Creating Tools: Embracing AI in Political Science Courses

• In Event: Artificial Intelligence: Concerns for Politics and for the Profession

Abstract

AI has become a contentious topic in classrooms. While we share concerns about using it to produce full papers, my co-author and I know this could be a tool for our students. Like other technological innovations, the fear of change can lead to hesitancy. To combat this fear, we have developed assignments incorporating this new and exciting technology in fun ways.
Knowing that students are curious to see its capabilities, we fashioned assignments that would use AI and allow students to showcase their skills. In addition to completing assignments with AI, we have also asked them to answer a questionnaire before and after so that we can analyze their usage. So far, we have used AI in 5 courses. Each assignment has been slightly different, allowing students to see a range of uses for this technology. We are very early in our data analysis but hope to have interesting results related to students' willingness to use AI. We are also looking to see if there is a link between their self-evaluation of their skills and their reliance on these types of tools.

Authors

• Courtney R Harris

• Jennifer Dumas, University of Louisiana at Monroe