Let's Dialogue

An Arizona charter school will be the first to offer a new teaching model built around AI. The focus will be on AI guided teaching mostly from platforms such as IXL and Khan Academy. But teachers are more than educators. They are motivators. They are mentors. They are role models and relationship builders and much more. We recognize that AI can’t replace all of that. However, AI adoption is here to stay, and schools like other industries are flirting with ways to do that. So, it would be unwise to think that the AI disruption will not touch my profession.

In December 2022, I wrote about ChatGPT and anticipated the immediate impact it will have on educators the following year. However, the early discussions about AI were mainly about ethics and plagiarism, and since then, meaningful adoption and integration have been slow.

So, will faculty and administrators take AI seriously in 2025? My prediction is that if universities don’t take AI seriously, they will not be able to adopt it in necessary areas to keep their universities competitive and their students ready for the workplace.

If you are a faculty member, you can start slowly by using some basic platforms that might be used by your students and their future workplaces. Second, consider signing up for courses, webinars, and newsletters to gain a better understanding from experts. I have found that newsletters give me a quick scan of the advances without a huge time commitment. However, a basic course on Coursera or a webinar by an early adopter can be very informative as well.

Third, you can adopt some aspects of AI in your teaching. I have trained ChatGPT on writing rubrics for me. This has been a true time saver as I uploaded several rubrics that I have developed and now can just use simple prompts to write my rubrics. Of course, I still need to make edits to ensure it meets my standards, as I view ChatGPT as an intern requiring my guidance rather than as an expert. There is still more learning to be done by me and my AI “intern” to improve the outcomes.

Universities, on the other hand, need to move beyond the individual faculty adoption. They need a more focused approach to AI integration that is systematic and supported by administration. For example, the University of Texas at Austin and Grammarly collaborated in an effort to help faculty and students utilize AI more effectively and ethically. The faculty guide with lesson plans and activities is impressive. In addition, universities can go beyond the classroom and test out adoption in marketing, administrative work and IT.

AI adoption can be scary. Thinking through how much I could learn from ChatGPT makes me wonder about the future of my profession. But after spending 30 minutes learning through prompts, I quickly realize why this will not replace me or higher education anytime soon. It’s not a person. It lacks the human element that is so essential in learning. It’s neither a motivator nor a mentor. It has so much knowledge but not always what I need. It’s a good reminder that knowledge isn’t the same as wisdom.

My job is more than information giving. As a professor, my job is helping my students build critical thinking skills, solve problems effectively, grow relationships with God and others and become a wiser human being. Right now, I can’t see AI replacing all of that.

But I see how it can replace the mundane things like recommendation letters and rubrics. And maybe one day soon, I can dream even a little bigger with AI helping me build a website in minutes for a case study or develop an app for a class client to solve their communication problems.

So, for now, I see AI learning as necessary and exciting. My goal for 2025 is to keep learning as much as I can about AI in particular for my discipline, and its application in the workplace. Here’s to another year of learning and adapting!

What areas would you recommend that I explore next in AI for higher education?