As the use of artificial intelligence is gaining traction, Monmouth College Dean of Faculty Mark Willhardt explains the challenges this presents in higher education:
“We have to acknowledge that artificial intelligence (AI) is not a toy. It is a thing that is going to be there in every industry from here on out. We are all going to have to deal with AI. From my perspective, part of what I am worried about is not catching students when they are using AI to write papers, like most things that is not very hard to do, but it is teaching them that when they go onto their job, they are going to have you using AI to help you build a rapport. What are the best ways to do that? Part of our job is to figure out the ways in which we can use AI in the classroom, reasonably and responsibly as a teaching tool because our students are going to need to know when they get out on the job. The higher education industry is struggling with this. We are thinking about it on a student level. We are thinking about it on a classroom level, the various areas of study are thinking about how they are using it. At the same time, colleges and universities have to figure out what their stance is in all this.”
Willhardt stated that he expects to see a retreat back to classroom fundamentals to provide students with those basic skills, giving them a base before turning to artificial intelligence for added information.
