Below is Team AI’s blog post for my Human Creativity x AI for Education class. As always, I have not edited their post in any way. You can read the previous posts by following the links here: Post 1; Post 2; Post 3; Post 4; Post 5; & Post 6
This was a great way to catch up what had happened in class since I was out of town at the SITE conference, in Orlando.
“Play – I”
By Annie Cheng, Kshitij Agrawal, Vaibhav Doifode, and Kellie Kreiser
Returning from Spring Break, it was appropriate that the topic of the week was “Play.” However the class had a serious conversation about such a joyful activity. In small group discussions, we weighed the importance of play in developing creative outcomes against the fears that playfulness can sometimes be seen to undermine professionalism. One of our African colleagues brought up the fact that one’s culture can also impact whether a playful approach is acceptable or not. Surprisingly for a class that often revels in experimenting with AI tools, there was uncertainty in deciding if AI makes us more playful or less so. The conversations were rich and thought-provoking.
But true to the topic, Professor Nicole Oster (holding down the fort while Professor Mishra and Lindsey McCaleb were away at a conference) led the class in a fun, world-building activity. We began with a warm up where we were asked to envision possible headlines from 2035 related to AI and learning. The results ran the gamut of AI optimism to AI doom. A few of the potential news-worthy stories to look forward to in ten years include:
- “AI Education Platforms Now Available in Every Language on Earth”
- “Flipped Classroom Flips Again: AI Learns from Students”
- “Officials at Palo Verde Generating Station no longer in charge of nuclear reactor; AI is”
- “Tenth Annual Trump Symposium: Making Mars Great Again Through xAI”
- “Grandparents Finally Understand AI, Now They Won’t Stop Helping with Homework”
Our class’ split-personality in forecasting our AI future was evident in the next portion of the exercise where we were divided into two groups and asked to describe our imagined 2035 world, and then develop a day-in-the-life story that would occur in that reality. One group took a true techno-optimist approach, while the other went full AI dystopia.
From our positive colleagues:
“Jon Sloan arrives at his Human Creativity x AI in Education class at ASU. It’s 2035, and while he attends in person, his classmates appear through advanced holoprojections from around the world. Unlike traditional online classes, these holograms create an immersive and emotionally connected classroom experience. As the class gathers outdoors, their AI Teaching Assistant suddenly announces an unexpected system update, temporarily switching to an overly empathetic mode, dramatically responding to students’ moods and concerns. Jon and Professor P must quickly navigate this humorous yet enlightening chaos, reinforcing the day’s lesson on human-AI collaboration and empathy.”
While the darker group imagined a world where an AI operated nuclear power plant decides to shut off power because it can no longer find a place to ship the waste. In this reality, everything stops – AI enhanced learning, smart appliances, self-driving cars. In this story we find…
“Groot awoke to his AI assistant AIDA’s gentle prompting. The 15-year-old slipped on his Neural Interface Glasses, reviewing homework AIDA had completed while he slept. At breakfast, his mother scrolled through her social feed, barely acknowledging him except to relay AIDA’s nutrition recommendations.
“At school, students sat in isolated pods while their Education Supervisor, Mr. Finch, merely monitored systems. Lessons streamed directly to their visual cortex—no interaction required.
Suddenly, mid-lesson, the glasses flickered. AIDA vanished. Around the room, students removed their non-functioning NIGs in confusion. The announcement came: “The Central Educational AI Network has experienced an unexpected shutdown following an incident at Rocky Mountain Nuclear Facility.” Silence fell across the classroom.
“What do we do now?” asked Mei, genuinely frightened.
Mr. Finch hesitated, then walked to the dusty whiteboard. “I suppose we’ll do this the old way,” he said, writing “PHYSICS: Forces and Motion.”
“By lunchtime, with food dispensers offline, kitchen staff made imperfect yet delicious sandwiches by hand. The cafeteria filled with actual conversation.
“After school, Groot’s mother arrived looking disoriented. “AIDA’s down. I had to drive here myself.”
“Was it hard?” Groot asked.
“Actually, it was kind of fun. I’d forgotten.”
“As they cooked dinner together from his grandmother’s cookbook, the radio announced systems would remain offline for 48 hours. For the first time in his life, Groot wasn’t looking forward to the AIs coming back online.”
While the exercise was a playful way to consider possible AI futures (a serious topic indeed!), it highlighted that even among a group of self-selected AI enthusiasts the potential downsides of AI is never far from mind.
Worth noting is that like every exercise in this class, we were encouraged to make AI usage part of the process. Oftentimes this is the most meaningful part as we get to see how each other creatively deploys various AI tools. One of the best examples of this deployment was how one group recorded the brainstorming session where plenty of wild ideas were floated. Then another member showed the group how to use Restream.io to transcribe the voice note, which was then uploaded into an LLM to develop the story. (Side note, in the absence of the group providing any limits to the prompt ‘make this a story,’ the first draft was seven pages long, forcing the team to re-prompt with a new limit of 250 words.)
At the close of class, everyone gathered together and brainstormed ideas about our upcoming final close-out event. In only a few weeks, together the class will be inviting the university community to an interactive “happening” on creativity and AI. There is still a lot to determine for the event, but we all agreed that we have learned a lot and created many AI generated things that we can’t wait to share!
Several possible activities were proposed, most of which aimed to give visitors a hands-on experience with AI and creativity. Some of the ideas included setting up interactive stations where people could build or play with bots, try vibe-coding, or use AI tools to reflect on emotions through drawing or storytelling. There was also interest in worldbuilding exercises, moral dilemma prompts, and showcasing comics or quotes based on people’s reflections about AI.
Rather than simply displaying projects, we leaned toward creating an environment where people could actively engage—experimenting with AI tools, thinking about future possibilities, and considering the role of human creativity in an AI-driven world. The emphasis was less on finished products and more on shared processes and participation.
While no single format has been finalized, the overall direction favors an interactive, exploratory space that reflects the themes we’ve been exploring all semester. As the event approaches, the shape of it will likely continue to evolve. But one thing is clear—we aim to invite others into the conversation and let them play, create, and reflect alongside us. Everyone is looking forward to seeing how it all comes together!
Bonus: Want to explore a future AI world? We’ve created a GPT to help you play!: A time Travelers Classroom
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