The 21st Show

What role should AI play in higher education?

 
ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence platforms are stirring up conversations about how AI can be used in classroom settings.

ChatGPT and other generative artificial intelligence platforms are stirring up conversations about how AI can be used in classroom settings. Daniel Foster/Creative Commons

The end of the semester is a stressful time for students, so many might feel encouraged to try to ease up their school-work load and try to find a way to get some work done without actually having to do it. For some students, they might consider looking to an artificial intelligence tool like ChatGPT to help write their paper. The AI tool has taken the world by storm because of what it is capable of doing and generating. But it’s also why it has been the subject of a lot of controversy, especially in regards to the role it has in the classroom, the moral issues associated with having something else do your work for you, and how much information students can actually retain by using such software.

To talk about what role AI can and should play in higher education, The 21st was joined by two professors of information sciences and computer science.

GUESTS: 

William “Ted” Underwood

Professor and Associate Dean for Academic Affairs, University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign School of Information Sciences

Ellie Buxton

Associate Professor of Computer Science, University of Illinois Springfield Department of Computer Science

 

 

Prepared for web by Owen Henderson

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