Some professors at Arkansas State University are embracing AI and incorporating the technology in their classrooms and research. 

Professors using AI in the classroom

Amy Moody-Qualls, an instructor of English, said she utilizes artificial intelligence for personal use as well as to benefit the courses she teaches such as composition, writing studies and digital literacy.

Moody-Qualls said she uses AI to caution her students and engage with them in thought exercises.

“I use it as a thought-provoking, conversational tool,” Moody-Qualls said. “I use it more as a cautionary tale by showing models of AI writing and even art occasionally to show students what it’s still lacking so they don’t try to use it as a replacement for their writing.”

The English instructor said she shows students how AI models like ChatGPT, an AI that generates text based on user-submitted prompts, can generate error-ridden writing and uses that as a teaching opportunity to stress the importance of learning how to write.

“Even if someone uses ChatGPT to write something, they need to be able to understand the mechanics and requirements of writing so they can see what mistakes ChatGPT are making,” Moody-Qualls said. “So if you’re not learning the writing process, then you’re not going to see the mistakes being made by AI.”

Cameron Wimpy, an associate professor and department chair of political science, said he helps students in his research method classes learn programming skills through AI.

“I used to spend a lot of time trying to teach students who had no programming experience how to do basic programming,” Wimpy said. “Now, I can tell them, go use these tools that are available to you and it’s gonna teach you what you need to know about those basics.”

Wimpy said he also uses AI in his international relations class for students to brainstorm and develop ideas for assignments. 

Kim Vickrey, professor of graphic design, said she uses generative AI in her classes to help students prototype their art. She uses Midjourney, an AI that generates images based on user prompts because its developers support artists and copyright laws.

“I show that to students before we jump into the AI tools, just to let them know that it is an ethical issue that you have to make a personal decision how you use it,” Vickrey said. “They are required in my class to give credit to the AI generative art software they use whenever they use it.”

Steve Gilland, instructor of computer science, said this is the first semester he has openly discussed using AI in his classes. 

Gilland said when presenting AI to his classes, specifically ChatGPT, he wanted his students to use it as a method of personal tutoring. He said it is important for students to get answers quickly, especially in coding. 

“You can spend hours upon hours on a particular piece of code and it just never makes sense to you,” Gilland said. “Until somebody comes along and is like, ‘Oh, you missed a semicolon there.’”

The computer science instructor said ChatGPT is good for quickly providing answers to simple questions. He said students who efficiently utilize ChatGPT through specific but concise phrasing can also get help with more complex coding questions.

Deepak Joshi, assistant professor of remote sensing and precision agriculture, said he encourages his students to use AI in their coursework. He said students need to become accustomed to new technologies like AI so they stay up-to-date in their industries and get better jobs. He said more job and academic opportunities exist for people who can effectively use AI. 

Gilland and Moody-Qualls said A-State has allowed them to use AI in their courses. Moody-Qualls said she feels like she has a lot of creative freedom in how she uses AI in the classroom. Gilland said A-State is hands-off and did not advise either way regarding how he should use AI in his classes.

Professors using AI outside the classroom 

Andrea Junqueira, assistant professor of political science, said she does not use AI in the courses she teaches, but she does use AI in her research processing political ad data sets. 

“I have close to 1,000 hours of political ads and to process that you can’t really do it manually because we’re talking about thousands of hours of videos,” Junqueira said. “In order to process all of those videos, I use some strategies that rely on things that could be considered AI.”

Junqueira said she is training an algorithm to gather information from political ads by analyzing each ad frame-by-frame.

Gilland said he uses AI like ChatGPT to generate questions and tests for his classes. He said before using ChatGPT, creating and proofreading a single test could take him an entire day. 

“I’ve since cut that down significantly by letting things like ChatGPT generate those for me,” Gilland said. “Still, obviously, reading over it, making sure those are correct.” 

Joshi said he uses AI in crop monitoring and research. He said before teaching at A-State, he used AI to determine carbon footprint and predict greenhouse gas emissions from cover crops in South Dakota. 

Student response

Moody-Qualls said her students are curious and have expressed interest in learning more about AI. She said it is important for all students to be aware of emerging technologies and how technology like AI develops and affects their college experience. 

The computer science instructor said he has faced negativity from some students regarding his use of AI in his courses. He said the negativity arises from the standpoint that using ChatGPT is lazy. 

Gilland said some students fall into the trap of relying solely on ChatGPT, instead of using it as a tool to study or verify work with. He said it is obvious when students rely on ChatGPT because they submit work out of their grasp on the homework and do poorly on tests where they can’t use ChatGPT. 

However, Gilland said he finds ChatGPT helps him create testable material that touches and reinforces student knowledge more effectively.

Professors using AI in future semesters

Wimpy said he thinks AI will be actively involved in the teaching process in the future. 

Gilland said he is always experimenting with new teaching methods and techniques. He said he plans to continue exploring the applications of AI in his courses. Individualized testing and milestone-based learning are some techniques he said he was interested in implementing with the help of AI.

Vickrey said she is a member of the AI in Higher Ed Faculty Learning Community, a faculty committee at A-State that attempts to implement guidelines for AI usage.

“I think we’re all just kind of looking at it going ‘this is so exciting but yet so scary, so frightening to think about, but it’s here, what do we do with it?’,” Vickrey said. 

Joshi said he will use AI for a course he will teach next semester, machine learning in agriculture.

Moody-Qualls said she will continue to incorporate AI into her digital literacy course and composition courses so her students can create with the technology and distinguish between AI-generated and human-created works. 

“As a teacher, it’s my job to prepare the students for the future,” Moody-Qualls said. “AI is going to be part of that future, whether people like it or not.”

Caroline Averitt, life editor, contributed to this report.

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