At a university in Northern California, a business professor uses an avatar to lecture on a virtual stage. Meanwhile, at a Southern university, students in an artificial intelligence (AI) course discover that one of their nine teaching assistants is a virtual avatar, Jill Watson, IBM’s question-answering computer system. Jill participated in student conversations and responded to all inquiries with 97% accuracy. At a college on the East Coast, students interact with an AI chat agent in a virtual restaurant set in China to learn the Mandarin language. These examples provide a glimpse into future teaching and learning in college.

The rise of artificial intelligence

According to a 2021 report on AI, many institutions find themselves more focused on the present limited use of AI — for tasks such as detecting plagiarism or student cheating — and not so much the future of AI. In my view, universities should broaden their use of AI and conduct experiments to improve upon its usefulness to individual learners. For example, how can colleges use AI to improve student learning of calculus or help students become stronger writers? However, most universities are slow to innovate. Some of the challenges to acquiring AI include lack of technical expertise, financial concerns, insufficient leadership, and biased algorithms.

Professors from the baby-boom generation are retiring, and I expect some of their jobs will not be filled. I believe the rising use of AI will contribute to this trend, with universities relying more on technology than in-person teaching.

The flipped classroom

The flipped classroom provides students with opportunities to learn at their own pace outside the classroom. In college, the flipped classroom involves prerecorded faculty lectures of course content, whether that be on the causes of the Civil War or the origins of white rice. In class, students build on the professor’s prerecorded lecture and work on activities to expand knowledge. The classroom becomes a place for social interaction and understanding course content. A human teaching assistant, avatar or chat agent conducts all in-class activities, tests and group work. No additional professors are needed to teach multiple sections of the same course.

These two trends illustrate a profession that I see as being on the cusp of radical transformation.

(Patricia A. Young. www.theconversation.com, 20.10.2021. Adapted.)

(https://larrycuban.wordpress.com. Adapted.)