Since the release of ChatGPT at the end of November 2022, generative AI is fast becoming a force in all sectors of commerce and culture. To address its potentially profound impact on education, the University has launched AI@Iona under the auspices of the Gabelli Center for Teaching & Learning. Ionaâs senior advisor to the president, Jim Mustich, sat down to discuss the initiative with President Seamus Carey, Ph.D., and Provost Tricia Mulligan, Ph.D.
Jim Mustich: The rapid adoption of generative AI has led to all sorts of wonder and worry about its implications for many realms of human endeavor. Some people have even suggested that it poses an existential threat to institutions of higher education. Do you see it as a challenge for Iona?
President Seamus Carey: Yesâbut it is a challenge Iona gladly accepts. I see it as an enormous opportunity to deepen and extend the tradition of teaching and learning that remains at the core of Ionaâs mission. What is worth teaching? How is it best taught? What do students need to know and how do they develop the tools to both learn it and apply itânot only in pursuing careers but in making meaningful lives? These are the questions Iona has always asked and answered. By compelling us to ask them again and, as appropriate, refresh our approach to engaging them, AI can give us new inspiration and capacities.
Jim Mustich: How will the AI@Iona initiative help pursue those ends? Is it building on earlier efforts?
Provost Tricia Mulligan: Itâs an extension of work the faculty began last year through participation in the Auburn University Teaching with AI course that we facilitated. This led to a series of workshops in which early adopters shared their work. What was most encouraging was that many people who initially found AI threatening, or were skeptical of its utility, were surprised and energized by the fresh perspectives they discovered by working with the AI tools. AI@Iona aims to spread that energy to foster campuswide attention to the possibilities of AI.
President Seamus Carey: Our Gabelli Center for Teaching & Learning has been established to nourish the dynamic and ongoing collaborative inquiry needed to meet exactly this kind of challenge. As we grow it out, it will provide a hub forâamong many other thingsâthis AI work and the conversations it creates.
Jim Mustich: Practically speaking, what does this mean?
Provost Tricia Mulligan: Core to the effort is the definition by faculty of specific use cases for the technology in classrooms and course work, and clear guidelines to students for if and how it can be used in fulfilling assignments. In addition to AI-specific curriculum like our course âAI in a Professional Setting,â and the creation of a new interdisciplinary minor, âArtificial Intelligence (AI): Foundations and Applications,â dozens of pedagogical initiativesâand experimentsâare already underway across disciplines, from business management to chemistry, history to occupational therapy. In addition to finding ways to use AI to create assignments, assessment rubrics and the like, weâre seeing new, sometimes better ways to pursue the learning objectives weâre always after. Some faculty members are also leaning into the ways in which AI can personalize learning experiences for students.
Jim Mustich: Ethan Mollick, a prominent and interesting voice in AI, has said, âSuccess is going to come from getting experts to use these systems and share what they learn.”
President Seamus Carey: Exactly. That perspective informs much of what weâre doing. Our librarians, for instance, have mobilized their considerable research and problem-solving skills to take a proactive role in understanding the capabilities and pitfalls of various AI tools, allowing them to provide support for faculty and instruction for students. Itâs wonderful to see the University growing the capability and reach of resources already on hand.
Jim Mustich: Is AI a panacea for educational issues?
Provost Tricia Mulligan: No. Not at allâas Mollick says, success will come from experts experimenting with it. And I think a large part of that success will be in knowing when not to rely on AIâin some disciplines, for some assignments, in many teaching moments, it will have little place, and may well be counterproductive. Faculty will have their individual points of view, and the sharing of those will lead to a body of knowledge thatâs collectively useful. Part of the effort of AI@Iona will be focused on building that body of knowledge.
President Seamus Carey: Thatâs right. We need to be cognizant that our students are already in a world in which the influence of AI is everywhere, whether they know it or not. And, as so many of our alumni are telling us, these
tools are becoming more and more prominent in the workplace in every industry. So itâs incumbent on us to give guidelines and orientation to students about the limitations of AI as well as its potential strengths. That involves considerations not only of utility and efficacy, but of ethics and meaningâthe values that promote human flourishing across a lifetime. That aspect of education has long been in our wheelhouse, and we will keep it clearly in focus.
Provost Tricia Mulligan: And that aspect of education derives its power from the human elements of teaching and learning: collaborations between faculty members, relationships that develop over time between instructors and students, conversations among students themselves. Nourishing those encounters is why weâre here.
Jim Mustich: One last thing. Over the past dozen years, Iâve spent a good part of my time working with people in Silicon Valley, and I know a prime mover in its product development is whatâs called âeliminating frictionââmaking interactions with devices or apps easier, faster, and, in a way, as thoughtless as possible for the user. But in education, friction is a feature, not a bug: itâs where learning happens. Do you worry that AI will interfere with that?
President Seamus Carey: âFrictionâ is not a feature. Itâs the feature that makes learning deep, rich, and available to us when we need it. Teaching and learning should never be thoughtless. Which is why educators, and institutions like Iona, must take a leading role in defining the uses and applications of AI for private learning and public good. The challenges and opportunities of the technology make us all learners again, and, to my mind, thatâs a good thing.
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