The New Zealand Herald reported today:
Students at New Zealand’s biggest university are outraged artificial intelligence (AI) tutors will be used in a business and economics course.
Three AI programs are set to replace lecture slides in the University of Auckland’s Digital Marketing 304 class when the first semester of the year begins on Monday.
“Complete bull****,” one student enrolled in the course said...
The Auckland business school tried to defend itself:
But the University of Auckland (UoA) says the assertion that students in the course don’t have a human teaching them is “incorrect” and AI tutors will not replace in-person teaching.
“This popular digital marketing course, led by a respected leader in AI education, includes AI-driven tutors as supplementary learning tools. This award-winning use of technology has undergone rigorous testing to provide engaging, factual content to support students’ learning and ensure they are well-prepared for the evolving job market,” a UoA business school spokesperson said.
“Students receive highly interactive two-hour tutorials in person every week.”
However, that seems to be contradicted somewhat by the information that they gave students:
Course information sent to students said: “Since we have no formal lectures, it is imperative that you are prepared for each tutorial by completing that week’s module using one of the AI tutors.
“We’re going all in on AI this semester! Instead of traditional lecture slides, you’ll be working with three AI tutors.”
That definitely sounds like in-person lectures have been replaced by AI tutoring. However, they probably didn't go directly from in-person lectures to AI tutoring. It seems more likely that, in recent years, the lectures were recordings that students were expected to watch before their tutorial. This is consistent with a blended learning format, which has become relatively common, especially since the pandemic.
On the surface, replacing recorded lectures with AI tutoring seems legitimate. There is no directly in-person component either way. However, students don't always react to our teaching initiatives in the way that we expect, and I'm sure that the reaction of Auckland students has taken the lecturers by surprise. This is clearly a cautionary tale, and it shows that AI tutors are more acceptable as a complement to good teaching, not as a substitute for good teaching.
The students' concerns are legitimate. Generative AI doesn't get everything right, and keeping an AI tutor on task is a real challenge. At least, that has been my experience so far with Harriet, our ECONS101 AI tutor. Harriet gets the important things right in her explanations, but she has a tendency to give the students too much information, and can send them down some interesting (but unnecessary for their learning) rabbit holes. I'm still trying to find an instruction set that optimises her behaviour. My students and tutors, through the feedback they are providing, are helping with that process. However, I don't see Harriet as replacing in-person or recorded lectures in the near future, or even replacing in-person tutorials. The human aspects of teaching are important. AI is another tool to support students' learning alongside that.
[HT: The most excellent Gemma Piercy-Cameron]
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