In the next few weeks, many faculty will finalize fall syllabi. I’ve been writing a series of short articles to help deal with the elephant in the room – AI.
I just posted Using AI to Promote Student Learning Through Preparation for and Reflection about Simulations. It includes language for a model assignment that you can adapt for simulations in your courses. The goal is to help students use AI as a tool for thoughtful preparation and meaningful reflection. In this assignment, students use an AI tool to analyze roles, plan strategies, and draft reflection papers. Then students revise AI-generated drafts using the Track Changes feature in Word, so you can literally see their thinking unfold.
Here are the first two pieces in this series.
Getting Help from AI to Update Your Syllabus (Even If You Think It’s Just Fine). Legal education and licensing are changing – and fast. We should change our courses to keep up. The NextGen Bar Exam and new licensing requirements are increasing pressure to demonstrate practical skills development. AI is changing how students read, write, and prepare. That means that many of our old syllabi – even well-crafted ones – may no longer meet students’ needs given the new realities. Updating syllabi can be a challenge because adding something new may require removing something else. This piece describes how AI can help use your class time efficiently, integrating new content into current modules, reframing existing assignments, or creating new exercises.
Teaching with AI – and Teaching Students to Use It Well. While some faculty fear that AI will erode students’ skills or encourage academic dishonesty, thoughtful use of AI in legal education actually can promote deeper learning, improve student writing, and reveal how students actually think. This piece discusses how traditional law school assignments rely heavily on summative assessments like papers, which provide snapshots of what students have (presumably) learned but do not help them improve while still learning. Formative assessments, by contrast, allow students to experiment, get feedback, reflect, and improve their work. The summative assessment model breaks down when students can (and do) use AI to generate final drafts without much thought. This piece highlights the importance of teaching students to use AI tools effectively and responsibly. It suggests how faculty can integrate AI into well-designed formative assessments that encourage reflection, revision, and professional skill development, It describes the following possible assignments:
- Using AI as a role-playing partner
- Eliciting and critiquing AI outputs
- Preparing for and reflecting on a simulation
- Generating options for a paper topic
- Tracking research and writing process
Coming soon: Facing Faculty Fears About AI. This piece explores a real barrier to AI adoption – our own discomfort. It addresses common fears, including that students will consider us dumb and disrespect us. It also suggests candid language to use with students, course design options, and reminders that we’ve been here before (Zoom, anyone?). Some of us feel overwhelmed, underprepared, or simply unsure what responsible AI use looks like. The article explores those reactions and offers course-specific suggestions for AI policies in doctrinal, writing, skills, clinic, and seminar courses. It explains that there’s no single correct policy – some courses may need to prohibit or limit AI use, while others should require it. The AI policy for each course should reflect the course goals, student development, and faculty readiness. The article urges faculty to develop at least basic AI literacy, even if they choose a restrictive approach, and it offers resources to help. It cautions that ignoring AI may lead to exactly the kinds of problems critics warn about – students using it poorly, secretly, and without guidance. Instead, we can help students develop the habits they’ll need in a world where AI will be part of their professional lives.
Take a look.
