Encouraging ethical engagement and cognitive learning with LLMs: A framework and methodology

This chapter contributes to the book, Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education, by proposing a foundational philosophical and ethical framework from which educators may inspire more meaningful interactions with AI. This includes, by way of example, a methodology for developing Cognitive Learning Strategies (CLS) in students through fostering their enactment — via playful interactions — with Large Language Models (LLMs) such as ChatGPT. In this chapter, we define Generative AI (GenAI) as technology capable of cooperative and adaptive relationships with humans and their environments. Further, we characterise LLMs as highly relational technology whose manifestations of intelligence are synergistically entangled with human intelligence. LLMs hold the transformative capacity to positively influence academic and personal development, underscoring the need to treat LLMs with conscientious regard. Given the transformative, relational, and synergistically intelligent qualities of LLMs — technology that has irrevocably changed the educational landscape — personal teaching philosophies also require modification to stay relevant and capable of mobilising this technology for the good of students. Appreciating LLMs as relational entities, deeply entangled with human intelligence and experience, has considerable implications for how we engage with them as educators and how we guide others.