Webinar: From Passive to Active

Last week, we talked with Anna Mills, college writing professor, on AI for Education's latest free webinar 'From Passive to Active: Teaching Students to Critically Engage with AI Feedback.' Anna shared a practical framework that shifts how students interact with AI—moving them from passive acceptance of suggestions to active, critical engagement that actually strengthens their thinking.

Anna’s work outside the classroom lies at the intersection of AI education and writing pedagogy, and her approach is built on 3 core principles:

• Build skepticism - question AI systems, look for bias & inaccuracy
• Support existing learning goals - AI as tool, not replacement
• Develop metacognitive awareness - trust your own voice & judgment

Here are some highlights from our conversation:

• AI feedback comes after peer review and tutor meetings, not instead of them.
• Teaching students to be frank with AI—responses like "I'm not convinced I need to change this" —helps them build confidence in their own judgment.
• AI chatbots are designed to be "yes bots"—they please, they validate, they'll tell you your work is brilliant. Students need to learn to maintain critical distance from systems built to feel helpful and personal.
• Asking AI to give feedback in the style of real people can lead to stereotyping and bias—which is one of the reasons we recommend having conversations with students about ethical use.

We also discussed other strategies for active engagement - like requesting clarification with specific examples from the draft or exploring uncertainties by having AI ask the student questions.

Click here for the full recording and all the resources.