New Pitt Workshop Series Introduces Faculty to Use of AI in Classrooms

If David Sanchez, associate professor of civil and environmental engineering at the University of Pittsburgh Swanson School of Engineering, could have a superpower, mind control wouldn’t be his first choice. 

However, that’s what ChatGPT, a chatbot and virtual assistant that uses artificial intelligence (AI), assigned him after he asked it to pick one for him. 

He made it repeat the task until he was satisfied with its response, gradually revealing more about himself to help the bot tailor a superpower that aligned with his personal interests.

It was an introduction to generative AI and how it works, as part of the Engineering Education Research Center’s (EERC) workshop series, “Creating AI Literacy in Our SSoE Students.”

The creation and availability of AI is transforming education by personalizing learning, automating administrative tasks, and enhancing accessibility. However, how it works and how to use it ethically in the classroom are still gray areas. 

“This is such a rapidly evolving field, and we always present the caveat that this can change at light speed,” said Robert Kerestes, associate professor and director of the electrical engineering undergraduate program, and one of the workshop’s organizers. “But currently, what are some of the things topic-wise that faculty could put into their classes for students about AI, how to implement it and how to use it?” 

Sanchez has already employed some AI into his courses, but attended the workshop to learn more about its potential to help students. 

“As engineering faculty, we’re problem solvers,” Sanchez said.“It's important to understand and teach about how technological developments influence an engineer's ability to solve problems. This helps us with our core mission of educating the next generation, safeguarding the public welfare and exploring new opportunities.” 

At the very beginning of the workshop, Mary Besterfield-Sacre, director of the EERC, Nickolas A. DeCecco Professor of Industrial Engineering and senior associate dean for academic affairs, emphasized that it is impossible to completely eliminate cheating, especially as such tools become more readily available to students. The Swanson School has a list of 16 obligations for students as part of its academic integrity policy, which now includes prohibited uses of AI for assignments and in-class use. 

Speakers noted that it is important for faculty to be certain that students have a basic understanding of what AI and how it operates before asking them to use it for some assignments. 

Alongside April Dukes, faculty and future faculty program director at the EERC, and Kerestes, Besterfield-Sacre discussed establishing a working framework rather than a formal policy for what it means to have AI literacy in Swanson School students. The working framework is based on Bloom's Taxonomy.

“If students begin to understand the basics of artificial intelligence and apply it in ways that are ethical and strategic, over the next few years we can really focus on bumping up how students interact with AI,” Dukes said. “By letting AI take over some mundane tasks, we’re hoping that you’re going to be able to push your students into really focusing on higher levels of work. We want their learning to be deepened by the AI and not replaced by the AI. 

Kerestes, who has already employed AI in his higher level courses, encouraged faculty to use AI themselves by allowing it to create examples for assignments to save time as well as to teach students how to use it as a personal tutor. 

“Tutor resources are not always available and can be inconvenient,” Kerestes said. “Computers are always there to help, and they never get bored.” 

For his own courses, Kerestes is able to make over 100 example problems in just under 20 minutes. Without artificial intelligence, it would take him a few hours.

With ChatGPT open, Kerestes showed faculty how a student could input a problem and use AI to explain it step-by-step in detail or how they could ask it a simple question. 

“There’s no such thing as a stupid question when you’re asking a computer,” Kerestes said. “Students are empowered to ask for whatever they need to help understand an assignment.”