Next: AI is a great tool, but can’t replace everything

Generative AI (GenAI) is artificial intelligence technology that can generate text, images or other data using machine-learning models. GenAI sparks both excitement and measured concern among Furman’s community of students, staff, faculty and administrators.

While GenAI offers great possibility to enhance research, personalize learning and expand creativity, educators remain cautious about potential academic integrity, ethics and overuse pitfalls.

At the Faculty Development Center, we are partnering with faculty to explore the rapidly changing landscape of GenAI. Through workshops, consultations and institutes on course design, colleagues are finding innovative ways to use the technology to:

• Reconsider authentic pedagogical approaches and teaching values to weigh whether and how to introduce GenAI into their course instruction.
• Explore questions about teaching methods that use GenAI to promote learning and student engagement.
• Revise and improve learning objectives, course descriptions, syllabi statements and course policies.
• Create or adapt course content and materials including lesson plans, quiz questions, sample problems, case studies or writing prompts.
• Work with students to consider how GenAI will reshape the workplace and be integrated ethically in future careers.
• Harness the power of GenAI to assist in research tasks such as generating insights from data, creating new hypotheses and identifying collaborative or interdisciplinary projects.

As they did when swiftly shifting to remote teaching during the pandemic, Furman faculty are approaching these tools with openness and curiosity and to provide guidance for our students. In developing course policies for use of GenAI tools and building experiences that help students understand the strengths and weaknesses of the technology, our community is advancing an informed and ethical GenAI literacy, which is quickly becoming an essential component of career development and readiness.

Although GenAI can boost the speed and productivity of our work, it cannot replace human creativity, ethics, responsibility, connection or community, all of which are essential for learning. Approaching GenAI with both an open mind and a critical eye, Furman is working to ensure that the rapidly evolving technology serves as a force for progress and innovation that enhances The Furman Advantage.

About the Author

Benjamin Haywood is the associate director of Furman’s Faculty Development Center where he uses insight from the learning sciences to provide direct support for the wide variety of programs, workshops and strategic initiatives across the institution that enhance teaching and learning.