New technologies change the interactive ecology between teachers and students, teaching and learning
In the AI era, why are teachers irreplaceable (High-quality and balanced development of education·Four questions on “artificial intelligence + education”②)
Dialogue guest:
You Zheng, Academician of the Chinese Academy of Engineering and President of Huazhong University of Science and Technology
Director of Tsinghua University Online Education Center Wang Shuaguo
Professor Lu Xiaoyun, School of Life Science and Technology, Xi'an Jiaotong University
Zhao Yong, principal of Beijing Hongzhi Middle School
I am a front-line teacher. I have recently discovered that many students use AI (artificial intelligence) to assist learning. They can ask AI when they are in trouble, and let AI give them ideas when writing homework. Some students also ask AI to make a more intuitive knowledge map... This makes me think: when students can use AI to learn knowledge proficiently, how should the role of the teacher be adjusted? How should teachers respond to the new teaching format?
——Teacher Wang from a certain university
A teacher’s thoughts reflect the changes in teaching: AI is changing the interactive ecology between teachers and students, teaching and learning, and reshaping the role of teachers. When AI can also "teach", how should teachers get along with technology? In the AI era, why are teachers irreplaceable? The reporter talked with a number of education experts and front-line teachers to explore the answers to this change.
Students can use AI to learn by themselves, what should teachers teach?
【Scene】
What should you do if you encounter a question you don’t know when studying? I saw students skillfully opening the AI tool, inputting questions, and immediately getting answers and analysis. Now, in the "AI Test Site" of the AI Zone of the National Smart Education Public Service Platform, tools such as "Mathematical Problem Solving Assistant" can not only answer questions, but also explain the steps in detail and draw inferences... Many students' daily learning is inseparable from AI, and the "head-up rate" of some traditional classrooms is declining.
【Experts say】
You Zheng: Today’s AI can quickly give standard answers, but the essence of education is not just to teach what is known. I often tell students that AI may be able to give hundreds of ideas for solving problems, but you have to decide whether the problem is worth solving and whether the suggestions given by AI are correct.
AI can assist in the acquisition of knowledge, but the generation of thinking methods and the establishment of value coordinates are inseparable from human thinking and the collision of ideas between people. The communication and interaction between teachers and students cannot be replaced by algorithms. What teachers need to do is not compete with AI to be the "smart answerer", but focus on cultivating students' thinking and become an inspirer of students' thinking methods and a guide of values.
Wang Shuaiguo: At present, many AI tools are not designed specifically for teaching. These tools often ask and answer questions, and rarely ask students whether they have completed the necessary thinking. In contrast, teachers are sometimes more serious, put forward higher demands, and will also ask "why" when students think they understand.
Students' mental growth often requires them to go through stages of facing confusion and gradual exploration. Large models have been trained with massive professional corpus, and the answers they give are often quite complete, but they omit some steps that students must go through to achieve true understanding. When knowledge is "at your fingertips", the more important job of teachers is to re-open the growth process of students that has been "omitted" by the big model.
【Teacher said】
Lu Xiaoyun: I have experienced a change in university teaching - in the past, when students encountered concepts they did not understand, they often turned to textbooks, read courseware, or asked the teacher. Now, they often ask AI first. If the content of the class is still based on conclusions, students will naturally find it less attractive.
However, acquiring knowledge does not mean understanding, nor does it mean students have the ability to apply knowledge in real situations. Apart from algorithms, teachers still exist - not because teachers know more than AI, but because teachers can design learning tasks worth thinking about, and use their professional judgment and educational enthusiasm to accompany students on the journey from "being able to answer questions" to "being able to solve problems."
Some students use AI to assist in writing homework and papers. How do teachers evaluate teaching?
【Scene】
Some middle school students will use AI in interdisciplinary and project-based learning to search for ideas and expand knowledge; some colleges and universities conduct AI generation rate testing on students' graduation thesis. However, some students report that sometimes the testing results are inconsistent with the actual situation, and the results of different testing platforms are different. When the "appearance rate" of AI is getting higher and higher, how can teachers fully understand students' learning situation and make real and effective evaluations?
【Teacher said】
Lu Xiaoyun: It has become common for college students to use AI to find ideas and help complete homework. But I don’t agree with simplifying the response method to a cat-and-mouse game of “teachers detect the AI generation rate and students use AI to reduce the AI flavor”.
The evaluation of students should not only look at the paper or test questions they finally submitted, but also need to pay attention to the scientificity, logic, and rigor of the students' analysis or explanation process.
Now, I have reduced the proportion of after-class homework in the course evaluation process and increased the proportion of classroom performance. I also allow and even encourage students to use AI to assist in completing some assignments, but they need to submit the interaction process with AI - see how they ask questions, whether they question, question and verify the AI's answers, etc. Students will gradually realize that AI cannot replace thinking and judgment.
Zhao Yong: The "Guidelines for the Use of Generative Artificial Intelligence in Primary and Secondary Schools (2025 Edition)" issued by the Basic Education Teaching Steering Committee of the Ministry of Education states that "students should avoid simply copying content generated by generative artificial intelligence tools in homework" and "avoid easily abusing generative artificial intelligence in learning tasks that show creativity or personalized expression." This requires active guidance from teachers: In the course design, we have added AI general education to explain the principles and risks of AI tools to train students’ mathematical literacy and critical thinking. At the same time, improve teaching methods and evaluation methods, not only looking at results, but also looking at students' thinking process, problem-solving ability, teamwork ability, etc. when completing projects.
【Experts say】
You Zheng: To solve this problem, we should not simply "block" it, but should "change it" systematically.
At Huazhong University of Science and Technology, we adhere to the combination of institutional norms and evaluation reform. On the one hand, systems are used to delineate the boundaries of academic norms and enable paper AI generation rate testing, but do not use the test results as the only basis; on the other hand, promote the transformation of evaluation into process-based and personalized, not only looking at the finished paper, but also the research process. During the defense, the emphasis is on whether the student's original data is reliable, and whether the research logic and reasoning details are reasonable.
At the same time, university teachers should also change their minds: Rather than restricting college students from using AI, it is better to rationally apply AI to teaching tasks. For example, let students use AI to assist in generating a plan, and then look for logical loopholes in it, guiding students to transform AI from a "ghostwriting tool" into a "thinking scaffolding" for exploring the unknown.
Wang Shuaiguo: For high-stakes results such as dissertations, stricter standards and review are indeed needed. However, for daily operations, I do not agree with using AI generation rate as the main indicator. Measuring a very low AI generation rate does not prove that the author has thought carefully about it. Repeated "weight reduction" may drag teachers and students into a technical attack and defense that deviates from the educational goals.
I think we should try to distinguish and evaluate two abilities separately: one is whether students can independently understand, judge, and express when the AI is away; the other is whether students can ask good questions, verify evidence, find errors, and be responsible for the results of human-machine collaboration when the AI is present. For the former, it can be tested through classroom writing, on-site operations, and oral defense; for the latter, it depends on how students call, choose, and modify the output of AI. Both abilities are real abilities and require different evaluation methods.
Will it be easier for teachers with AI? How should teachers get along with AI?
【Scene】
In Chinese classes, AI allows poetry authors to "appear" and talk to students across time and space; in physics classes, teachers use AI animation to simulate the movement of gas molecules... In many schools, AI is changing the appearance of classrooms and redefining teaching forms. With AI, will teachers’ teaching become easier?
【Teacher said】
Zhao Yong: In school teaching practice, AI can help teachers in every aspect. When preparing lessons, AI helps teachers expand teaching resources and enrich teaching content; during class, teachers use AI tools to make abstract teaching content vivid and interactive, improving students' interest and teaching efficiency; in the evaluation process, AI can also assist teachers in correcting homework.
Teachers should also pay attention when using AI to avoid knowledge errors or value deviations. In addition, attention must be paid to avoiding “thinking outsourcing” and not allowing AI to completely replace creativity in teaching design. I think AI should be the teacher’s teaching assistant, and the main body of education should always be the teacher himself.
Lu Xiaoyun: The greatest value of AI is not to create a few more pages of courseware and practice questions for teachers, but to allow teachers to devote their energy to work with more educational value.
With AI, teachers may save effort, but teaching design cannot. Teachers need to reset learning tasks, teaching methods and evaluation methods, and decide what is worth learning, when they can be borrowed, and where they must let students go their own way. We need to be teachers that AI cannot replace and train students who can use AI to improve themselves.
【Experts say】
Wang Shuaiguo: Tsinghua University has implemented AI-enabled teaching practices in more than 500 courses. Teachers can use AI in 10 functional scenarios such as lesson preparation, teaching, Q&A, and evaluation.
In my opinion, having AI does not mean that teachers will immediately have an easier time. To apply AI more effectively, teachers need to redesign teaching activities, define credible knowledge sources for large models, verify the content generated by AI, protect data, and judge when to give answers and when to let students think for a while. In the long run, after scientific and reasonable application of AI, teachers can devote their time to more important things.
I have a simple criterion for judging whether AI truly empowers teaching: does the time saved by AI return to the students in the end; does the teaching efficiency improved by AI translate into deeper learning for students? Technological innovation should always move in the direction of educating people. The real task of teachers is not only to keep up with the speed of technology, but also to maintain the pace of students' growth.
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The Ministry of Education will implement the "Artificial Intelligence + Teacher Development" action
Reporter, Beijing, September 7 (Reporter Wu Yue) The reporter learned from the Ministry of Education press conference held recently: The Ministry of Education will implement the "artificial intelligence + teacher development" action, build and make good use of the national smart education platform teacher center, launch full-coverage training on teachers' artificial intelligence literacy, and make artificial intelligence a powerful booster for teachers' professional growth.
"Artificial intelligence is reshaping the form of education, and it is also reshaping the role of teachers. However, no matter how powerful artificial intelligence is, it cannot replace teachers. No matter how the education form changes, the educational status and value of teachers will not change. For teachers, technology should be used to cultivate people with moral integrity and serve students in accordance with their aptitude." said the person in charge of the Teacher Affairs Department of the Ministry of Education.
In the next step, the Ministry of Education will coordinate online independent learning and offline organized training, and launch an AI literacy area in the National Smart Education Platform Teacher Center to provide complete course packages and application cases to help teachers in need systematically improve their artificial intelligence literacy; offline, it will rely on the "National Training Plan" to carry out demonstration training, focusing on real-life teaching scenarios on the front line, and clearly explaining to teachers what artificial intelligence is, what it can do, and where its boundaries are.
At the same time, the threshold for use is lowered and technology is brought closer to the classroom. The Ministry of Education will play the role of "seed teachers" in leading demonstrations, implement the "10,000 AI Literacy Pioneers Plan", plan and carry out activities such as "good lesson model rooms", AI skill demonstrations, open source community exchanges, etc., to help more teachers grow into technology-savvy, good guides, and warm guides.
Reporter Wu Yue
Source: People's Daily
