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Updated: November 16, 2023 @ 3:08 pm
An article in the November/December issue of Entrepreneur magazine answers questions about practical applications for Artificial Intelligence.
An article in the November/December issue of Entrepreneur magazine answers questions about practical applications for Artificial Intelligence.
Editor’s note: This is the third story in a four-part series on artificial intelligence and its impact on how teachers teach and how students learn. The fourth story will appear in a subsequent issue.
Central Community College has been providing educational services to Hastings and the surrounding areas for years. While CCC has adapted to many educational advances along the way, it’s now facing the reality of artificial intelligence.
Candace Walton, CCC vice president of innovation and instruction, said AI technology has been integrated into our lives for a long time, but it is now being used at the institution as a tool to explore the different threads of knowledge.
“Faculty has been purposely using AI for idea generation, concept rough drafts, and to do research on the internet in a different way,” Walton said. “It’s not just Google anymore.”
The impact on the faculty is only half of it, however; the students have realized that AI might not be what they had hoped. CCC has caught cases of plagiarism relating to AI and has addressed it thoroughly.
“Our students came into it with the perception that AI can do their homework for them, but quickly found out that AI can’t,” Walton said. “ChatGPT comes up with an answer, but not a contextualized answer.”
The faculty spotted cases of plagiarism with ease, as AI, though quick to produce, lacks critical thinking, creativity and personalized elements.
“Seeing our students are not as excited about AI as they maybe were about four months ago,” Walton said.
Though it may not be in helpful ways the students had thought, AI is being used. The community college uses Microsoft Word, which includes AI tools, as its main platform.
As tools are being explored in new and old ways, Walton said, the goal is that AI is “not being used to replace the work that the students and faculty are doing.”
CCC has been putting in the work to learn about the ever-developing AI technology being put to use in education.
The community college put together a summer workshop in which it invited colleagues to partake in a level-setting discussion over the questions concerning AI: What does this technology mean? What could it mean? How is the federal government handling it? How does CCC leverage it and do better?
“We got together and decided it was better to not react in a negative way but it was better to learn,” Walton said.
About 40 people attended the workshop in June. A guest speaker from the U.S. Department of Education spoke on what is happening in Washington, D.C., to ensure AI is being used responsibly.
“It helped us understand how big the topic is, but also that there are level-headed leaders tackling the topic with open ears and open minds,” Walton said.
The workshop helped the faculty at CCC to feel a sense of control, and to understand that AI is merely a tool to be used, she said.
Trade programs are a big part of CCC education. The trade educators are in the same boat as the rest of the college’s educators as they are learning how to use AI in the trades correctly, Walton said.
Technology has been integrated into trade education for years now, though AI has not found a steady place quite yet.
“When it comes to AI being used to do the work, strategy, and actual creativity components that are required in trade education, AI has not figured that out yet,” Walton said.
While AI is finding its place in education today, CCC has its eyes set on the positives.
“I can see society accepting AI as a tool to assist work,” Walton said.
The technology can only go as far as its users allow it,
“It’s going to help us become better communicators if we let it,” Walton said. “But it’s still on us as citizens to read it, and interpret it.”
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