AI in the Classroom: Friend, Foe, or Tool for Success?
04/11/2025
Michael Marrapodi, Executive Director of Online Learning and Technology
AI in the Classroom: Friend, Foe, or Tool for Success?
As artificial intelligence (AI) tools continue to evolve, educators are exploring how to responsibly integrate these technologies into teaching and learning. Our recent workshop, AI in the Classroom: Friend, Foe, or Tool for Success? offered faculty a practical and thoughtful look at AI’s role in education.
Participants began by reviewing foundational concepts, including the differences between machine learning and generative AI. Real-world examples demonstrated how AI is already part of everyday academic life—from spellcheckers and chatbots to transcription tools and plagiarism detectors. The session introduced powerful generative AI platforms like ChatGPT, Claude AI, and Google Gemini, showing how they can support students and faculty in tasks such as writing, summarizing, interpreting data, and even generating images.
A key focus of the workshop was ethics. Faculty explored CCRI’s Community Resolution on AI Use and discussed ways to encourage academic integrity while setting clear guidelines for student use of AI. The session emphasized transparency, critical thinking, and the importance of modeling responsible AI engagement.
Through hands-on practice, attendees learned how to craft effective prompts for AI tools, using examples tied to curriculum design, rubric development, and assessment. A humorous exploration of flawed AI image generation highlighted the value of precise instructions—and the importance of reviewing AI outputs critically.
Faculty also examined how students might use AI for both legitimate support and potential misuse. This led to a rich discussion of assessment design strategies that promote authentic learning: personalized assignments, oral presentations, and collaborative work that resists AI shortcuts.
The workshop concluded with a showcase of top AI tools for faculty and students—ranging from ChatGPT and Grammarly to Otter.ai, Quizizz, and GitHub Copilot. Attendees left with strategies to thoughtfully integrate AI into their teaching and a call to action: identify one meaningful way to explore or implement AI in the 2025–2026 academic year.
More information may be found on the Artificial Intelligence (AI) website, on the right menu called PDD 2025 Presentations.