E73: 🤖 AI literacy and Critical Awareness — Helping Students Stay Human on their Learning Journey

"Teaching is not only about giving information, right? It's not about giving facts or explaining concepts or putting things together. It's creating a certain environment where learning is happening and I still think that humans are better at this than AI.” ~ Dr. Olga Klymenko

A recent study from MIT shows that over-reliance on LLMs for writing accumulates cognitive debt (weaker brain connectivity, less ownership over the finished product).

Dr. Olga Klymenko, instructor and language expert, is grappling with how to address over-reliance on AI writing in her classroom.

Olga doesn't believe in banning or even policing the use of AI. Instead, she believes the answer lies in choosing to engage—that is, aiming to be collaborators in the process of knowledge building.

Olga shares her insights, including:

Cultural mismatch and underrepresentation of voices for Indigenous languages

Cognitive costs of AI shortcuts and the fallibility of AI-plagiarism checkers

Winning trust with students about AI-use (showing limitations; creating learner agency)

During the show, Olga and host (Donna) mention:

MIT Study: Your Brain on ChatGPT: Accumulation of Cognitive Debt when Using an AI Assistant for Essay Writing Task

The small island state of Seychelles (Link lands you on Google Maps)

Seychelles Creole (Kreol Seselwa)