What a fantastic read from Alan Noble. Are we asking too much from children to pursue wisdom rather than efficiency? And, even for adults who are deep into their careers, should we pursue efficiency instead of wisdom? The answer is, “Yes.” Within a framework of wisdom, we must get more efficient at the things we do. AI prevents that when used in one way, but encourages it others.

Here is what Alan said:

…either students will choose to see the pursuit of wisdom and knowledge as good and worth the effort and act accordingly, or they won’t.

It is my opinion that the main task for each teacher in confronting the challenge of AI is not to detect it, but to make the virtuous appeal to students that the only path to wisdom and knowledge goes through enduring hardship and persevering.

…writing will also take hard work, just as all good things take hard work. And to use AI to help with that hard work will rob their minds of all those good things.

It would be like going to the gym to lift weights only to have someone come along and lift them for you. You’ll never grow stronger. You’ll never grow. You’ll only waste your time.

This was a great read via Alan Noble’s “The Alternative to AI in the Classroom is Desiring to Learn.” Be sure to read the rest.

Alan makes the point, one that others have made, that if you aren’t doing the work, you aren’t learning. But there is a point when you have moved beyond Surface Learning (new ideas and facts), past Deep Learning (seeing how those ideas connect), to Transfer Learning (applying new learning to new situations) when you can use AI because you have built capacity.

You can read about that here: AI and the SOLO Taxonomy: The Path to Deeper Learning.

My workflow with AI involves learning things the slow way. AI is a thought partner, which I shape as I create GPTs and bots to assist me in doing my work.

Others can try to use my tools but they didn’t design them so they don’t know how to get the best results.