Accept, Adapt, Advance: Fearless and Ethical AI Integration for Teaching and Learning
As generative AI entered our classrooms, it initially prompted hesitation and concern about academic integrity, student overreliance, and the impact on learning. This session shares our journey from that uncertainty to intentional, ethical integration of AI in teaching and learning. Through professional development and classroom-based reflection, we learned to accept AI’s presence, adapt our pedagogy to address it directly, and advance student learning by teaching AI as a critical and transparent tool.
Participants will explore a flexible instructional framework grounded in explicit modeling, collaborative practice, and structured reflection. We highlight how structured AI workshops help students navigate questions of authorship, responsible use, and critical engagement, encouraging them to begin with AI while finishing with their own insight. Attendees will leave with practical strategies for preparing students to use AI ethically and effectively in academic and professional contexts.
This session description was revised with assistance from an AI language model (ChatGPT, OpenAI) to improve clarity and concision. All ideas and final edits are our own.
Presenters
Lori A. Sefton is a Senior Lecturer in the Institute of Applied Agriculture. She teaches Agricultural Leadership and Teamwork as well as Oral Communication, an approved general education course.
About two years ago, Lori was deeply concerned about how AI would impact student learning. She worried that her students would rely on AI to complete coursework and, in doing so, miss opportunities to engage meaningfully with course concepts. As a result, she tried to discourage AI use by her students, while realizing that at least some were using it regularly. Over time, however, Lori came to recognize that AI is not a passing trend-it is here to stay and is already shaping the professional environments our students will enter. She knew she had an ethical responsibility to teach her students how to use AI credibly and confidently.
By learning both the benefits and the limitations of AI, Lori has shifted her approach in the classroom. She now intentionally teaches students how to use AI as a starting point for their work and, more importantly, how to critically review and reshape AI-generated content to meet assignment expectations and reflect their own thinking and voice. Through this process, students learn that AI can support learning, but it cannot replace it. To use AI to create quality content, students need to know how to teach AI to do quality work. Students are smarter than AI; they simply need guidance and confidence to see that for themselves.
Loren Jones is an Associate Clinical Professor and Coordinator for the Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL) Program in the Department of Teaching and Learning, Policy and Leadership in the College of Education. Dr. Jones is passionate about working with both pre-service and in-service teachers in supporting their learning and growth in effective instruction for multilingual learners. She teaches Foundations of Literacy and Biliteracy Development and Methods of Teaching Multilingual Learners. Her current research explores immersive technologies as an early field experience for pre-service teachers and the use of GenAI by both pre-service and in-service teachers.
Shannon Kane is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the College of Education’s Teaching, Learning, Policy, and Leadership Department. Her work centers on literacy and teacher preparation. Beginning her career in international development, focusing on women and education, she later joined the inaugural cohort of DC Teaching Fellows. Dr. Kane has previously worked as a classroom teacher, instructional coach, curriculum writer, and school principal. She holds a doctorate in Reading, Writing, and Literacy from the University of Pennsylvania and master’s degrees in International Development and Elementary Education/TESOL. Her research explores literacy instruction, teacher development, and technology integration.