Many professors are too overworked, overwhelmed and frankly skeptical of AI. Using AI to Teach: A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning, authors José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson provide wisdom and guidance to those who don’t know Claude of Gemini. Bowen, former president of Goucher College, and Watson, associate vice president of curriculum and pedagogical innovation at the American Association of University, have been working together long enough to finish each other’s writing. Their answers are compiled for length and clarity.
1. Many professors seem to be hesitant to embrace AI in their classrooms. Why is it important for educators to be involved in these tools now?
Watson: I think almost everyone agrees that no matter what type of institution is, at least part of the purpose of higher education is to prepare for life after graduation. AI (and its critical use) is becoming crucial for graduates almost immediately in their careers, and perhaps even thriving lives. Higher education currently has a list of learning outcomes that are deemed essential to achieving by all students. These include critical thinking, writing and teamwork. Given the rise of AI, there is now a rise in debate suggesting that AI literacy is an essential learning for university students as well.
2. What about professors who want to wait and see how AI develops?
Bowen: Resistance to AI reflects previous answers to Wikipedia and the Internet. The longer the academic year, the longer Wikipedia took its time to respond effectively if it was ignored. Today, professionals who use AI effectively can have better career opportunities, just as they cannot deny word processors or the internet in the workplace.
Students are already using AI. If they don’t help them learn to use it responsibly and successfully, who would do so? To do this, you need to have some experience on your own, but it also gives students the opportunity to show that learning is indeed a lifelong pursuit. This is a great opportunity to interact with students on important and complex issues.
3. How do you address concerns about the possibility of AI enabling academic injustice?
Watson: Rather than focusing on monitoring students for fraud, we can look at whether there is sufficient diversity in our educational approach. We need to create a mindset amongst students that AI is not working for them. Rather, it works with them. If you’re using AI poorly (just copy and submit work), you’re not developing the skills to get the job. Employers are already doing it and are beginning to automate it. At the end of collaboration with AI, students should be able to look into their work and recognize their contributions along with AI support. Being able to improve AI output is an important dimension of AI literacy. Being able to clarify how you did it is now a standard employment interview question.
4. What about concerns about AI reliability and quality? People who don’t use recent versions of CHATGPT say it’s easy to understand when something is written by AI.
(Noisy laugh)
Bowen: When AI produces subpars or uninteresting results, the problem often lies not in the technology itself, but in how it is used. Success with AI tools requires better questions (more than just quick engineering) and evaluation of the quality of answers. Does it sound familiar? This is already a core value in higher education. We all already teach some degree of AI literacy skills.
5. Why should people read this book?
Watson: If higher education doesn’t take the lead in this field, private sector businesses providing AI credentials are worried that they will fill the gap. Academia has a unique opportunity and responsibility to incorporate ethics and best practice discussions into AI education. We must keep in mind that we maintain human creativity and ideas. AI should not replace human thinking, but serve as aid to creativity.
Bowen: Learning how AI can help teachers with boring tasks (such as certification analysis and reporting) can change how they see their potential. New technologies provide both problems and potential in most cases. If the only experience with AI is either poor or unethical use by students, we may misjudge the coming transformation.
We wrote a book to help people start small and gradually build self-confidence. Rather than trying to master everything at once, professors must start by experimenting with AI in a way that suits their particular field and expertise. The goal is to understand how these tools can enhance existing teaching methods without replacing them.
Watson: The speed and scope of AI adoption is unprecedented in educational technology. Rather than resisting this change, educators should focus on thoughtful integration that maintains the core values of higher education while preparing students for a future where AI literacy is essential.
Bowen: Things change so quickly that (1) maintain both link and description pages (updated almost daily). Start by clicking on three or four new tools and trying the same prompt on each.
