Enhancing education with AI

After OpenAI’s launch of ChatGPT in Nov. of 2022, nearly every sector experienced cultural shifts as people came to terms with what access to this new technology means. The academic world is no different. 

Natalie Andreas, an assistant professor of instruction in the Department of Communication Studies, has latched on and intently followed the shifting applications, strategies and ethics of the new AI landscape.

Drawing on a background in digital strategy and education, Andreas is investigating the role that AI could play in the classroom and workplace. Last year, she published a paper exploring the possibilities of how AI chatbots could facilitate human resources processes like interviews and recruitment. Now, Andreas is studying how AI can serve as a feedback tool on writing assessments in higher education. 

“People don’t like to receive AI generated feedback if they know it’s AI generated,” Andreas said. “If they’re not sure where it comes from, whether it’s human or AI generated, students are actually pretty open and receptive to it.”

This openness to AI feedback doesn’t mean that educators and professors should fear AI taking over their jobs. Andreas encourages people to take a nuanced look at AI in higher education and find a way to bridge the polarized feelings about it. 

“We can think about ways we can collaborate with AI to help our jobs get more manageable and to help students get more robust experiences,” Andreas said. “We can embrace a collaborative mindset, moving beyond the rigid, black-and-white thinking that often arises in academic settings when working with AI.”

Andreas sees a role for AI in universities automating administrative tasks such as streamlining notes from meetings or seminars. She even uses AI on occasion to get feedback on her lecture outlines to make them as engaging as possible. 

One of the biggest impacts in higher education has been the use of generative AI in student writing. While this is still cause for concern, Andreas calls back to another massive change in the field from decades earlier: the internet. With the advent of the internet, educators worried that students would stop thinking for themselves or learning, instead searching for everything. Over 30 years later, students are using the internet to learn even more. 

“I think that no matter what your role is in higher education, there’s going to have to be a grappling of how AI is here to stay to some extent,” Andreas said. “You need to make peace with it in a way that makes sense for your particular institution, but not necessarily give up on pushback because pushback is critical in higher education. We should always be thinking critically and engaging and challenging the norm.” 

In fact, AI already plays a significant role in all of her classes. Andreas covers AI-assisted communication, using AI to mitigate or predict risks and AI in strategic corporate contexts in her lectures, giving students practical takeaways of what to expect when they enter the workforce. 

“With the course work that we’re developing and the initiatives that UT as an institution has, Moody students are pretty well poised to be on the forefront of all of this as it changes daily,” Andreas said.