- IVECA Center
- May 1
- 3 min read
This spring, IVECA’s Teacher Professional Development program brought together educators from China, Korea, and Singapore, with Indonesia joining the program for the first time. Across different school systems, languages, and teaching contexts, participants gathered in IVECA’s virtual classroom for a session that combined a practical walkthrough of the platform with an open exchange about how AI is impacting their students.
The conversation that emerged was honest and thorough. Teachers broadly agreed with one another that AI has genuine value in the classroom. One teacher from China described the benefits of using it to help students work through difficult vocabulary and phrases, noting that “AI is very important for students to learn, but it has two sides.” At the same time, concerns were raised about overuse. As one Indonesian teacher explained, “AI is important, but some students use it too easily,” adding that “they may rely on AI instead of developing their imagination.” She emphasized that “students must understand that AI can help them, but they should not depend on it.” She further reflected, “The real challenge is not access to AI, but guiding students to still think independently when it is available.”
Building on this idea, teachers were equally clear about where they drew the line between support and dependency. Students who rely on AI for answers without engaging their own thinking are not truly learning. Similarly, another Indonesian teacher highlighted the risks, explaining that “AI is important, but sometimes it can make students lazy.” She added that “it can lead to a decline in critical thinking, and students start depending on AI instead.”
The Singaporean teacher also emphasized the importance of balance, stating that “we have to use AI wisely, as it is only a tool to help students overcome challenges.” He further expressed concern about over-reliance, adding that “students must innovate and grow beyond what AI gives them,” warning that “if we only accept what AI produces, we limit the creativity we are trying to build.”
Across all contributions, a shared concern gradually became clear: motivation. If AI removes the effort from a task, it may also remove the sense of ownership built by doing the work, which makes students care about completing it. Several teachers noted that their students are capable and curious, but that the availability of easy answers can quietly erode the thinking and intellectual process that education is meant to build. While no single solution emerged, there was a clear consensus that navigating the responsible integration of AI into education is now an essential part of being an informed educator.
This is where intercultural education becomes particularly relevant. AI systems are trained on generalized data that often flattens cultural nuance or reproduces stereotypes, making them a poor substitute for genuine cross-cultural understanding and potentially even a source of prejudice. IVECA’s exchanges expose students to peers and perspectives they would not otherwise encounter, building the kind of intercultural sensitivity that has to be lived rather than artificially generated. By guiding students in using AI wisely and responsibly as a tool to solve global challenges, the IVECA program encourages students to embrace this technology for the benefit of applicable and feasible solutions.
This semester’s session was a reflection of that mission in practice. Educators from four countries, each navigating the same challenges in very different classrooms, are finding common ground across the distance. Among them was an Indonesian teacher participating in her final semester before retirement, a detail that felt fitting: that a program built around the idea that it is never too late to broaden one’s horizons would be part of how one educator chose to close a long career.
