Yale Professors Embrace Artificial Intelligence in the Classroom
Artificial intelligence has left its mark on Yale classrooms, with the full academic year since the introduction of ChatGPT seeing Yale administrators and instructors adjusting their guidelines and teaching methods to accommodate this technology. While concerns about plagiarism remain, some professors have warmly welcomed the integration of AI in the classroom.
Ben Glaser, an English professor at Yale, developed an interest in applying AI to the humanities after attending a 2022 summer course on natural language processing. In fall 2023, he led an introductory English seminar titled “Writing Essays with AI,” focusing on how AI can be used in writing and exploring the relationship between authorship, creativity, and AI. Students in the course engaged with AI-generated stories, analyzed poetry by both humans and AI, and utilized AI for essay planning. Their final projects involved researching the applications of AI across various industries.
With the public release of ChatGPT, the Poorvu Center at Yale formulated academic AI guidelines under the leadership of Alfred Guy, the deputy director. These guidelines advise instructors on addressing AI in their syllabi, emphasizing correct citation of AI use by students, and offering precautions when incorporating AI technologies in teaching. The center is now promoting a more hands-on approach to exploring AI, urging instructors to actively engage with AI tools.
Yale’s approach to AI in the classroom differs from that of other institutions, benefitting from strong institutional support and awareness, which has made AI integration less contentious. In a Yale course, CPSC 100, co-taught with Harvard’s CS50, AI was quickly integrated. A chatbot was used to assist students with course material inquiries and code debugging, resulting in a significant decrease in attendance at CS50 office hours, a change welcomed by Yale computer science professor Ozan Erat.
Despite initial concerns regarding academic integrity, there was no significant increase in cheating by the end of the semester. Yale has updated its academic integrity guidelines to address plagiarism concerns related to AI, with a new section specifically dedicated to AI use.
Alfred Guy, involved in addressing plagiarism prior to AI at the Poorvu Center, remains optimistic that instructors can mitigate AI-related plagiarism through strategies like tailoring assignments to surpass the capabilities of AI models. Glaser highlighted the challenges of using chatbots for writing, emphasizing the need for a certain “literacy” to interpret AI outputs and identify errors. He argues that this process could potentially enhance writing skills rather than just facilitate plagiarism.
Analyst comment
Positive news: Yale professors embrace artificial intelligence in the classroom.
As an analyst, the market for AI technologies in education is likely to grow as more universities and instructors adopt AI tools and develop guidelines to address concerns such as plagiarism. The integration of AI in education can enhance learning experiences and improve efficiency in student support and engagement.
