The Context Window with David Deming Podcast

Is A.I. helping students learn, or just doing the work for them? | A.I. & Education, Part 1

Oct 28, 2026 · 29 min · 11 segments

Today’s topic is A.I. in the classroom, and it's a personal one for David. As Dean of Harvard College, he's been thinking and writing and talking with students a lot about A.I.: how it’s changed teaching and learning in college classrooms at Harvard and around the country, how we should adapt as teachers, and what students can do to prepare themselves for a workplace and a society where A.I. is everywhere - and they are expected to use it more and more just to keep pace. His basic view is that we should pursue a mix of what he calls defensive and offensive strategies for dealing with A.I. The defensive strategy starts with the idea that the learning process and the struggle that sometimes comes with it need to be protected. That means A.I.-proofing assessments so that good performance truly demonstrates mastery of the material. Unenforceable A.I. bans make it hard to do the right thing and easy to do the wrong thing, and that’s not fair to students. David argues that teachers need to design assignments and assessments better to protect the thinking that good writing requires. There’s a hopeful sense, in his view, in which A.I. will push educators to make the kinds of classroom improvements that they probably always should have been making anyway. Next week, David will turn to offense: how to use A.I. to make learning better. For show notes and full episodes, subscribe to The Context Window with David Deming: ⁠https://thecontextwindowpodcast.substack.com This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit thecontextwindowpodcast.substack.com