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The benefits of AI for adult learners go well beyond generating text. Here are some key ways students can use AI to advance their education.

AI-powered solutions can help students with the nuts and bolts of academic work in a personalized way. For example, a student might use AI for personalized tutoring or lessons, says Jason Covert, EdD, a senior learning experience designer and faculty member at ���۴�ý. “Generative AI tools can provide individualized support to help students enhance their writing skills and build the confidence they need to more effectively communicate their ideas,” he explains.

Students can also get research and writing assistance from AI tools like Undermind or Elicit, which can save time by analyzing swaths of information from around the world, while tools like Grammarly® can help learners hone their grammar, writing style and clarity.

CEITR’s research chair, Mansureh Kebritchi, PhD, notes that using AI to enhance communication skills extends to language learning, courtesy of AI-driven language learning apps.

Generative AI and AI-powered solutions can help students get more out of their education by saving them time too. 

AI tools for scheduling or multitasking can keep students moving at the pace they need. Similarly, AI transcription and note-taking apps like Otter.ai can capture key details in a lecture, meeting or interview, so students don’t miss a beat.

This all fits broadly within task automation. AI is already playing a huge role in professional environments, and students can use it similarly to take over repetitive tasks.

It may seem counterintuitive, but students may be able to use generative AI to help them bring their ideas to life — and even add new depth to content they’ve already created. 

When it comes to idea generation, for example, AI tools can help students:

• Consider new perspectives or information
• Find salient related topics
• Understand what’s already been said about a given topic

“AI can broaden students’ perspectives on their topics and reveal alternatives and additional dimensions related to them,” adds Kebritchi. “Exploring these extra dimensions encourages creativity. Moreover, the iterative process of engaging and interacting with an AI tool to develop and refine a topic enhances creative thinking.”

Students can also use AI to begin content creation. For example, they may use it to build an outline from the research they’ve conducted, edit a paper they’ve written or create a chart or presentation based on their own content development. 

AI can offer a number of uses, but each usually comes with a particular concern. Consider, for example, the potential economic impact, such as AI automation displacing jobs in certain sectors. Or a growing divide between those with access to AI and those without.

Because AI tools continually learn from users’ input, AI also raises questions about privacy. Students who use an AI tool to refine a resumé or application, for instance, should consider whether they are comfortable sharing the information that document contains. AI tools may accidentally use that information with other users.

“If we do not incorporate ethical principles into artificial intelligence, we risk developing a powerful tool that could be used for harmful purposes,” Kebritchi says. “This could lead to the amplification of existing biases, violations of personal privacy, theft of ideas and copyrights, and a detrimental impact on learning experiences. Ultimately, this could erode the very values that support our educational journeys and our humanity.”

Consider the following examples. 

Ensuring the fair and honest exchange of ideas is of the utmost concern in academic and professional spaces. With regard to AI, that means employing a number of safeguards such as:

• Citing sources: Students have always been required to disclose any sources used for research papers, and AI-generated content is no different. Just as students cite websites and databases, so, too, should they cite AI tools.
• Avoiding plagiarism: Because AI draws from a vast pool of information and sources, quoting it or passing anything you get from AI as your own can lead to plagiarism charges. Always give credit where credit is due. 
• Investing in original thought: Critical, innovative thinking may well be the highest goal of education, so students should use AI to enhance their thinking — never to replace it.

Just as students must carefully consider the credibility of human sources, they must cast a critical eye on generative AI, which carries its own risk of error. For this reason, students who use AI should always:

• Fact-check AI results against reliable, human-verified information.
• Perform a critical analysis of AI information to evaluate its quality and relevance. “If a student uses AI to summarize a research paper, the summary might look great at first but could miss some important details,” Covert says. “Taking the time to review and tweak an output can help avoid any possible errors or miscommunications that could come from relying solely on the initial result.”

Privacy presents a growing concern for many in today’s world, especially with regard to AI, and it affects companies and individuals in different ways. Companies may restrict their employees’ usage of AI to certain tools to protect proprietary data, for example, while individuals may choose to omit their personal or sensitive information from any drafts or materials they share with an AI tool.

Curious to enhance your understanding of AI? For students at ���۴�ý, a recently launched undergraduate elective course can help them gain hands-on experience within the framework of an instructor-led course. 

Known as Generative AI in Everyday Life, the course also builds durable skills like creativity and adaptability while teaching students how to effectively and ethically use AI.

Curious to know more? Request additional information!