Podcast S1E1: Academic Integrity in the Age of AI
As an educator, what do you do when AI can now complete your prior assignments? In this episode, Jennifer Maddrell, PhD, shares how testing and redesigning her own assignment changed her approach to academic integrity in the age of AI. She frames it as a design challenge that educators have professional judgment to tackle.
This episode explores five design questions to help educators explore academic integrity as a learning experience design challenge, not a policing problem:
- Is your assignment AI-vulnerable?
- Are you assessing the product or the process of learning?
- What does this assignment require that AI can’t easily replicate?
- How clear are your expectations for AI use?
- What does your approach to academic integrity signal to students about classroom culture?
Jennifer also walks through how she redesigned her own literature review without banning AI or using detection software. She concludes with what surprised her along the way: “I started feeling like I was teaching again.”
Design Briefs
Each episode has a companion Design Brief: a short, practical guide to help you apply the ideas to your own work. They are free to read and share.
00:00 Introduction
00:54 Testing My Own Assignment With AI
01:49 The Academic Integrity Pain Point
02:14 Policing vs. Redesigning 03:28 Why Detection Falls Short
04:55 Framing AI as a Design Problem 06:04 Your Beliefs About AI Matter
07:12 Design Question 1: Is Your Assignment AI-Vulnerable?
08:08 Design Question 2: Product or Process?
09:57 Design Question 3: What AI Can’t Replicate
11:01 Design Question 4: Clear Expectations
12:59 Design Question 5: Classroom Culture and Signals
13:59 Redesigning the Literature Review
17:35 Wrap-Up, Resources, and Next Episode
Thank you for following along. Iām excited to explore AI alongside you.
ā Jennifer Maddrell, PhD