Artificial intelligence (AI) use is on the rise, and Butler is keeping up to date. Students have noted that several courses have implemented AI into the syllabus in some way, either allowing its use or incorporating it into assignments.
Last semester, Butler’s Online Education and Educational Technology team launched a year-long initiative called Leadership, Ethics & AI-Integrated Design that is focused on exploring AI across teaching, learning and scholarship.
Margaretha Geertsema-Sligh, a professor of journalism and director of graduate studies in the College of Communication, is one faculty member included in the initiative, in a group specifically focused on using AI in research.
The main course she is focused on introducing AI in this semester is JR 325, Gender and News: Global Views. Geertsema-Sligh mentioned that she has always seen herself as an early adopter of new technology.
“Some faculty ban AI in their classes, and they may have a specific reason for that, but you will see in my syllabus that I support the use of AI in education, but in a cautious and responsible way,” Geertsema-Sligh said.
Her syllabus for the semester includes activities in which students will use an AI platform to create a lesson plan, and then evaluate the effectiveness of the AI. She hopes to further students’ expertise in using a new technology, while also bringing in discussion to examine where it falls short.
Geertsema-Sligh mentioned that more employers are now expecting employees to be proficient in AI use, and emphasized how she wants to aid in her students’ success.
Miles Kong, a junior creative writing and journalism double major who is taking JR 325, is not as enthusiastic about embracing the technology.
“I do not believe right now that there is an ethical way to use AI because it is still very environmentally harmful,” Kong said. “It’s scary [and] it’s going to affect real people. To me, the hype around AI feels artificial because if they truly believe in this thing, they wouldn’t be pushing it so hard. They wouldn’t be trying to convince us that this is the future.”
Sophomore criminology-psychology major Genesis Washington expressed similar sentiments, though she has not yet taken a class that encouraged her to use AI.
Both Washington and Kong acknowledged that they have had experience using AI platforms for certain things, such as checking grammar with Grammarly, or in Washington’s case, using ChatGPT to clarify difficult subjects.
“I feel like if we have that little door opening, people are going to abuse the fact that they’re letting it in,” Washington said. “I think people will take advantage of the little help that they get with AI.”
Geertsema-Sligh understands that some students have reservations about the technology, and that it is not always reliable, but hopes that the classroom will provide an opportunity to collaboratively evaluate what it can be used well for.
“I will acknowledge that it is a risk to do this activity,” Geertsema-Sligh said. “I think this is the way we have to go. We have to start exploring. We have to see what we can gain from using AI, but at the same time be cautious and responsible.”
Kong hopes there will one day be a world in which AI can be used effectively, but does not agree that we are at that point yet.
“I hope that moving forward, eventually we can find ethical uses for AI,” Kong said. “I can see how [AI] integration can be beneficial for a lot of people, but the way that a lot of industries and academic institutions have been going about it, I just think it’s unsustainable right now.”