Community
Questions, discoveries, and honest reflections from across HGSE's AI community. Everyone is figuring this out — this is where we figure it out together.
This Week's Question
Week of March 24, 2026
We're collecting honest reflections, not success stories. The interesting stuff lives in the unexpected.
A clear pattern is emerging: AI tools work differently depending on the learner's existing confidence level. Confident students use AI to deepen their thinking, while struggling students can feel more alienated. Several responses highlight that the most valuable AI applications are ones that create productive friction — forcing students to engage with ideas they'd otherwise avoid — rather than reducing effort.
Responses (3)
Priya Anand
Ed.M. '26 · TIE · 3 hours ago
I had students use Claude to generate counterarguments to their own thesis statements. Expected them to just copy-paste — instead, several said it forced them to actually understand the opposing view for the first time. The surprise was that the AI made them think harder, not less.
David Dockterman
Faculty · 5 hours ago
Tried using an AI to summarize student discussion posts before our seminar. The summaries were technically accurate but stripped out all the interesting tensions and contradictions. Reminded me that what matters in a discussion isn't the conclusions — it's the friction between ideas.
Ling Zhang
Researcher · Next Level Lab · Yesterday
Failed experiment: I gave an AI tutor to a group of 4th graders for math practice. The kids who were already confident loved it. The kids who were struggling got more anxious — they said the AI 'didn't understand what they didn't understand.' Huge insight for how we think about scaffolding.
DISCUSSION
4 hours ago
Marcus Chen
Ed.D. Candidate · 4 hours ago
Our department just had a heated meeting about this. Some faculty want to use GPTZero on everything, others think detection tools are unreliable and create an adversarial dynamic with students. I lean toward the latter but I don't have a good alternative framework yet. What are you all doing?
SHARED RESOURCE
6 hours ago
Tomás Reyes
Ed.M. '26 · LDIT · 6 hours ago
Affective Responses to AI Tutoring in Elementary Mathematics
arxiv.org
This confirms what Ling's team saw in the 4th grade pilot — AI tutors work well for confident learners but can increase anxiety for struggling students. The affective dimension is the missing piece.
EVENT RECAP
2 days ago
Amira Hassan
Ed.M. '27 · TIE · 2 days ago
We had 24 participants build projects in 2 hours. Highlights: a team built an AI-powered discussion facilitator for seminars, another prototyped a tool that generates culturally responsive math word problems, and a faculty member (who'd never coded before) built a working chatbot for office hours. The energy was incredible — people who usually work in silos were building together.
Continue the conversation
DISCUSSION
3 days ago
Ling Zhang
Researcher · Next Level Lab · 3 days ago
I'm exploring how AI could support (not replace) the peer review process in teacher preparation programs. Specifically: can AI help pre-service teachers give better feedback to each other on lesson plans? Looking for 2-3 people interested in co-designing a pilot. Background in teacher ed, learning design, or AI ethics especially welcome.
SHARED RESOURCE
4 days ago
James Whitfield
Alumni '24 · Civic Tech · 4 days ago
The Schools That Are Teaching Students to Think With AI, Not Just Use It
nytimes.com
The framing is always 'ban it or embrace it' — this article finally names the middle ground: teach students to be critical users. Not revolutionary, but the examples from real classrooms are worth reading.
EVENT RECAP
5 days ago
David Dockterman
Faculty · 5 days ago
Key insight from this session: the best assessment prompts aren't about getting AI to grade student work — they're about using AI to generate better questions. We practiced writing prompts that create Bloom's-aligned questions at specific difficulty levels. Three faculty left with working prompt templates they're using this week.
Continue the conversation
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Active Members
Priya Anand
Ed.M. '26 · TIE
Marcus Chen
Ed.D. Candidate
Sarah Okonkwo
Ed.M. '26 · TIE
David Dockterman
Faculty
Tomás Reyes
Ed.M. '26 · LDIT
Ling Zhang
Researcher · Next Level Lab
Past Prompts
Week of March 17
What's one AI tool you wish existed for your classroom or research?
18 responses
Week of March 10
How do you talk about AI with people who are skeptical or afraid of it?
23 responses
Week of March 3
Share a resource that changed how you think about AI in education.
14 responses
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