As generative AI tools flood the marketplace, students are engaging with them inside and outside of the classroom. While it’s clear that this technology is here to stay, understandable concerns loom that if generative AI isn’t thoughtfully integrated into instruction, it can distract from or even replace genuine learning instead of amplifying it.
Among the AI education guidelines issued by a number of U.S. states in the past year, this balance of optimism and caution is evident. Almost all the guidelines call out creativity and creative thinking as among the top use cases for generative AI in the classroom. Many states, such as West Virginia, note that “AI encourages innovation as students creatively solve complex problems and enhance their problem-solving skills.” Some states, like North Carolina, make this same point but go a step further, calling out the huge potential of generative AI tools to radically change paradigms within the educational system. On the cautious side of the balance, other states recommend that schools avoid AI tools not designed for creative work, as they can disincentivize the practice of creative thinking by allowing students to skip key parts of the process.
While selecting the proper tools is of paramount importance, consensus is building: mindfully integrated in pedagogically sound ways, generative AI can foster unprecedented creativity and deep learning in the classroom and benefit students long after they graduate.
But before exploring that, we must first ask: what is creativity and why does it matter?
(Re)define creativity
Creativity is most commonly defined as the ability to create something unique and new that has value. The creative process includes distinct skills like problem-solving, innovative thinking, connecting and synthesizing ideas or solutions into new forms and communicating the final product or solution using different media or genres effectively. While people historically associate creativity with the arts, these skills are of course applicable to every subject and are essential skills across most components of our lives. All industries need creativity to innovate and tackle complex problems—which is why it’s a top in-demand job skill.
However, traditional education systems have always struggled to fully support creativity. Unique ideas and approaches are antithetical to multiple-choice standardized assessments where there is invariably one “right” answer. Textbook-based curricula and cookbook lesson plans focus on optimizing content knowledge and operations rather than asking students to engage with ideas and connect in a variety of ways. And despite attempts to create cross-cutting standards in K-12 and interdisciplinary courses in higher education, the bulk of instruction is still bound to discreet disciplines.
However, the desire among teachers across disciplines and grade levels to teach more creativity has always been there. Just like personalized learning, project-based learning and authentic assessments, creativity in the classroom has long been a north star with structure barriers preventing many students and classrooms from acquiring essential creative skills.
Generative AI should focus on removing these structural barriers to support research-informed pedagogy that amplifies students’ creative thinking skills.
Here are three key ways to ensure that these powerful tools are used to enhance creativity, not replace it.
Personalize learning through the creative process
Experiments follow the scientific method, mathematical proofs follow steps and essay writing proceeds from notes to outlines to drafts. In this same way, any successful creative work follows a multi-step process that usually involves phases like ideation, iteration, evaluation and implementation. However, rarely do students learn those steps the way they do other process-based skills. Creative generative AI allows us to show students that process and point to key areas where AI can assist.
Personalization opportunities abound in this form of instruction. One student may use generative AI to ask questions and better understand a problem, another student gets support brainstorming different ways of visualizing an idea and a third student decides to use AI for assistance in evaluating and deducing which of their ideas is most effective, then articulating and sharing their thought process.
Imagine this kind of creative project in a social studies K-12 class or college political science class. Given the upcoming election cycle, it’s a prime time for students to learn how citizens can advocate for issues. Students could begin by choosing an issue that interests them, or they are passionate about. A generative AI tool could assist in identifying key opportunities and obstacles in advocacy around that issue. From there, the students could leverage generative AI to help them design visually and textually compelling posters explaining the issue and one way to advocate for it, refining until they’ve explored their own convictions and cultivated their personal visual communications style.
A key feature of creative activities like this is that generative AI is used as a tool to augment the students’ creative process, not replace it. Individual students choose their subject matter, evaluate the quality of the outputs the generative AI tool offers them and make improvements to produce a final product. Generative AI supports their brainstorming and produces design options far faster than they could on their own, giving them more choices and highlighting their role in discerning which is most effective and why. Students ultimately need to utilize their creativity to choose a direction at each step in the creative process.
Support self-expression and social and emotional learning
Another factor that supports generative AI’s potential to create deeper and more resonant educational experiences is the opportunities it offers for student self-expression and social and emotional learning.
In the poster example above, all the students are undergoing the same creative process to learn about how citizen advocacy can lead to the creation of new bills and laws. Additionally, students are also empowered to personalize the content of their poster around issues that reflect their individual interests and then gain a deeper understanding of how these issues fit into a broader societal context. As the students share their posters, they are not only transmitting information they care about but also allowing their peers and teachers to get to know them better – their ideas, beliefs, interests and backgrounds.
Every educator knows that social and emotional learning is a crucial part of facilitating student development, yet it’s difficult to devote entire lessons or modules to social and emotional learning given tight curricula pacing. By strategically integrating generative AI in ways that save time and allow for more creative activities, assignments and assessments can become exercises in self-expression as well as in social and emotional learning.
Make thinking visible
As many K-12 and higher education educators today agree, one of the best ways to understand what their students are learning is through multimedia or visible thinking activities. By asking students to articulate their knowledge and skills with text, images and other media, it showcases a broader set of understandings and allows students with different strengths to fully showcase them. “Showing your work” in the world of generative AI can also mean having students share the various iterations they went through, with or without generative AI, to explain the effort and different directions they took before landing on the final outcome.
This portfolio approach benefits students both while they’re in school and long after. Alongside creativity, strong communication skills and demonstrating the process to get to a decision or outcome are crucial workplace skills—especially since more and more young people want to become entrepreneurs as opposed to working for an established company. To prepare for careers in which showcasing a work portfolio, “pitching” customers or investors and explaining your unique process is vital, students who practice making their thinking visible early are at an advantage to explore a wide variety of career opportunities that rely on these essential skills.
Prepare students for the careers they want
Whether or not today’s students choose entrepreneurial career paths, creative thinking has never been more important for workplace success—especially when coupled with AI skills. A study by McKinsey Global Institute on generative AI and the future of work in America projects that 30% of hours worked today could be fully automated by the year 2030. The study suggests that as AI skills rise in importance, so do creative skills. As increasing numbers of less essential work tasks become automated, workers will be asked to contribute more creatively.
Other studies echo these findings. The World Economic Forum’s 2023 Future of Jobs Report says that the importance of creativity in the workplace, already central, will only continue to rise. A 2024 World Trend Index Annual Report from Microsoft says that 71% of leaders are more likely to hire an experienced candidate with AI skills than a more experienced candidate without them. Educating students on both creativity and generative AI and ensuring they are fluent in industry-standard tools that are specifically designed to support creative generative AI is, therefore, crucial preparation for their future careers.
From the classroom to careers and beyond, creativity is a uniquely human skill that is only becoming more valuable in the age of AI. To ensure students have the opportunity to cultivate that skill as early as possible, generative AI in the classroom can be used to provide more training on the creative process and to give students more opportunities to express themselves and pursue their passions. With tools like Adobe Express for Education that are intentionally designed for creativity and to be classroom-safe with responsible generative AI, the opportunity to finally bring creative thinking and personalized, authentic learning to all students is more accessible than ever.