In the dynamic landscape of the 21st century, technological advancements, including artificial intelligence (AI), have transformed the way we teach and learn. As educators explore the possibilities of AI, they discover innovative ways to enhance critical thinking and foster greater student engagement. This article explores the potential benefits of integrating AI, particularly ChatGPT, into humanities and history courses at community colleges.

Historical and Literary Figure Interviews: A Glimpse Into the Past

Imagine students stepping back in time, sitting across from historical giants such as Martin Luther King Jr. or Anne Frank. With ChatGPT, instructors can simulate conversations with historical and literary figures, allowing students to ask questions, gain insights, and immerse themselves in the experiences of these iconic individuals. Engaging students in simulated conversations with historical figures is a powerful tool to make history come alive. For instance, in a history class, students can interact with a virtual Martin Luther King Jr. This experience allows them to ask questions about his motivations, strategies, and the challenges he faced during the Civil Rights Movement. As another example, students can engage in a conversation with Anne Frank, the famous Jewish diarist who documented her experiences during the Holocaust. These simulated conversations deepen students’ understanding of historical events and individuals and offer a unique perspective that traditional textbooks cannot provide.

Ethical Debates: Nurturing Critical Thinkers

Ethical debates are essential parts of humanities, philosophy, ethics, and history courses, encouraging students to think critically and express their viewpoints. AI can facilitate these discussions by acting as a debate moderator. For instance, in a philosophy class, students might engage in a debate about the ethics of artificial intelligence. AI can help structure the debate, time the speakers, and even provide counterarguments, challenging students to think more deeply about the topic. However, the very use of AI in ethical discussions about AI introduces a layer of complexity. As we harness AI to guide these conversations, it is essential to scrutinize the potential biases or limitations that may arise. The paradox lies in the fact that the technology designed to facilitate unbiased and efficient discussions may inadvertently introduce its own set of biases, raising questions about the objectivity and fairness of the debates. In fact, this paradox itself can become a topic for debate in the classroom. Despite this paradox, ethical debates in the classroom play a vital role in honing critical thinking skills, improving students' abilities to articulate and defend their ideas. These discussions also contribute to the development of empathy and perspective-taking, skills that extend beyond the classroom and find relevance in real-world situations.

Philosophical Concepts: Exploring the Depths of Thought

Philosophy has been a cornerstone of humanities courses for centuries, challenging students to think deeply and critically about life's most fundamental questions. AI can play a valuable role in exploring philosophical texts, generating ideas, and facilitating comparative analysis. Philosophy classes often involve grappling with complex texts and ideas. AI can assist students in this journey by summarizing philosophical texts, generating thought-provoking questions, and helping them connect various philosophical concepts. Moreover, AI can introduce students to philosophers and their ideas, making the subject matter more accessible and engaging. By aiding students in their exploration of philosophical concepts, AI becomes a valuable tool for enhancing critical thinking and deepening their understanding of complex ideas.

Collaborative Historical Fiction: Writing History Together

Collaborative historical fiction projects are a unique way to engage students in history. They take students on a journey through time, allowing them to create narratives based on historical settings or time periods of interest. AI can be an invaluable creative tool in this process, offering contextual information, language and dialogue assistance, and even fact-checking support. For example, in an English, history, humanities, or creative writing class, students can use AI to access historical information, ensuring accuracy in their narratives.

Imagine a group of students in a history class focusing on the American Revolution. They decide to create a collaborative historical fiction project that places them in the shoes of various individuals from that era. With the help of AI, students can access a wealth of historical information, from details about daily life in the late 18th century to significant events and figures of the time.

AI can assist students in crafting authentic dialogues by providing language and tone suggestions. For instance, when depicting a conversation between Thomas Jefferson and John Adams, AI can offer guidance on how these historical figures might have spoken and what topics they may have discussed. This not only ensures linguistic accuracy, but also deepens the historical immersion of the project.

Source Evaluation Challenge: Battling Misinformation

In an age of information overload, source evaluation is a critical skill for students. AI can play a role in teaching students how to distinguish credible sources from unreliable ones. By introducing concepts such as the Currency, Relevance, Authority, Accuracy, Purpose (CRAAP) Test and highlighting the importance of bias awareness, students become more discerning consumers of information.

The synergy of traditional source evaluation skills, such as employing platforms like Google Scholar for fact-checking, and AI-powered information verification, exemplified by tools like Scite.ai, equips students with a comprehensive toolkit. This toolkit enables them to navigate the intricate terrain of research and analysis effectively, fostering a robust capacity for critical thinking. By emphasizing the ethical use of AI and encouraging students to question AI-generated content, educators guide students toward more critical and responsible information consumption.

AI Tools for Learning: Empowering Educators and Students

AI tools designed for learning, such as GPT-3.5 and Google Bard, offer a multitude of benefits for both educators and students. These tools can aid instructors in lesson planning, test and quiz generation, plagiarism detection, and even lecture enhancement. They also have the potential to streamline administrative tasks, enhance communication with students, and provide accessibility support.

AI can support educators in developing more efficient lesson plans. It can recommend resources, activities, and assessment methods based on learning objectives. Additionally, AI can help instructors keep their content up to date by suggesting the latest developments in historical and humanities research and humanities scholarship.

Moreover, AI tools support students in various ways. They can provide personalized learning experiences by adapting content to individual needs and learning preferences. For example, AI can offer additional reading materials for students who seek more in-depth information on historical, literary, philosophical, or arts topics or provide additional practice problems to strengthen critical thinking skills.

In addition to personalized learning, AI can assist students with accessibility needs. For instance, AI-powered text-to-speech and speech-to-text applications help students with reading or hearing impairments engage with course materials. By making learning resources more accessible, AI promotes inclusivity in the classroom.

Ethical Considerations: Navigating the AI Terrain Responsibly

While the integration of AI into community college humanities and history courses presents numerous advantages, it is essential to consider the ethical responsibilities that come with it. Educators must avoid harm, promote fairness, ensure AI algorithm transparency, protect privacy, mitigate bias, and provide ethics education to students.

Educators have a responsibility to promote the ethical use of AI in their classrooms. This includes being transparent about how AI is used, the data it collects, and the purpose of its applications. For instance, if AI is used for personalized learning, students should be informed about how their data is used to tailor their educational experience.

Moreover, educators should be vigilant about mitigating bias in AI algorithms. AI should not perpetuate historical biases or discriminate against any group. For example, in a history class, if AI is used to recommend reading materials, the instructor should ensure that materials are selected without favoring one historical perspective over another. Bias mitigation ensures that students receive a balanced and fair representation of events and concepts.

Implementing clear and transparent data privacy policies is essential. Community colleges should adhere to legal and ethical standards for data handling. Instructors must educate students about how their data is used and seek their informed consent for data collection. Anonymizing data whenever possible can also help protect student privacy.

Likewise, ethics education is crucial. Educators should engage students in discussions about the ethical use of AI and its implications. This includes considering questions such as the impact of AI on personal privacy, its role in decision-making, and the potential consequences of overreliance on AI. Ethics education fosters responsible AI use and encourages students to become critical consumers of AI-generated content.

Challenges and Solutions: Overcoming Hurdles in the AI Journey

Educators may lack the technical proficiency required to effectively integrate AI tools into their teaching methods. Providing comprehensive professional development programs, including workshops, training sessions, and online courses, helps instructors become proficient in using AI tools. Collaborations with AI experts and technology companies can further enhance educators' understanding and skills. For educators needing ongoing support and training, ensure access to resources and experts who can help them make the most of AI tools, and encourage peer-to-peer learning and collaboration, where educators can share their experiences and insights on effective AI integration.

Community colleges can seek partnerships with organizations, institutions, and technology companies that can provide AI tools at reduced costs or even for free. Applying for grants and funding dedicated to educational technology can also alleviate financial constraints. Institutions should consider a phased approach to AI integration, starting with small-scale pilot programs.

Some educators and students may be resistant to the adoption of AI in education due to concerns about job displacement or changing teaching methodologies. It is essential to involve instructors and students in the decision-making process and communicate the benefits of AI. Address concerns by highlighting that AI can complement, not replace, human educators. Emphasize that AI enhances rather than detracts from the learning experience, offering additional resources and support.

Measuring the success of AI integration in community college humanities and history courses can be complex. Colleges can use a variety of metrics, such as student engagement, critical thinking development, and learning outcomes mastery. Surveys, questionnaires, learning analytics, pre- and post-testing, peer and self-assessment, and rubrics can provide valuable insights.

More Possibilities: A Glimpse Into the Future of AI in Education

The possibilities presented by AI in education are ever-expanding. As technology continues to advance, institutions have an opportunity to explore new horizons in teaching and learning. AI can further streamline administrative tasks, reducing the burden on educators. It can help with tasks like attendance tracking, scheduling, and administrative communication with students, allowing instructors to allocate more time to teaching and mentoring.

Augmented and virtual reality, powered by AI, offer immersive learning opportunities. Students can be transported to historical events, foreign lands, and even fictional worlds, providing a deeper and more engaging learning experience. These technologies make history and humanities come alive in a way that traditional methods cannot.

AI can continue to make education more accessible. Language translation tools can be improved, and content can be dynamically adapted to suit individual student needs. This means that students with diverse backgrounds and abilities can access and engage with educational materials more effectively.

AI-powered tutors and virtual assistants can provide personalized support to students, helping them with questions, offering additional resources, and assisting in the learning process. These AI-driven companions can enhance the one-on-one interactions between students and educators.

AI tools, such as Scite.ai, are changing the way students and educators explore and access information. Advanced search algorithms and content recommendation systems enable efficient and comprehensive research. This empowers students to conduct more in-depth and accurate research, improving the quality of their assignments and projects.

Uncharted Horizons

The integration of AI, epitomized by ChatGPT, transcends the boundaries of conventional education, breathing life into historical narratives, fostering ethical debates, unraveling philosophical concepts, coauthoring narratives, and equipping students with the tools to navigate a sea of information. Yet, as we stand on the precipice of this technological frontier, ethical considerations beckon, demanding a vigilant commitment to transparency, bias mitigation, privacy protection, and comprehensive ethics education. In navigating these considerations, educators become the architects of an educational landscape where AI is not just a tool, but a responsible, ethical, and empowering force.

AI presents challenges that can be met with innovative solutions, and resistance gives way to understanding. Professional development programs empower educators to navigate the intricacies of AI, partnerships and grants pave the way for financial viability, and transparent communication dispels apprehensions. The journey into AI in education is a collaborative odyssey, where the potential for streamlined administrative processes, immersive learning, and personalized education is extraordinary. The promise of an educational future shaped by the fusion of human intellect and artificial intelligence is an evolution that transcends the limits of today's imagination and propels us toward uncharted horizons in the ever-evolving landscape of community college education.

Jill Channing, Ph.D., is Associate Director, Center for Community College Leadership, and Associate Professor, Education, at East Tennessee State University in Johnson City, Tennessee.

Opinions expressed in Learning Abstracts are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect those of the League for Innovation in the Community College.