• The AI Chalkboard
  • Posts
  • The AI Chalkboard Issue #13: AI Is Reshaping the Classroom- Fast. Here’s what Educators need to know.

The AI Chalkboard Issue #13: AI Is Reshaping the Classroom- Fast. Here’s what Educators need to know.

From Claude’s move into universities to OpenAI’s big student push, what these updates mean for teaching, learning, and staying human in an AI-driven world.

Author

Mike Kentz
April 16, 2025

Hello Educators,

It’s been a minute- I hope you’re all doing well.

With how fast things are moving in the AI world, I wanted to share a few key updates. That’s what ALP is here for: to help you stay in the loop, cut through the hype, and figure out what actually matters for education.

Also, a quick heads-up: I’ll be sharing where I’ll be over the next few months—scroll to the end of the newsletter and mark your calendars!

We’ve been seeing a huge increase in new AI tools lately. Some of them are actually useful and more importantly, they’re starting to reflect the conversations we educators and researchers have been having around ethical AI use, especially in the education sector. Some tools have begun taking a more nuanced view of AI use and are seeking to build tools that better complement the educational experience, rather than undermine it.

One such tool is Claude, which has just taken the next step by partnering with universities for responsible AI use. According to the Anthropic Education Report, “STEM students are early adopters of AI tools like Claude, with Computer Science students particularly overrepresented (accounting for 36.8% of students’ conversations while comprising only 5.4% of U.S. degrees).” Anthropic’s latest update introduces Claude for Education- a tailored version of their AI assistant, specifically designed for academic settings. It aims to help universities maintain academic integrity while integrating AI, backed by Anthropic’s broader commitment to safety. The company also announced partnerships with Northeastern University, the London School of Economics (LSE), and Champlain College.

One feature that stood out: Claude now employs a Socratic questioning method, which is an interactive, conversational approach where understanding is developed through guided questions and self-reflection. Rather than saying, “The correct answer is this,” it asks questions like, “How do you explain this result?” or “What is the connection between this concept and this theory?” This connects back to our previous conversations around encouraging critical thinking while using AI. Claude is integrating that mindset directly into the tool. All of this is powered by 3.7 Sonnet, Anthropic’s new hybrid reasoning model, and connected to Claude’s Projects feature.

To read more about how Universities are adopting Anthropic Clause, read here: Northeastern University Launches 'Claude' AI for Critical Thinking

  1. OpenAI announced that ChatGPT Plus is now free for college students starting at the end of May.

On the bright side, this is good news for AI Equity, since it means that lower-income students can have the same premium access as more privileged students. On the negative side, this means that college educators will have an even harder time stopping students from using AI for their educational work - which is not always a good thing.

On another note, ChatGPT Plus recently announced a new university-centric version of its chatbot, launched alongside multiple college partnerships. The above link distills these moves from AI providers into the University space into a digestible narrative.

OpenAI and Anthropic are now officially competing for the classroom and the stakes are quite high. Whether these tools augment our pedagogical practices remains to be seen, but these investments from each company show that education is expected to be one of the biggest markets for chatbot use in America.

With all this rapid progress comes pressure on students to adapt, on educators to rethink teaching, and on all of us to stay ahead of the curve. The tools are getting smarter, the expectations higher, and the pace relentless. This moment demands more than curiosity- it demands AI literacy. Understanding how these systems work, what they’re good for, and where they fall short isn’t optional anymore and has become essential to thrive in the future of education. Read more from The Verge on the AI in Education “arms race.”

The "Being Human in 2035" report from the Imagining the Digital Future Center by Janna Anderson and Lee Rainie shares insights from over 300 experts on how AI advancements are expected to reshape human identity, cognition, and societal structures by 2035. Conducted between December 2024 and February 2025, the study reveals a wide range of predictions, highlighting both potential challenges and exciting opportunities.

Experts identified 12 human traits that may shift- for better or worse. Alongside these broad themes, they offered a lot of striking assertions about how our behaviors, opportunities, and lives might evolve as AI becomes more integrated into daily life from 2025 to 2035.

One particularly thought-provoking excerpt from the essay:

“Proof of humanity” will be required:
“We may find it hard to distinguish between artificial personalities and real ones. That may result in a search for reliable proof of humanity so that we and bots can tell the difference.”
– Vint Cerf

An interesting article was published recently by The Wall Street Journal, "Everyone's Talking About AI Agents. Barely Anyone Knows What They Are," which highlights the growing buzz around AI agents in the tech industry. While companies are eager to showcase these tools, there's a notable lack of clarity about what truly constitutes an AI agent.

"Agentic" means something takes action based on its own thinking and makes its own choices. What people often assume with AI agents is that any action they take makes them agentic- which isn’t true. If you feed information into AI software and tell it exactly what to do, you are the one doing the thinking that leads to the action. So, what we mean by a “true action” gets blurry.

A lot of what companies are calling AI agents today are really just chatbots or AI assistants. For something to be truly agentic, it needs to reason on its own and make decisions based on context and not just follow instructions. Read the article for a deeper dive into this growing - and as yet undefined - space.

The link above will take you to a guest post on my Substack - AI EduPathways - from Michael Wagner. Wagner explores whether or not AI and Human reasoning may be more similar than we originally thought. His thesis? We don't know yet and shouldn't jump to conclusions until it is clearer. Fascinating read. Click here for more.

Have an idea for a guest post? Email [email protected] - we'd love to share your voice!

In a collaborative effort to enhance student learning, the South Carolina Council on Competitiveness, IT-oLogy, and the University of South Carolina have joined forces to provide students with an immersive, hands-on experience in artificial intelligence and robotics, equipping them with valuable skills for the future. Morningside Middle School (Charleston County Schools) and Oakbrook Middle School (Dorchester District Two) were among 10 South Carolina schools selected to participate in the Palmetto AI Pathways pilot program.

The initiative will bring robotics and technology education to grades 6 through 9 across the state within the next year. Students will have the unique opportunity to engage directly with the SC Competes robotic dog, Palmetto Automated Learner (PAL), and take part in hands-on lessons with IT-oLogy’s curriculum.

The context here? Educators at the Middle School level are broadly unsure as to whether AI belongs in the classroom at such a young age level. At a minimum though, it’s good to see a formalized and monitored approach being implemented rather than slapdash and haphazard approaches where educators experiment with AI in silos.

  1. Where I'll be this Spring/Summer

Below is a list of the sessions, engagements, and conferences I have on tap between now and August. Some are available to the public and some are not. I am including them all here in case you have a connection with any of these institutions and want to know more!

Late April - Early May - Virtual Sessions with MassBay Community College

**An extension of our engagement in February, I will be presenting my workshop “A Humanities-Based Approach to AI Literacy” for faculty and students who could not attend the in-person sessions at their Annual PD Day.

May 3 -- Providence Country Day School Board of Trustees AI Info-Sharing Sessions

May 14th -- Virtual Sessions for Administrators at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School (DC) 

May 22 - Mount de Sales Academy, Macon, GA (Half-Day Faculty PD)

May 27 - Aquinas High School, Columbus, GA (Half-Day Faculty PD)

**I’ll be presenting the results of my soon-to-be published research exhibit “The Field Guide to Effective AI Use” in the WAC Repository. This is one of my favorite conferences on the circuit. It focuses on Higher Ed but was still useful for me as a High School Teacher last year. Hope to see you there!

**A conference for independent school educators in the Baltimore-DC area. Keynote by Dr. Jared Cooney Horvath and Pat Yongpradit, I am looking forward to learning more at this engagement. Online registration is open until May 20th.

**U-Balt is doing some exciting things around building bridges between businesses owners and Higher Ed as it pertains to AI. This event is only open to U-Balt faculty and staff, but I recommend keeping an eye on this university’s leadership in the AI space.

**The folks at Nebraska’s ESUCC, led by Andrew Easton, are doing great work around AI + Writing and AI + Curriculum Redesign. Check out their resources here:

^ ^ ^Check out these resources for some deep dives into AI and Writing ^ ^ ^

**I’ll be presenting a 2-hour session to municipal city clerks about AI in the government workplace. Chatbots are touching almost everything we do, and so I am seeking to extend my research to benefit those outside of the Education system as well. If you know of businesses, organizations, or government departments looking for professional development around AI, please share my website and email with your contacts ([email protected]).

Conclusion 

As we look ahead, one thing is clear: the classroom is no longer insulated from the rapid changes unfolding in the tech world. AI is not just an add-on but it's becoming deeply embedded in how we teach, learn, and think. Whether you’re feeling energized, overwhelmed, or a bit of both, know that you’re not alone. We’re in this together, learning as we go. If something here sparked a thought, a question, or a challenge you're facing in your own work, I’d love to hear from you. Until next time- stay curious, stay grounded, and keep pushing the conversation forward.

-Mike