Homework Must Change

AI didn’t ruin homework. It exposed what was always a bad assignment.

by Jim Bowler, engAIged

“For tonight’s homework, I’d like you to write a five-paragraph essay on Abraham Lincoln’s presidency and its impact on the United States.”

Thirty years ago, that sounded like a perfectly reasonable assignment. I would go home, pull the Encyclopedia Britannica off the shelf, find the section on Abraham Lincoln, and paraphrase five paragraphs while watching reruns of Gilligan’s Island. I probably got a decent grade. I’m less certain how much I learned.

Today, a student can give that same assignment to an AI chatbot and have five polished paragraphs in about three seconds.

If AI can do the homework, let it. Not because students should stop learning, but because it forces us to confront whether the homework was actually requiring learning in the first place. AI didn’t break the assignment. It was a bad assignment 30 years ago, and it’s a bad assignment today.

The Problem Isn’t AI. It’s the Assignment.

Imagine a science teacher ending class this way: “Tomorrow, I want you to come in understanding photosynthesis.” A student might read the textbook, watch a video, ask an AI tutor to explain it, use a simulation, study with a classmate, or combine any number of approaches. The goal isn’t to prescribe how every student learns. The goal is for every student to arrive ready to use what they learned. That shift matters because AI has changed what a completed homework assignment proves.

For generations, teachers have assigned summaries, chapter questions, essays, and repetitive practice with a reasonable assumption that students would have to do some thinking along the way. AI changes that assumption. If a student can produce the finished product almost instantly, the product itself is no longer evidence that the student did the thinking.

The temptation is to focus on detection, restrictions, and rules. But our focus should be on creating assignments that truly advance learning in an era of AI.

AI Lets Students Learn at Their Own Pace

One of AI’s biggest advantages is that students can control the pace and path of their learning. A student can ask, “Explain that again.” “Make it simpler.” “Give me another example.” “Explain it using a sports analogy.” “Quiz me.” And then keep going until the topic clicks.

In the classroom, that’s hard. Teachers have many students, the class has to move forward, and students may be reluctant to admit they still don’t understand in front of peers. AI doesn’t judge, and there’s no embarrassment in asking again.

For the student who understands quickly, AI can help them move ahead. For the student who needs six explanations, AI has six explanations. Instead of “Everyone complete questions 1 through 20,” homework becomes: “Everyone come tomorrow ready to show me that you understand.” How students get there can vary.

In the Flipped Classroom, Class Time Is for Thinking

When students return the next day, start with a quick check for understanding. Then use class time for experiments, discussion, debate, simulations, and collaborative problem-solving.

Most importantly, teachers get to watch students think. AI can help students acquire knowledge at home. The classroom becomes the place where teachers see whether students can actually use what they’ve learned. Picture students designing a photosynthesis garden or planning a mission to Mars.

The Bigger Question

Schools are spending a lot of time asking: How do we stop students from using AI to do their homework?

That’s the wrong question. The better one is: What should homework become now that AI exists?

Trying to preserve old assignments by keeping AI away from them protects a model that needed to change anyway. Homework doesn’t need to disappear. Its purpose needs to change.

Let’s stop asking students to repackage an encyclopedia passage into five paragraphs and call that learning. Let students use home to learn, question, explore, and get help in the ways that work best for them. Then bring them back to school and ask them to think.

AI shouldn’t make homework easier. It should make homework better.

Reader Question

What’s your thought on homework and AI? Do you have a class policy?

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