Grade the Prompt, Not Just the Paper: AI in College Classrooms

What if professors started grading the AI prompt instead of just the final paper? Mark Lowe, Program Chair for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech Community College in Lafayette, Indiana, is testing exactly that next semester. Jason Padgett sits down with Mark, a psychology professor and 10-year educator, to talk about what AI in college classrooms actually looks like when the goal is learning, not policing.Key topics covered:Grade the prompt, not just the paper: Mark's new policy for next semester at Ivy TechEbbinghaus forgetting curve: why 80% of what students learn is gone within 70 minutes without sleep, recall testing, and teaching it to someone elseWhy "AI is ruining students" is usually a teaching problem, not a technology problemThe venture development paradox: when research becomes procrastination in disguiseOnly 41% of college faculty had AI training as of 2025 (and why that gap is widening)Why higher ed curriculum is structurally 5 years behind emerging technologyUsing Claude as a debate partner instead of a homework machineData literacy as the number one skill parents should push on high schoolers right nowBottom line: the cheaters will cheat and the lazy will be lazy. AI just makes that harder to hide, and it hands serious students a tutor their professors can't match.About Mark Lowe: Program Chair for Entrepreneurship at Ivy Tech Community College, Lafayette Indiana. Psychology professor, former business consultant, master's in psychology from Indiana State University. Helped launch roughly 30 businesses from the Ivy Tech entrepreneurship program in three years.Connect with Mark:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mark-lowe-1b359269/Ivy Tech Entrepreneurship: https://www.ivytech.edu/programs/all-academic-programs/garatoni-school-of-entrepreneurship-innovation/entrepreneurship/Ivy Tech Lafayette: https://www.ivytech.edu/locations/lafayette/Work with Jason → [email protected]🌐 https://www.phoenixsolutionsgroup.org/Newsletter → https://www.linkedin.com/build-relation/newsletter-follow?entityUrn=7399599285849346048AI Launchpad → https://www.skool.com/signup?ref=025b0ccdd6374664a2aab5df527ab2f5AGI Podcast shows:School's Out Saturdays: AI in education, K-12 through universityWeekly Blitz: AI news every Monday, 30-45 minutesData Bytes: Data literacy for business ownersThe Vibe: Deep conversations, no time limitAll platforms: https://linktr.ee/AGIPodcastFollow: Facebook + LinkedIn @AGIPodcast | Instagram @AGISchoolsout | X @NoCodeCAIOTools Jason recommends:MindStudio → https://get.mindstudio.ai/q7n7u5cttkdqRiverside.fm → https://riverside.sjv.io/e1xyBrWispr Flow → https://ref.wisprflow.ai/jason-padgett