Following the rise of artificial intelligence (AI), ULM faculty began discussing how to integrate AI into the current curriculum. Like other technological developments, AI forced professors and staff to weigh its potential advantages and disadvantages.
Assistant English professor Joshua Chase has a background in technical communication as well as science and technology studies. He likened the campuswide adjustment to the university’s recent switch to Canvas education software.
“Technology works that way: it gets this momentum where new tech is introduced, and it has ramifications throughout society, and then we all have to figure out how to contend with it,” Chase said.
Chase explained that AI could be a helpful tool. He has been using AI to simulate workplace interactions in his professional writing classes.
“I think we kind of have an obligation to be looking for ways to use AI because our students are going to be going into a labor force that at some point is going to be integrated,” he said. “I don’t want to sound naïvely optimistic about AI, but we have had similar worries about other technologies in the past.”
Chase acknowledged the challenges teachers face due to the potential misuse of the new technology. AI, especially in mathematics and writing programs, provides an easy out for students who want an algorithm to complete their assignments.
“Usually, with AI-written papers, something throws up a red flag, and it is sort of easy to recognize. But there may be others that have made it through that I just didn’t recognize,” Chase said. “Some teachers are moving toward doing more in-class assessments. That may be exams where there would have been papers or more oral presentations as opposed to written genres.”
Other professors viewed AI as more harmful than helpful. Assistant Criminal Justice professor Mark Johnson mentioned that AI could impede students’ progress in the workplace.
“You’re missing the people skills, and God knows that is more needed in our country today than anything else,” he said. “We miss the personal communication that online learning doesn’t give us.”
Last year, ULM implemented a policy prohibiting students from using AI to complete assignments. As of now, the AI policy is still in effect.