or the path is uncertain, people can get off track or operate independently, Watts said.
When that happens, teachers go into their classrooms, close the door and vow to do what’s best for their students. But that can lead to unintentional gaps in student learning.
“As I work with teams in districts across the nation, I hear so often leaders say ‘our teachers just won’t get on board,’” Watts said. “On the flip side of that, I’m hearing from teachers and staff who are saying the opposite: ‘We just never know what’s going on.’ There are two different narratives at play.”
A lack of clarity creates unproductive confusion, Watts said. As a result, educators and administrators might lack confidence and feel defeated, frustrated and distrustful, she said.
Setting out clear goals will boost confidence and capacity in educators, resulting in a collective efficacy, Watts said. That, in turn, will have “a significant impact on student learning,” she said.
Facility managers that lead an effort to upgrade their school’s HVAC system can help students miss less school, get into less trouble and perform better on standardized math tests, researchers at the State University of New York at Albany suggest.
Attendance improved by 2% and suspension rates dropped by 7% in K-12 schools after they improved their heating and ventilation systems, researchers say in a paper, “The Effects of School Building HVAC System Conditions on Student Academic and Behavioral Outcomes.”
Math outcomes improved, too — by 4% after the heating system was replaced and by 3% after the cooling system was replaced. There was a similar improvement in math scores when the heating system was improved.
“We conclude that investments made now to improve school HVAC systems can benefit not only student comfort and well-being, but also enhance educational opportunity,” say the researchers, Lucy Sorensen, Moontae Hwang and Marzuka Ahmad Radia of the State University of New York at Albany.
The researchers say the improvement in absentee levels likely stems from cleaner air flowing through the system. “Improvements in school ventilation system conditions could reduce the spread of infectious diseases … thereby decreasing missed days of school due to sickness,” they said.
The improvement in math performance likely stems from more comfortable room temperatures, which helps aid focus, but it also likely plays a role in fewer suspensions. The authors cite other research beyond K-12 that finds criminal behavior goes down as temperatures improve.
“More comfortable temperatures could help to prevent student misbehavior, given the well-known link between, for instance, heat and criminal behavior,” they said.
For their findings, the researchers looked at data over multiple years from a building condition survey conducted by the New York State Education Department. The percentage changes in performance are to a standard deviation. The findings were published in November and are available from Brown University’s Annenberg Institute.
