AI is already part of the life of students when it comes to daily learning. From creating the notes and presentations, students are exploring AI tools with or without guidance. The question is not whether AI will enter our classrooms, it already has. The real question is, will professors adopt and lead this change, or be left behind? Many top private universities in Maharashtra are adopting AI into their pedagogy to provide the most cutting-edge and advanced learning and training possible to students. It is imperative that professors not resist AI and treat it like an adversary, but instead learn to use AI to better their teaching and learning methodologies.
AI is not here to replace humans as professors. It is here to support them, to make teaching more effective and engaging. The sooner professors understand this, the better it will be for their professional advancement and career progression. Students are already adapting to AI at a breathtaking pace. If professors resist this change, they risk becoming obsolete in the grand scheme of things.
Let us understand how AI can benefit professors and how they can adapt to AI in teaching:
Why Does AI Matter for Professors?
1. Time-Saving: Tasks like grading or enhancing the format of handwritten lecture notes can easily be handled by AI. It saves time for faculty and they use this time for mentorship, research, and value-added discussions.
2. Personalised Learning: AI can adjust the format of content, it can create extra practice assignments for slow learners, and offer advanced assignments for fast learners. This ensures no student is left behind because every student learns differently.
3. Gaining Insights: By using different ai tools, faculty can track the students’ progress also. So that faculty will not wait for examination to track the progress of particular students.
4. Interactive Session Using AI: As this student generation is very fast in adopting the technology. Faculty can use AI to suggest different types of tools for students to complete the task for self-improvement and tracking of academic progress.
The following steps can be helpful for the faculty for adapting AI into teaching:
Step 1: Start Small
For the task related to assignments, or creation of summaries and also for the research faculty can use different types of free AI tools like ChatGPT study mode or scholar GPT, Notion AI for tracking the progress etc.
Step 2: Assignment using AI
To test the reasoning knowledge of the student, faculty can ask students to create a draft for assignment answers using AI and ask them the logic and output of the same and improve it.
Step 3: AI usability
The most important thing is that faculty should explain to the students that they do not rely on AI for every task of their academics. Critical thinking helps the brain to develop problem solving skills.
Step 4: Collaboration at college level
By creating the small group discuss the ideas related to AI in the education industry. Share the knowledge with each other and grow together.
Step 5: Keep Learning
The more we explore, the more confident we become. AI is evolving fast. Attend webinars, follow EdTech communities, and try at least one new AI tool each month. One thing is that AI will not replace human connection. So, a faculty can be a medium to deliver the skill as mentor or guide and role model to the students.
Conclusion
These are some of the ways in which professors can use AI to become better teachers and revolutionise their teaching methods. Again, it is not wise for professors to fear being replaced by AI. Rather, they should use it cautiously and professionally to yield the desired results in their teaching methods. AI can be used to weed out repetitive tasks, create strategic lesson plans, provide relevant feedback, and help upgrade the curriculum. Once these tasks are overtaken by AI, professors can use their time and energy to focus on better student-teacher relationships, advancing student engagement. AI can be your friend, if you use it wisely!