Learn about encouraging academic honesty in learners through intrinsic motivation and how faculty can use AI to support instructor workloads.

As the 2026 Teaching and Technology Summit approaches, I spoke with our opening keynote speaker, Flower Darby, about AI in higher education. Specifically, we discussed encouraging academic honesty among learners by fostering intrinsic motivation and using AI to support faculty workloads.

(If you haven’t already, this is your subtle reminder to register for the free, virtual Summit on March 19 and March 20, 8:30 A.M. – Noon Eastern on both days)

Flower is an Associate Director of the Teaching for Learning Center at the University of Missouri, and her recent books include The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching (2023) and Small Teaching Online: Applying Learning Science in Online Classes (2019). She is also the author of numerous articles on subjects such as equity in teaching, online instruction, and (most recently) AI in teaching and learning.

AI and Students

Early in our conversation, we talked broadly about the role of technology in teaching. Flower emphasized that the role of technology should be one of support and that the core of education lies in the relational communication between faculty and students.

“You know that a pencil could be a technology, a chalkboard could be a technology, but it is…to me, it’s about relationship building so that communication can happen effectively.”

It’s easy to get excited about what new tech can do, notes Flower, but the goal should be to use technology strategically to enable effective learning and relationship-building rather than simply using tech for its shiny new features.

Our conversation then shifted to AI in teaching. In one of her articles, “4 Steps to Help You Plan for ChatGPT in Your Classroom,” Flower writes that “One way forward is to emphasize how cheaters are only cheating themselves,” going on to recommend instructors, “Talk with students about the value of doing the work of learning for themselves instead of outsourcing it to a machine.” As someone who has taught many sections of first-year composition courses, I was curious how she recommends approaching that when students are not intrinsically motivated to be in your class in the first place.

Instructors can be intentional about explaining why students should care about a specific skill or assignment. Referring to one of her co-authors, Dr. Mays Imad, as an example of how to approach this, she emphasized the value of explicitly asking students, “Alright, why should you care about this?” Flower explained,

“And I get that question directly from one of my co-authors, Dr. Mays Imad, who has done a lot of work related to the fact that our brains have kind of limited mental resources on a day-to-day basis, and it takes energy to learn something new, and so she poses that question to her students anytime she’s going to introduce a new topic. Why does this matter? Why should you care about this? Why should you give up some of your precious cognitive resources for today to do this work?”

Flower encourages faculty to be reflective: “How can we help our students care about what we’re asking them to do, even if it is not their natural interest, passion, or whatever?…how can I set up this class and the activities so that I can draw students in and help them find what’s interesting, meaningful, and relevant?” In other words, we have a role in supporting learners as they ask that question by considering how our course content relates to them in the first place.

AI and Instructors

We also discussed how AI can support instructors’ work beyond the classroom. AI is “not necessarily just about generating words,” using a newsroom as an example, where journalists can use AI tools to scan thousands of documents at once, or in health sciences, where AI is being used to detect early signs of cancer.

Flower brought this home to instructors, asking, “In my own day-to-day work…where is AI going to be helpful to me? Where would I rather do this myself, because it’s going to be faster and easier?”

For example, she detailed her experience developing an 8-week asynchronous online course for faculty, in which she used AI to support the creation of mini-lectures. “I knew exactly what I wanted there to be in the course, and it was not hard for me to conceptualize the overarching schedule and framework, but writing all that stuff for Canvas, right? And…I went, well, wait a minute, I feel like there’s a tool that could help me with that.”

A key component of this is experimentation and reflection. She noted that this was the first time she had used AI in this particular way.

“I asked myself if I was really okay with that, and I tried it, and it saved me a ton of time, and then, of course, I tinkered with it to make sure it reflects my voice, my expertise, but it sure did save me a lot of time, so that was kind of the furthest I’ve gone in terms of…giving up my teacherly voice, so to speak.”

It is important, emphasizes Flower, that both our students and we develop the skill to determine “when and where AI can be helpful,” which involves experimenting, identifying what works and what doesn’t work, and accepting that it’s a learning process.

Conclusion

To hear more from Flower Darby, be sure to join us on March 19 for the first day of our Teaching and Technology Summit, where she will be delivering her keynote, “Teaching for Authentic Student Learning in an AI Age.” You can also follow her on her website or via LinkedIn for all her latest updates.