Artificial intelligence within teaching – 06/23/2023 – Rodrigo Zeidan

Denial, anger, bargaining, depression and acceptance. These are the five stages of the grieving process most of us go through when we lose a loved one or even a job.

Last semester, something similar happened at NYU, one of the world’s leading universities (in my department, there are five Nobel laureates). Within a two-week period, use of ChatGPT and other AI tools exploded among students. But by the end of the grieving process, teachers have not only accepted that the world has changed but have begun to establish teaching strategies that incorporate these new technologies. And these changes will spread; the question is whether universities, like the Brazilian ones, are going to be reactive or proactive in this process.

However, change is difficult. At first, the teachers’ reaction was one of regret. After all, for most subjects, students have to write essays or reports, since the basis of teaching there is to form critical capacity; Classroom tests are not the exception, but they are not the rule.

“Suffice it to say, students can’t use AI,” some suggested. Before the first dates for handing in work, the school released a note to students saying that the use of AI would be strictly prohibited. But that didn’t last long. “If you were a student, wouldn’t you be curious to see how AI would help you, even if your intention wasn’t to break the rules?”

Colleagues began to rant that AI would make their jobs impossible, while others nearly sank into depression. But the university quickly devised a strategy to maintain teaching standards while helping professors not only incorporate artificial intelligence into their curricula but also help students navigate the new techniques that are spreading across the workforce.

In a way, the rapid preparation for incorporating artificial intelligence in teaching could be done quickly by the impact of Covid; In three weeks after the Wuhan lockdown, in January 2020, NYU Shanghai had already set up the necessary structure so that professors could teach their courses synchronously or asynchronously, according to their preferences.

As for methods, the school set up a task force to bring together top pedagogy and computer science researchers to create courses for teachers on how to incorporate AI into their courses (depending on their needs).

In terms of evaluation, many professors started to do oral tests or modified their essays for this new reality. Interestingly, historically, oral exams were the standard at medieval universities; in some universities, such as the Italian ones, they are still common.

Obviously, there are a number of barriers to making this type of test work in the modern world, as research shows that there are a number of biases that must be adjusted for these tests to be fair. For example, more assertive male students tend to get higher grades for speaking confidently, even if the content isn’t as good.

Teachers also have to be careful not to punish introverted students. Over time, the student body and faculty end up getting used to the process.

Still, the question remains: Are we going to wait for AI to change our world, or are we going to take charge of the process?

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