Students share some of the same concerns as educators do about the growth of AI on campus. Students are, in fact, more worried than faculty or administrators that the technology is “short-cutting their learning” and they want more guidance, according to a new study and survey from plagiarism checker Turnitin.
Companies expect new employees to be comfortable and competent using AI but employers surveyed said graduates “are far from that point.”
Educators are seen as the solution to both challenges, Turnitin concludes. They must help students reap the benefits of AI in the classroom and also prepare them to leverage technology in their careers.
AI on campus: AI-powered students
University Business will host a webinar on April 24 about how universities must respond to students’ demands for instruction in AI and generative tools.
Sponsored by Soprano Design, the 30-minute Ed Talk will explore how AI-driven engagement will empower universities to meet the demands of today’s students and deliver a smarter, more connected experience from recruitment to graduation.
The webinar will also cover how AI and generative tools are transforming recruitment, retention and engagement across the entire student lifecycle.
Using AI to predict student success
The Brookings Institution finds that colleges and universities are increasingly using AI prediction algorithms to target support services, among other tasks.
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These algorithms, however, have shown bias—the technology “can underestimate success” for Black and Hispanic students and wrongly predict failure of students who will ultimately graduate, the Brookings report notes.
Challenges and opportunities in teaching and learning
Despite the concerns noted above, students have been quicker to adopt AI than faculty, according to an AAC&U survey of more than 300 administrators.
Many of the leaders themselves use AI regularly for writing and communication, idea generation, data analysis and similar tasks. However, many of these leaders also say some faculty remain resistant to the technology, student cheating has increased and that their colleges and universities are not ready to use AI for:
- Preparing students for the future
- Equipping faculty to use generative AI for teaching and mentoring
- Helping non-faculty staff use these tools for work
