5 Ways Universities & Colleges Can Embrace AI in The Classroom in 2024

In 2024 artificial intelligence has significant implications for the classroom and teaching. Many educators and institutions have voiced concerns over the use of AI technologies like ChatGPT to help students cheat in assignments and its negative impact on learning.

But there are many great examples of using AI in higher education proving it can be a powerful tool for the sector. When integrated into the curriculum and leveraged correctly, the technology can accelerate student’s learning and drive engagement.

Plus it’s not just ChatGPT that you should focus on. There are lots of other AI tools available (with new and updated versions coming online all the time) that can be useful in the classroom. 

Let’s explore 5 effective ways educators can guide students to use AI in higher education to improve learning and prepare them for work in the outside world. 

1. Use AI for job hunting
2. Use AI to push creativity and innovation
3. Use AI as a learning partner
4. Leverage ChatGPT and other tools effectively
5. Use AI to enable accessibility and inclusivity

“Technology offers the prospect of universal access to increase fundamentally new ways of teaching. A lot of AI is also going to automate really bad ways of teaching. So [we need to] think about it as a way of creating new types of teaching” Daniel Schwartz, Dean of the Graduate School of Education, Stanford University

1: Use AI for Job Hunting

From crafting a resume or cover letter to email automation, AI offers numerous ways to streamline the job search process. According to ResumeBuilder, 3 in 4 job seekers who used ChatGPT to write their resume got an interview. 

To help boost employability, educators should guide students on how to utilize the true value of AI to navigate through the noise and land interviews. Here are some easy ways to help them to do that.

“Not everybody is using AI yet to further their careers. If you’re already getting skilled at boosting your profile with AI, you’ve just nudged yourself a little further ahead of the pack,” Morgan Cummins, Partner and Board member at Talent Hub said in a recent DMI podcast. 

• Use a resume builder - Writing a resume takes time and a certain knack, so using a builder to help get started or at least condense key points can be really useful. A few tools that can help are Rezi, Resume.io, teal and Kickresume. JobScan is another tool that compares your resume to a job listing and shows what keywords you need to qualify for the position.
• Use a job-matching tool - Job searching can be exhausting so why not teach your students to use a tool that matches their skills with the jobs out there? Talentprise is one great tool while Kickresume (Pyjama Jobs) can find open jobs easily by simply scanning your uploaded resume. 
• Create or polish a cover letter - Cover letters can often be the hardest part of the job application process as recruiters expect the content to be tailored to the role and job requirements. Use a tool like CoverDoc.ai, Cover Letter Copilot or JobScan to refine and optimize. 
• Get a job seeker coach - An AI job coach can not only match skills with the right jobs but also provide insights about companies and roles. Linkedin’s AI-powered job seeker coach can use a student’s profile (and give key tips on how to improve it) to find the best roles on the platform. You can also use it to draft messages to recruiters and HR pros. 
• Practice interviewing - Interviews can be daunting so it’s good to get some practice in before the real thing. InterviewAI, Interview Warmup and Huru (see below) are great choices. 

The University of Southern California uses an AI-powered tool for students called VMock to help with job seeking. 

According to Lori Shreve Blake, Senior Director, Career Engagement at USC, VMock includes a tool called Smart Resume. This enables students to upload their resume and gives recommendations of how to improve bullet points, use action verbs and point out where to add quantifying information. 

2: Use AI to push creativity and imagination

Advanced technologies like AI are now a part of today’s world and used by companies across industries to engage, influence and convert customers. 

Therefore it’s crucial for educators to embrace and engage with virtual worlds so students understand how to use and leverage them. Experimentation is key and this can be done risk-free in a classroom environment using AI. 

For example, Houman Harouni, a lecturer on education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education recently discussed his use of ChatGPT to stimulate higher-level thinking. 

He challenged students to pretend to be a teacher or administrator at the school and design a course of action. For example, “we must initiate a review of existing policies and procedures related to substance abuse with the goal of ensuring they are consistent, transparent, and reflective of best practices.” 

After an hour, students were presented with ChatGPT’s analysis. Interestingly, the student responses were similar to the ideas generated by ChatGPT which shocked many students and highlighted a ‘tired way’ of thinking. 

This challenged students to start thinking in a different way and prompted discussions that sparked creativity. 

“You have to stop thinking that you can teach exactly the way you used to teach when the basic medium has changed,” Harouni explains. “If students can turn to ChatGPT or other AI language models for quick and easy answers then there is a problem with the lesson.”

3. Use AI as a Learning Partner

There are many ways universities and colleges can use innovative technologies or AI-powered analytics tools to boost learning in the classroom. 

• Personalize the learning experience - AI-powered technologies can measure student performance and tailor a program to help improve engagement and grades. 
• Enable discussion and brainstorming - AI tools like ChatGPT, Midjourney or DALL-E can help spark an idea or prompt a conversation in the classroom. This may help students to think in a different way or speak out on a topic they are passionate about.   
• Provide instant feedback - AI can give instant feedback to student’s work or answer questions quickly and easily. 
• Automate tasks - There are many repetitive tasks that educators need to do daily. AI tools can help free up time with marking or create quizzes.   
• Analyze student engagement - Analytical tools can make it easy to see student engagement and performance. This will help you to identify students that are struggling or areas that the class needs to improve on. 

For example, Querium is an AI-powered tutor that provides students with tutoring on math problems and builds personalized lesson plans. Ahura is an AI-powered learning assistant that tracks learning habits while Knewton is an adaptive learning platform that can personalize learning experiences.

The key is to use AI in your teaching to provide a more comprehensive learning experience. 

“83% of educators believe adding AI courses will enhance competitiveness, while 75% believe it will enhance student employability” DMI survey

4. Leverage ChatGPT (and other AI tools) effectively

Understanding the concept of AI will only get students so far in this AI-driven workforce. It’s crucial that they know the AI tools available, what they can do and have experience of using them.  

The most popular and well-known of all the AI tools is undoubtedly ChatGPT - at least for now. The reason? It’s simple to use and accessible with multiple uses. 

Students can use it to generate prompts on topics of personal interest, use it to kickstart an essay or sense check a project for grammar or vocabulary. It can also be used to generate ideas or counter arguments that can lead to a different way of approaching a project or assignment. 

Other AI tools can be used for multiple digital marketing activities such as:

• Audience research and customer journey mapping
• SEO keyword research
• Trend analysis and forecasting
• Competitor monitoring
• Social media management and advertising

Teachers and professors can benefit from using tools like ChatGPT as much as students can. They can use it to build lesson plans, quizzes, and ask questions to fill gaps in lesson delivery. It can also be used for translation and even role play by asking questions. 

Here’s an example using the prompt ‘Examples of marketing in a cookieless world' which could help create discussion in the classroom. 

5. Use AI to Enable Accessibility & Inclusivity

AI technology plays a crucial role in promoting inclusivity. In fact, 90 percent of educators, staff, and administrators believe AI will enhance accessibility in education according to ‘2023 Educator AI Report: Perceptions, Practices, and Potential’. 

For example, think about how subtitles enable people with hearing impairments to understand a movie. Artificial intelligence can facilitate inclusivity through innovations like AI-powered braille tutor apps or screen readers for those with low vision.

There’s also Google’s Parrotron, an AI tool that allows people with speech impairments to translate their speech patterns into fluent conversations.

These AI applications can help people with disabilities access education more easily and make learning more collaborative.   

Conclusion: AI in the Classroom

It’s clear that there are many benefits to using AI in education, but there are also challenges. Many educators find AI useful as a tool but warn of an over reliance on it for both students and educators. There are also reservations about privacy and ethics. 

Ultimately AI should be used to enhance learning, boost creativity and promote discourse, but it should not replace the human touch in terms of providing feedback to students or driving engagement. It should also not be the go-to for students for every assignment or project but act as a kickstart or add on. 

It’s important to experiment with AI tools and technologies to see what works for you and your students. Start a discussion in the classroom on the implications of AI, use ChatGPT to counter arguments or try it to create a lesson plan. It’s a tool that can really benefit educators so don’t be scared to get involved.   

Are you looking to be more competitive in 2024?

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