The Generative AI (GenAI) ship set sail many moons ago, but some of us working in higher education are just noticing its wide wake in the college setting. Many faculty members have expressed unease with the pace of student knowledge of GenAI. Do they know more, or are we all lost sheep? I’ll share the basics that I’ve learned from exploring this field.
First, I’d like to share how I changed my perspective regarding GenAI in the past year. Around six months ago, I used ChatGPT 3.5 to seek clarification on material taught in my PhD classes in school psychology. Initially, I viewed GenAI as an enhanced web search engine akin to Google, but with consolidated results. However, after completing the Teaching with AI course from Auburn University and earning my AI in Education Explorer Badge, I recognized GenAI’s greater capabilities and began treating it as a collaborative colleague.
Since then, I have explore GenAI in various capacities.
As a Text Generator: I told ChatGPT to debate with me on Intelligence Theories, a highly controversial topic in my field of study. I did so by prompting ChatGPT 3.5 to be an Educational Psychologist and provided it with specific instructions on how it should interact with me. Personally, I felt like I left the debate with a more well-rounded understanding of two major theories of intelligence.
As an Image Generator: I told Microsoft Copilot to generate an image of "an Asian American female student at Texas A&M." All the girls turned out to be skinny and pale. It is interesting to note that AI models have a tendancy to perpetuate steryotypes seen in the media.
My prompt to Microsoft Copilot: “Create an image of a Chinese American female student of Texas A&M University.”
She looks like she could be a member of a girls’ Korean pop music band.
I also played with HotPot AI to generate images. I prompted the terms “Chinese hotpot” (a flavorful broth served in Chinese cuisine) and selected “SciFi” mode.
The ingenuity of GenAI is quite impressive.
Upon reflection, I find GenAI to be a valuable personal tutor, text editor, and source of inspiration and creativity. As GenAI infuses into our society, I believe it will certainly impact the way I currently learn in higher education and affect my future career prospects. Particularly, as a graduate student in School Psychology, I am excited to see how GenAI will help psychologists streamline psychoeducational report writing, potentialy freeing up time for collaborative work in therapy and consultation. Overall, I am excited about this new age of AI and hope to see it do more good than harm.
Acknowledgement: Microsoft Copilot was used to make some text in this post more concise.