AI in Education: Ethics for a New Culture of Teaching
This was my talk at the International Publishers Exhibition in Greece, Spring 2025
Introduction
I would like to open a conversation about AI in education and teachers’ challenges around integrating it in their practice. I hope this to be an interactive session, a discussion.
Imagine your ideal classroom. Mine would have around 20-23 students, all eager to be there and genuinely excited for class to begin—or at least open-minded enough to become intrigued if I capture their interest. As we start, they participate enthusiastically and stay engaged throughout the lesson: together, we read a passage from To kill a Mockingbird, identify the day's grammar topic, and explore it thoroughly. We conclude by doing a bit of writing, integrating what we've learned, and finish the hour feeling satisfied. Reflecting on what went well and how to improve, I'm already looking forward to the next class, planning ways to make it even better. And then, I head home, because I have a life outside the classroom—yes, I really do!
What's missing from this picture? The clutter and noise of reality, of course. The reality filled with disengaged students, those who struggle to keep pace or those advanced enough to become easily bored. It's also the reality of overworked teachers burdened with administrative tasks, endless piles of assignments to grade, and extensive preparation for large, often uninterested, and frequently noisy classes.
You might argue that this "clutter and noise" is simply part of a teacher’s job. However, I'm here to propose otherwise—that we can indeed do better. Why shouldn’t my ideal classroom become my reality? Why can't every lesson be filled with meaningful interactions, personalized learning experiences tailored to each student's strengths and needs? Why shouldn’t I leave the classroom feeling that I changed - even in the slightest - my student’s understanding? All of my students in one way or another.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is making this ideal classroom achievable today, revolutionizing traditional educational practices. Teachers may have felt sidelined in the past, but now is our moment. The era of tailored support has arrived.
The Promise and Power of AI
Numerous AI tools are now available that directly address the challenges teachers face daily, transforming our classrooms from places of repetitive tasks and fatigue into dynamic environments of meaningful learning. For instance, platforms like Corrected.ai utilize AI to offer detailed, instant feedback on student writing, accurately assessing grammar, vocabulary, and structural coherence according to almost any English language certification criteria. This significantly reduces the time teachers spend grading, providing our students the timely feedback they need for better learning and retention, and allowing us to focus more on personalized guidance and interaction with each student. Visit us at our booth and find out all about it or read our blog and find tips and research regarding AI and how it can transform your classroom and your life.
Other tools such as ChatGPT enable educators to create tailored lesson plans and engaging educational materials efficiently, promoting creativity and saving valuable preparation time. Language-teaching tools like Twee facilitate the rapid creation of interactive activities and tasks, specifically designed for diverse proficiency levels, enhancing both student engagement and learning effectiveness. Meanwhile, resources like Brisk Teaching and Canva Magic Write support educators by streamlining curriculum development and providing visually compelling content, respectively.
And there are also some great AI tools for our students to engage or practise with, keeping them engaged, focused, and enabling them to better practise alone parts of the English language they couldn’t before, like speaking and pronunciation with applications like Duolinguo and ELSA speak.
In one study, over 90% of learners using Duolingo’s AI conversation tools for a month felt more confident using English in real life, with many reporting they successfully applied their new skills (like asking for directions or ordering food) outside the app (blog.duolingo.com)
ELSA Speak is an AI-powered speaking coach that helps students improve their English pronunciation and speaking fluency, providing instant, personalized feedback. By turning spoken practice into a game with immediate corrective feedback, ELSA creates a low-pressure environment for speaking: learners can repeat exercises privately until they improve, which reduces the fear of embarrassment. Teachers have observed that such AI speaking tools encourage students to speak more and build oral fluency. Research on conversational AI tutors similarly shows that students feel safer and more confident practicing speaking with an AI partner, and they become more engaged in speaking activities over time.
And there’s other apps that have proved to support language learning, like Quizlet Q-Chat for grammar and vocabulary practice tool, ReadTheory -which is an adaptive reading comprehension platform-, and SmartClass AI Conversation to practice speaking and listening.
These AI-driven innovations not only streamline teaching processes but also fundamentally change what we can realistically expect as educators. We can now genuinely aspire to classrooms that adapt in real-time to student needs, delivering personalized experiences that significantly enhance student motivation, engagement, and learning outcomes. For students, AI ensures immediate and constructive feedback, helping them quickly recognize their strengths and areas for improvement, fostering a more proactive and self-directed learning environment.
So, what is the catch?
As promising and transformative as these technologies are, the reality is that many teachers feel overwhelmed or uncertain about integrating AI effectively into their teaching practices. We are already juggling numerous responsibilities —from managing large, diverse classrooms, and coping with administrative duties, to exam success expectations and pressure. Now, we're also expected to navigate rapidly evolving technological landscapes, often without clear guidance or adequate training. It's no surprise, then, that despite recognizing AI's potential, many of us feel unprepared or hesitant to incorporate these tools into our classrooms. Indeed, a 2023 OECD survey found that while 90% of educators acknowledge the importance of digital technologies and AI in education, fewer than half felt sufficiently prepared to utilize these innovations effectively in their classrooms (OECD, 2023). This highlights a significant gap between acknowledging AI's value and actually employing it meaningfully.
Professional development for teachers, especially in Greece in private settings is a tough bet and I’d suggest a few ways to keep up:
- Formal Training
- Conferences
- Dedicated blogs and journals
- Social Media & Press
But I won’t spend more time on this as I really want to talk about the ethical and personal challenges we’re facing with these new technology and tools. Indeed, we need a functional ethical framework not only to address the questions of privacy, embedded bias, equality etc -which have been addressed by the OECD and other bigger organisations already- but also bigger questions that I want to talk about here: a framework what will address at last the questions that divide us: of whether this is right or wrong, or like “am I not a good enough teacher to be needing help?” or “am I lazy”, or “how can I trust a machine? Will it replace me?”
Navigating the Ethical Landscape
We may also wonder about trust: "How can I trust a machine to support my students effectively, and might this technology eventually replace me?"
It's crucial to understand that turning to AI tools does not signify inadequacy or laziness. Rather, it shows a commitment to continuously enhancing our teaching methods and improving student outcomes. Leveraging technology to handle repetitive or time-consuming tasks frees us to concentrate more deeply on the core aspects of teaching—personal interaction, emotional support, and intellectual inspiration—areas where human educators are irreplaceable.
Trusting AI does not mean relinquishing control or judgment; instead, it involves using these tools to complement and amplify our existing abilities. AI serves best as an assistant that helps educators perform more effectively, not as a competitor that diminishes our role. When we critically engage with AI, ensuring transparency and remaining vigilant about ethical considerations, we reinforce rather than diminish our professional authority.
Indeed, teachers who have integrated corrected.ai into their EFL classrooms over the past two years report meaningful, measurable improvements in their students' writing skills and overall course material retention. These educators highlight increased exam success rates and significantly better learning outcomes. Their experiences align with broader research underscoring AI's potential in education: a 2022 McKinsey & Company study revealed that AI-assisted learning tools could improve student engagement and retention by up to 20%. Additionally, a 2020 study published in the Journal of Computer-Assisted Language Learning demonstrated that students who received AI-generated feedback improved their writing skills faster compared to peers who relied solely on traditional teacher feedback.
Furthermore, recent research has specifically examined how generative AI tools like GPT-4 (ChatGPT) can ethically and effectively enhance EFL writing instruction. One notable study involving 48 EFL learners over six weeks compared outcomes between groups receiving GPT-4 feedback versus those guided by human tutors. Remarkably, the results showed no significant difference in student improvement between the two groups, strongly suggesting that AI-generated feedback can indeed match the effectiveness of human feedback. Another related study examined 43 students' perceptions, finding that learners were almost evenly split in their preferences between AI-generated and human-generated feedback, highlighting unique strengths in both approaches.
These findings indicate that AI-generated feedback can be effectively integrated into EFL teaching without compromising educational quality -and increasing learning and retention results. Moreover, they emphasize the value of a blended approach—combining human insight and AI's efficiency—to provide high-quality, timely feedback.
As more studies continue to validate the substantial long-term benefits of AI in education, we can confidently state several key conclusions:
- Students who receive timely feedback (within 24-48 hours) remain engaged longer, learn faster, and retain knowledge more effectively.
- AI-generated feedback is not only equally effective as human feedback but also offers a level of personalized attention that significantly boosts student motivation and learning retention.
- Ultimately, incorporating AI and other technological innovations empowers educators, allowing them to enhance teaching practices, achieve better outcomes, and firmly establish their role as leaders in modern pedagogy.
The future of education is already here—and teachers who thoughtfully adapt to these advances will find themselves not replaced but profoundly empowered.
