Journal: What’s next with AI?

Author: Mai, Nguyen Hoang. Faculty of Graduate Studies, University of Languages and International Studies, Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

(image source: https://www.nait.vn/attt/ung-dung-cua-ai-trong-quan-ly-an-toan-thong-tin-1122.html)

In this digital-driven era, AI (Artificial Intelligence) has become a vital part in many fields, one of which is teaching and studying. Indeed, not only are teachers making use of this technology to maximize their work process, but students are tending to rely on “AI brain” more. This integration of such a technological breakthrough has sparked a heated debate among scholars, educators, and other stakeholders, that is: What’s next with AI? - specifically in the educational field. I am an EFL teacher and have been making use of AI in both my teaching and studying path since its boom around 2024. Indeed, I see that AI tools have provided me with much assistance, specifically in designing lesson plans, activities for teaching and in summarizing research, suggesting proper structure for presentations for my studying.  

Talking about what AI has assisted my teaching, it is hard to narrate in a short chunk, to be honest. Actually, I owe ChatGPT and Gemini a lot for providing me with timely and ideal suggestions for my lesson plan, especially when I have to produce a series of plans and when I rush to design one. As long as I enter a proper prompt, AI is always kind to assist me regardless of time. This has led me to a great concern: AI is such an amazing assistant, but is there a day that I will be replaced by that technology? If it is possible, what actions do I have to take to prevent it? In other words, what should I do to control AI usage to take its full advantage? These questions are, I think, partially answered with some precious suggestions from reports I read in the 2025 EDUCAUSE Horizon Report Teaching and Learning Edition.

I am aware that even though AI tools are exceptionally smart, sometimes it could provide deviated  and fabricated information, for more than several times, I trust it unconditionally, without any proofreading or consideration. The risk is that if I continue to put my whole belief in AI for many and many more times, my thinking brain will go rotten. More importantly, I feel that I will not be honest with my teaching career as I do not actually contribute to the lessons. It is AI that does almost everything. Indeed, the machine-in-the-loop model (i.e., editing AI-generated text and integrating it into my work, which occurs like a circle) has to be fully applied throughout the process of using AI among teachers. For my case, it is necessary to carefully examine what AI produces for me and edit it before using it. It is also ideal to counter-argue AI’s points to make sure that it has accurately considered the class condition and the lesson information you provided before. It is vital for teachers to maintain the process.

I am not the only one who uses AI in my class since there are still my students who go alongside with me. For some teachers, it sounds like a threat to the dignity of studying among students and I am not an exception. Every time I assign homework to my students, a doubt arises in my mind that they will have ChatGPT or Gemini complete the tasks without any consideration. They basically do not have to think critically and work hard to develop their thinking, which will exacerbate their academic performance and their future in the long run. At first glance, many may come up with a solution-just put a ban on AI usage among students. That was also my first attitude to the problem when I found it hard to control AI usage. However, looking back, I wondered why the teacher requires the students not to use AI while she is using it on a daily basis. It is totally unfair and goes against the technological revolution in the 4.0 era, especially in education.

Teacher and Student discussion about AI usage

I tried to talk to my students, to be more accurate, it was nearly an open-minded and serious discussion between two agents. We tried to be very transparent with each other. The students were welcome to share how they usually interacted with AI and the AI-generated texts. As the teacher, I was also very honest with them - I shared how I had been utilizing AI effectively in order not to overuse it while still getting high-quality results. From that, I mentioned their limitations on AI usage, and informed them of some adjustments in the formative and summative assessment so that I could be able to evaluate if they really gained the knowledge or learnt from AI suggestions rather than merely copying it. At first, they were a bit upset and surprised because of the change; however, as the talk went on, they gradually understood the good reason for it and were ready to embrace it. Other than the talk, throughout the lessons, I am trying to implement some activities in which students are allowed to use AI to generate ideas while still having to use their own brains. For example, the Think-Pair-Share (i.e., students receive a topic, then use AI to generate ideas. They edit ideas and make their own versions in pairs. Each pair has to do a prevailing task), and the Role-play (students act out a conversation suggested by AI. The key is they still have to practice speaking skills a lot).

By these ways of dealing with AI power, I strongly believe that hardly any of our students could get lazier. Instead, they can even develop their critical thinking skills because the AI-generated results have to be carefully considered before being used. For teachers, using AI does not mean that we will be irresponsible if we know how to use it strategically. So, on the whole, What’s next with AI? - To me, it will be an interesting path ahead with this marvelous technology for both teachers and students. As long as we are able to control how to use it, we will only take advantage of it.