STLI hosts conference, debates future of artificial intelligence in higher education

Saturday, Feb. 4, The Studio for Teaching and Learning Innovation hosted a conference to discuss the integration of artificial intelligence in higher education. The conference brought together professors and staff from the College of William and Mary to share their experiences, research and insights on the impact and potential of AI in shaping the future of education.

The panelists included William and Mary School of Education associate professor Dr. Stephanie J. Blackmon, Associate Dean of Students Dave Gilbert, Chair of the Philosophy Department Matthew Haug and Professor Elizabeth Losh of English and American studies. Between the four of them, the bulk of the discussion centered around how ChatGPT and generative AI writing can be used in the College’s education system.

“If one of your students didn’t want to write a three-page paper that you had assigned, and so they give the prompt to one of their friends and said ‘Hey, do me a favor, write this paper for me’ and then your student turns this paper in that the friend had written,” Gilbert said. “That’s clearly a violation of the honor code that’s undermining the pedagogical goals of that assignment.” 

Gilbert compared this hypothetical example to giving ChatGPT the prompt to the student’s paper. He and the panelists agreed that this usage of generative AI defeats the purpose of writing to learn. According to the honor code, this is considered a form of plagiarism, as the student would be turning in work that was not the product of their individual thought process. 

“Our illustrious acting Dean sent out some initial guidelines that some members of the working group produced about using ChatGPT in the classroom. You know, one of those suggestions, which I think is a very good one, is considered using scaffolding in your writing assignments.” 

According to the panelists, generative AI use in learning is not entirely negative. On the contrary, the panelists agreed that using it correctly can facilitate some students’ learning processes. 

“Our illustrious acting Dean sent out some initial guidelines that some members of the working group produced about using ChatGPT in the classroom,” Gilbert said. “You know, one of those suggestions, which I think is a very good one, is considered using scaffolding in your writing assignments.” 

Generating initial and broad writing ideas about the subject and then building off of the generated text to create writing of their own was considered by the panel to be one of the most positive uses of artificial intelligence. This way, students can use the program to help with the creative process while still fostering the “writing for learning” value that many professors at the College strongly believe in. 

Another central point of the conversation was AI’s role in academia. For example, how would credit be given if it was used to help in the production of research analysis? 

“Basically, an AI tool is not an agent, so it can’t accept the responsibility that goes along with being the author of a scientific work,” Haug said. 

Although the discussion did not result in a clear answer, it contributed to an important question for the future of academia and the scientific process. 

Overall, the consensus from the discussion was that generative AI has great potential to be an overwhelmingly influential tool in academia if used correctly. The panel made it clear that there are still flaws with the system, specifically regarding the program’s logic, analysis and humor. When asked to tell a joke about the College, ChatGPT said this:

Why did the College of William and Mary student choose to study history?

Because they wanted to major in the “past-tense”!

When analyzing evidence or creating logical lines of reasoning, it produces similar responses that lack any form of syllogism. Hence, while ChatGPT can spit overwhelming amounts of information at the user, it is very difficult for the software to create cohesive human logic, which the panel recognized as a significant oversight in the program’s abilities. 

Creating this panel is the first step in integrating AI into the College’s education plan. Head coordinator of STLI, Dr. Adam Barger, was asked by the Office of the President to do something with AI early on in the semester. Many colleges have  begun incorporating AI into their education framework, with the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton School of Business being the most famous example. One Wharton professor even required use of the ChatGPT program in his class, which began conversations about AI-related education in universities across the country.

“We produced some guidelines that were sent out right before classes started,” Barger said. “Then we have this event that’s an open community conversation, and then we have a second event in February.” 

“It’s not just adapting to this new world, it’s about how you’re actually using it to change your instruction, and, at William and Mary, we do that pretty quickly and we’re small enough that we can kind of adapt and work on it together.”

“It’s not just adapting to this new world, it’s about how you’re actually using it to change your instruction, and, at William and Mary, we do that pretty quickly and we’re small enough that we can kind of adapt and work on it together,” Barger said.

“It’s not just adapting to this new world, it’s about how you’re actually using it to change your instruction, and, at William and Mary, we do that pretty quickly and we’re small enough that we can kind of adapt and work on it together,”  Barger said.

Many audience members felt that AI could play a role in facilitating their jobs, including Associate Director of the College’s Women’s Network Elizabeth Eldredge, who believes that generative AI can facilitate her work.

“We’re already resource-limited in many big capacities,” Eldredge said. 

She believes that incorporating AI technology into her workplace can make her, and her coworkers’, jobs more time efficient, allowing them to cover more ground in a shorter amount of time.

The STLI has begun to develop a plan to implement generative AI as a staple tool for education. From writing papers to poems to code, the capabilities of AI are endless, and the administration’s policy on it will continue to change as the College progresses through 2023.