What responsibility do educators have to prepare students for the brave new world of generative artificial intelligence, and how can they do it in a responsible way? Leaders at Northwestern Michigan College (NMC) grappled with those questions at this month’s meeting of the college’s Board of Trustees, with one board member dubbing AI “the single most important educational challenge” of the moment.

AI took center stage at Monday’s meeting thanks to a faculty report from communications instructor Dr. Melissa Sprenkle. As a writing teacher, Sprenkle immediately flagged a change in her students’ work in 2023 “when ChatGPT suddenly became really popular.”

“I had some students that I know from in-class writing, and I know what their [writing] voice is like, suddenly giving me really strange texts,” Sprenkle explained. “I thought, ‘How could [this technology] be dropped on us without any discussion, analysis, tools, or research on how it’s going to affect higher education and student learning?’ When I searched our databases at NMC at that time, I couldn’t find articles on research, even in my field.”

Concerned the rise of AI amounted to an existential threat to the teaching of writing and critical thinking, Sprenkle applied for a sabbatical to research generative AI and how it should be incorporated into higher education. She’s since become a key voice in developing NMC’s policies around AI and advising on how the technology should factor into the college’s newly-adopted strategic plan.

Sprenkle also developed “a pilot set of GenAI literacy assignments,” which she has been testing in her English 112 class. According to a course description on NMC’s website, the class seeks to develop skills in critical reading, writing fundamentals and broader skillsets like research. By using GenAI as a central research topic, Sprenkle said she’s been able to adapt the course for modern times.

“One thing I’m supposed to teach [students] is how to read academically, or to enhance those reading skills, so I have them test what are GenAI’s reading skills like? Because that’s a common thing, where you have it summarize [a text],” Sprenkle explained. One key assignment invites students to find an article about a topic they know well, read the article on their own, and then put it through a set of GenAI prompts to explore “How does [GenAI] read versus how we read?”

According to Sprenkle, that assignment gave her students a new understanding of how generative AI works and where its advantages and shortcomings lie. Responding to end-of-semester reflection prompts, students identified research, data analysis, and writing structure as areas where AI had been beneficial, but flagged AI hallucinations and eroded critical thinking skills as drawbacks.

“I think that how we deal with AI, in terms of preparing our students for the world of the future, is the single most important educational challenge confronting not only NMC, but every educational institution probably in the world,” Trustee Ken Warner said in response to Sprenkle’s presentation.

The focus on AI carried over into other items on the meeting agenda – including a presentation from Vice President of Strategic Initiatives Jason Slade, VP of Educational Services Stephen Siciliano, and Academic Affairs Director Terri Gustafson about Anchor & Edge, the college’s recently-adopted strategic plan. The first objective in the plan calls on NMC to “strengthen student outcomes, institutional performance, and workforce readiness by embedding responsible and effective use of AI across teaching, learning, and operations.”

“I want to ask a question related to AI,” Board Chair Mark Keely said. “We have to be able to make sure that we are teaching relevant things to these students with the pace of change in AI... How do we stay involved and engaged in something that’s so challenging?”

Per Siciliano, NMC is trying to take cues from local employers on when and how AI should factor into curriculum. “They are the ones that we are looking to to give us the sense of: What is the AI that they want to see in our graduates and their employees, as well as what are the durable skills?” he said. So far, the college isn’t getting clear answers on those fronts, but Siciliano noted there is a plan to conduct a broader survey of local companies in the near future.

“[Employers] are grappling with it just as we are grappling with it,” Siciliano added. “They want to have those skills, but they’re not exactly sure which skills they want. They certainly are in full agreement with the college, and that is: we must use AI responsibly.”

Monday’s meeting, Siciliano said, happened to fall on the same day NMC soft-launched a new “AI@NMC” website, which includes links to all NMC’s existing AI policies, directives for students and staff, and resources about AI literacy, ethics, cybersecurity implications, and more. The site, Siciliano said, will continue to be updated as the conversation around AI evolves.

“This is a process that we’re all working through, and it’s happening at the national level,” Siciliano concluded. “I just came back from the League of Innovation in the Community College conference in Indianapolis, and more than 30 percent of the sessions were on artificial intelligence.”