AI Can Help Students Learn.  You Get Better Papers.  And You Know It’s Theirs.

These days, some faculty worry that students use AI to write papers without putting in much thought.  It’s not always easy to tell.  Some students write as if they were bargain-basement bots.

Here’s one way to know for sure if students are using AI.  Require them to chat with an AI tool and submit their chats.  This is ideal for assignments where students write journal entries about simulations or other parts of the course.

Teaching students to reflect on their experiences is one of the most important things we do.  They’re learning to learn.  It’s a habit they should carry into whatever they do after graduation.  That’s exactly what RPS Coach is designed to support.

Some students think more clearly chatting with AI than writing three-page papers. The chats should be a lot more fun to read and easier to grade.

So if you want to teach students an important skill and find out what they’re really thinking, read their prompts in AI chats.  It’s an open-book quiz with no right answers and nowhere to hide.

You can assign students to direct an AI tool to help write a journal reflection.  By reading the chats, you’ll see how well they think through the process.  You can also ask them to prompt the tool to summarize their ideas and require the students to take responsibility for editing the result into a concise final document.  Tools can help students do that — just as they will do in practice.

If you’re hesitant, you can try it as a one-time experiment.  Give students the option to write a traditional journal or use AI for a comparable assignment.  See what they choose and compare the quality of their submissions.

We make them learn the Rule Against Perpetuities.  Maybe also teach them something they’ll actually use in the real world.  Like Coach.

When they finish their chats, they just click “share” and send you a link.  No fuss.  No muss.

Some faculty might hesitate because they haven’t used AI.  Yet.

Get over it.  Soon you won’t imagine not using it.  Just like email.  Or the internet.

You might even discover other ways AI can help you – things you would never expect.

Bonus: Coach can even help you grade the chats.

Here’s a two-page user guide so you can try it yourself.

Think about it.