The Center for Student Success is organizing a student workshop on the use of Artificial Intelligence. The workshop, titled ‘Using A.I. (or Not Using A.I.) in the College Classroom’ will be held on four different days by four different professors in different fields of academia. The workshops will be led by Ms. Jamie Gavin on Sept. 25, Dr. Kayla Stan on Sept. 26, and Ms. Hillary Scales Lewis on Oct. 14.
“We will provide some ways to help students understand why decisions might be made in certain classes so we have gathered some examples on courses across the university that will help students understand the perspective,” Dr. Kelly Lester, the associate provost for faculty success said to explain the choice of picking different professors across campus. “We did that on purpose so there is a broad application and thought process.”
The workshop will help students understand the ethics that should be considered while using AI. It will also focus on proper citation and plagiarism regarding AI because the total cases seen by the Office of Academic Integrity regarding AI generation of texts doubled last semester. The workshop will also highlight the ways AI can be used outside of classrooms because of the increasing use of AI in the workforce and the general benefits that can be obtained from AI.
“They are also going to talk about ways that students can use it outside of the classroom. If you think you might not be using AI for classrooms, what are some ways you can still use AI to support your workflow? That is still important for you to know as a student. For example, interview questions, or updating your resume, or applying for certain positions, AI might still be important for those kinds of things.” Lester explains.
The workshop will focus on different strategies that can be used on AI to help students brainstorm without plagiarizing or unethically using AI. The workshop will include some real-life examples to give students a realistic perception of AI’s benefits and limitations. The Center for Student Success is also planning to conduct more workshops later in the semester that are more discipline-specific so people in different disciplines have more realistic ideas.
The students of Southern Miss have generally had a positive reaction to the upcoming workshop. There is still much confusion regarding AI policies in the university and students are hopeful that the workshop will help clarify some of their questions.
“AI is just a tool but it is a useful tool,” Jessica Shrestha, a polymer engineering major, says. “From my understanding, right now professors can choose the AI policy for their own classrooms. But I would love to attend a meeting that clarifies it. I would also like to learn ways to utilize AI without it taking over my work.”
Over 40 students have RSVP’d to the workshop so far. The Center for Student Success is prepared to reserve a bigger room that can fit more students if the students attending are more than the expected number.
