Teaching in an AI environment

I am now teaching my second course at Baruch College and the support I am receiving from the textbook publisher and Baruch’s IT department is nothing short of amazing. Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) is an everyday reality at Baruch. I attended Baruch when it got its first computer and it filled an entire air-conditioned room, and groups of students, of which I was part of, were given orientation on its benefits.

I was aware of the backup and support at FDU the last few years, but I was teaching smaller classes in classrooms and did not think it was necessary to jump into all of it. At Baruch, I taught a Zoom class last semester, and this semester an asynchronous course. I never heard that term and it means that the students learn on their own schedule within a predetermined framework. I record my lectures on Zoom and post them each Monday morning. The students have a week after then to complete the homework and other assignments which are graded. There is no contact whatsoever with the students unless a student emails me questions or requests a one-on-one Zoom meeting which I eagerly schedule since I crave feedback and engagement with the students. So far, about 10% of my students have taken me up on this.

I break each week into three recordings. Eighty minutes and two that are 60 minutes. It is easier to handle and provide to the students. The Zoom recordings (which use Baruch’s license) start up automatically when I log on, and I post them on Baruch Dropbox, providing the students with a link on Baruch’s “Blackboard” student communication system. More magic. I post messages and also files containing documents I want to pass on to the students. The Zoom recordings are saved on my computer, also effortlessly by me.

To “make” the students listen to the recordings, I told them that I will only provide, on the recordings, information about exams and exam tips, grading, homework techniques and the other things students obsess over, during the lectures. My experience has taught me that some students that never attend the lectures can ace the exams. My experience also has shown me that these are a very small group and the students that do better are those that attend the lectures. Without interactions, I cannot get to know the students, personal concerns they have and internship experiences they are having at accounting firms. Some even work at Withum or have internships lined up here.

The textbook publisher McGraw-Hill Education’s Connect system provides fantastic support, and calling them a publisher is a misnomer. The textbook is available in a loose-leaf print edition, but also as an e-book, and various versions of PowerPoint slides. There is digital homework, practice exercises, recorded lectures, projects and quizzes. I can make any changes I want, set time limits, add or adjust grades, and it is all done online and graded by McGraw Hill. I can get the results and check answers instantly. I know that because I was talking with a student on Zoom and she asked me about one of the homework questions, and when I checked, I did not see her submission. She then said she forgot to “submit” it, which she then did, and it appeared on my screen, like magic. The exams are also administered on Connect, and because of the nature of the course, the students have a week to complete the exam. I can set a time limit to take the exam and I can also organize the exam with twice as many questions, and Connect has the ability to pick the right number of questions and change the order of them and also change the numbers in the questions so that every student will have a different exam. I also get statistics of the grades and a roster of the students and their individual grades and progress. I have a Baruch email address and access to a faculty center with complete school and student information.

My energies are devoted to preparing my lectures, teaching and trying to engage the students in my great profession of public accounting and not on the details of course administration. To me, this is an ideal situation, and it is done using very sophisticated artificial intelligence. Pure magic!

AI or artificial intelligence is not new, but it is ubiquitous and touches everything we do, and in the case of teaching at Baruch, it makes the experience better for the students and adjunct professors like me. Hoo-ray.