There are articles all over the Internet suggesting that AI will likely overtake humans because of its superior intelligence. But as an Adjunct Lecturer teaching the next generation of our workforce, I see a very different, more troubling picture. In fact, I’m very, very concerned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
AI is not replacing people because it\u2019s too smart – it is replacing them because too many (young) people are getting (very) lazy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
We\u2019ve entered an era where students and professionals alike can summon AI to write essays, generate code, answer technical questions, and even prepare reports with minimal input. I\u2019m not even gonna lie about myself using ChatGPT to assist in writing this article – these tools are undeniably useful.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But instead of being used to deepen understanding or accelerate learning, AI tools are too often being used to bypass the thinking process altogether.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
In my classes, I\u2019ve noticed a sharp decline in students\u2019 ability to reason through a problem. When presented with a coding exercise or a systems design question, many instinctively turn to ChatGPT or similar tools not as a partner, but as a crutch. They copy, paste, submit, and move on.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The troubling part isn\u2019t the use of AI. I advocate for responsible use of tools. The problem is the mindset shift. Students no longer struggle with problems; they are outsourcing the struggle. And in doing so, they\u2019re missing the critical phase where actual learning occurs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This habit of mental offloading isn\u2019t just a student issue. It\u2019s a consequence of how we design our assessments, our learning environments, and our expectations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Many computer science courses today rely heavily on coursework and take-home assignments, which were great in the past – but today are easily completed with AI assistance. If we\u2019re assessing output without scrutinising the process, we\u2019re inviting this behaviour. We\u2019re telling students: \u201cWe care that it\u2019s done, not how you did it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
So naturally, they\u2019ll take the fastest (aheem, laziest<\/em>) route!<\/p>\n\n\n\n We need to rethink how we teach and assess in AI-enabled classrooms. Here are a few ideas that I believe must become mainstream, especially in coding and technical disciplines:<\/p>\n\n\n\n We need to bring back exam-style assessments. Closed-book exams and practical coding tests can help differentiate between those who\u2019ve genuinely understood material and those who\u2019ve coasted on generated output.<\/p>\n\n\n\n More emphasis should be placed on students explaining their thought process aloud – through live code reviews, technical walkthroughs, or project demos. If they can\u2019t articulate why they chose a certain algorithm or how they structured your app, they probably didn\u2019t understand it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Rather than one or two big assignments, we need more frequent, lower-stakes practice tests spread out over time. This supports long-term retention and builds foundational understanding. Students should be repeatedly exposed to problems in slightly varied forms to encourage generalisation of concepts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n However, it is also important to bear in mind that this also places more workload on teachers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n We should assess the ability to ask good questions, define the problem clearly, and justify trade-offs. These are skills AI tools are unable to do without human assistance, and are also skills that remain essential in professional engineering environments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n AI encourages the human tendency to avoid the hard work of thinking. If we\u2019re not careful, we\u2019re going to raise a generation of engineers who can prompt tools but can\u2019t think critically, debug effectively, or innovate independently.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The most valuable engineers, designers, and analysts in the future will not be those who blindly use AI, but those who know when to trust it<\/strong>, when to doubt it<\/strong>, and how to surpass it<\/strong>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" There are articles all over the Internet suggesting that AI will likely overtake humans because of its superior intelligence. But as an Adjunct Lecturer teaching the next generation of our workforce, I see a very different, more troubling picture. In… Continue Reading →<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[283,8],"tags":[638,618,547,639],"class_list":["post-3755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-education","category-tech","tag-ai","tag-education","tag-programming","tag-software-development"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3755"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3761,"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3755\/revisions\/3761"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tzlee.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Rethinking Assessment in the Age of AI<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
1 – Reverting to Closed-Book Assessments<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
2 – Live Presentations and Walkthroughs<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
3 – Practice Testing and Distributed Practice<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
4 – Focus on Problem Formulation<\/h3>\n\n\n\n
Laziness is Human Nature<\/h2>\n\n\n\n