All I Want for Christmas Is… Pedagogical Clarity
(and Maybe a Little AI Help)
By this point in December, most educators I know are running on caffeine, goodwill, and the faint hope that no one schedules one more meeting before the holidays.
The campus is quieter, inboxes are filling with out-of-office replies, and everyone’s pretending they’re not already mentally on the couch finally getting stuck into Stranger Things Series 5. It’s the perfect time for reflection, not the heavy, “rewrite your teaching philosophy” kind, but the gentler end-of-year stocktake.
So, in the spirit of the season, I’ve been thinking about AI in education… Christmas-style.
The Ghost of Technologies Past
Every December feels a bit like A Christmas Carol for educators.
Remember when calculators were going to “ruin maths”?
When Google would destroy memory?
When Wikipedia would end scholarship forever?
Sound familiar?
AI is just the latest visitor knocking on the classroom door, and like every guest before it, it’s revealing more about our systems than the technology itself. When assessment breaks under AI, that’s not AI being naughty, it’s a signal that something needed rethinking anyway.
That’s not a failure. That’s feedback.
Naughty or Nice? (Hint: That’s the Wrong Question)
All year I’ve been hearing:
“Students are using AI to cheat”
“We need better detection”
“We should just ban it until January”
I get it. Exhaustion lowers everyone’s tolerance.
But framing AI as naughty or nice misses the point. Tools don’t have intentions. They expose design choices. If a task can be completed without thinking, AI will happily do it and that tells us something important about the task.
Christmas isn’t about catching people out and neither is learning.
Stuffing the Pedagogical Stocking
If I could slip a few things into educators’ stockings this year, they’d be small but mighty:
Clear permission, not silence
Students do better when expectations are explicit. Ambiguity breeds anxiety (and shortcuts).
Process over polish
Drafts, reflections, decisions, and missteps, these are harder to fake and far more educational.
AI as a thinking partner, not Santa’s workshop
Let students argue with it, critique it, and improve on it. That’s where learning lives.
None of this requires a complete curriculum rewrite. Often, it’s just a shift in emphasis.
A Quiet January Reset
The best thing about Christmas isn’t the presents. It’s the pause.
January gives us permission to ask:
What do I actually want students to learn here?
Where does AI help thinking and where does it replace it?
What’s one small change I could trial next term?
Not a revolution. Just a reset.
Final Thought (Before We All Log Off)
AI isn’t the Grinch stealing learning outcomes. It’s more like a very honest mirror. Sometimes what it reflects is uncomfortable but it’s also incredibly useful.
So if this year felt messy, uncertain, or unfinished… that’s okay. Education has always evolved in moments like this.
For now, close the laptop. Step away from the LMS. Let the questions sit quietly until the new year.
I’ll see you in January with fresh energy, clearer intent, and probably the same coffee.
Happy holidays 💫