Spend any time in academia, especially in higher ed, and you’ll see that LLMs have taken over. Most students don’t use them as aids. They use them as full replacements, outsourcing the work entirely. It’s rampant. There’s also a growing gap between students who can afford premium models at $200 or more per month and those who can’t.
I’m done fighting it. The pull is too strong. I’m now looking for creative, appropriate ways to incorporate AI into the classroom and study process. (Hint: you’re still taking an in-class final exam.)
AI Tools I am experimenting with for the college classroom
I am a fan of Goolge’s notebookLM. Upload the presentation, class notes, class readings (after you have done them) and then ask for a podcast summary or quizzes.
I’ve also been using Character.ai, where you can build and interact with custom characters. I’ve created detailed versions of John Adams, George Washington, and James Madison. You can type with them, or you can “call” them and have a conversation. (but we all know no current student is going to make a phone call—ever!) So far, the conversations have been engaging. Most interesting, John Adams’ voice sounds exactly like Paul Giamatti. (EXACTLY!)
Today, I’ve been experimenting with ChatGPT by asking it to translate the Federalist Papers into Gen Z speak. It’s going gloriously.
I present to you: Federalist 10.
Federalist 10: The TL;DR in Gen Z Slang
Yo so here’s the sitch:
Big Jimmy M (aka James Madison) is lowkey stressed about the drama factions bring to the group chat of America. Like, people form cliques over money, power, vibes, and petty beefs – and when one squad gets too extra, it wrecks the whole party (aka democracy).
Why this matters:
Humans gonna human. We’ve got opinions. We’ve got feelings. We’ve got beef. So factions? Inevitable.
Trying to ban factions? That’s like telling people to stop having hot takes. Not gonna happen.
So Jimmy’s like: “We can’t delete drama. But we can make sure it doesn’t cancel the entire system.”
Enter: The ✨lit✨ idea
Direct democracy? Kinda sus. Too chaotic. Imagine if every time there was a poll, the loudest TikTokers decided national policy. Pass.
A republic tho? That’s the move.
Elect some chill, educated reps who filter out the nonsense and make sure no one squad hijacks the group chat.
Bonus points for bigness
Small governments? Too easy for cliques to run wild. Big republic = more vibes, more people, more diff POVs. Harder for one squad to dominate.
Like, if Karen’s HOA ran the country? Nightmare. But scale it up to 13 colonies and a whole continent? Karen’s influence gets nerfed.
Big picture:
The Constitution = faction-proof armor. It doesn’t stop drama, but it keeps it from crashing the whole system. Madison’s just trying to ghost tyranny and leave toxic group dynamics on read.
Final Thoughts
The genie isn’t going back in the bottle. AI is here, and students are using it, for better or worse. Rather than pretending it doesn’t exist, we should teach students how to use it responsibly and critically. The goal is not to replace thinking but to sharpen it. Not to replace reading or understanding, but deepen them.
If we (educators) do this right, AI won’t be a crutch. Yes, they will still need to show up and write the in-class final, which will make clear who used AI to learn and who used it to coast.
Disclaimer:
- ChatGPT was used to translate Federalist 10 into GenZ speak.
- Gemini was used to generate blogpost cover image.
