AI in Teaching: Transformative Tools & Challenges

Co-sponsored by the New Brunswick Faculty Council and the Office of the Provost-New Brunswick

Friday, December 6, 2024, 9:30 am - 1:00 pm

Alexander Library – Teleconference Lecture Hall/TLH and TLH Lobby

The half-day program will begin with a workshop to introduce the basics of AI use in higher education teaching and learning, followed by a series of practical presentations by Rutgers-NB faculty members on how they use AI in their teaching. The conference concludes with a moderated panel discussion and audience Q&A on challenges and opportunities related to assessing learning in a post-AI teaching world.

9:30 - 9:40 am:  Welcome & Introduction, Dr. Anna Haley, NBFC Chair, and Dr. Saundra Tomlinson-Clarke, Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs, Rutgers-NB

AI Workshop

9:40 – 10:20 am:  An Overview of Generative AI in Teaching & Learning Environments, Dr. Tracie Addy, Institute for Teaching, Innovation, & Inclusive Pedagogy, Rutgers University-New Brunswick: This session will involve demo-ing several generative AI tools and discussing how such technologies are influencing learning environments in higher education. Initiatives supporting instructors in learning more about generative AI in teaching contexts will also be discussed.  

Faculty Teaching “Case Study” Presentations

10:25 – 10:45 am:  Is AI Creative? Reflections on the Use of AI's Creative Capabilities for Education, Prof. Jim Samuel, Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy: As AI advances and supersedes the performance of human intelligence in many areas, it has become vital to identify the dimensions of intelligence and performance in which humans can maintain a strategic advantage over AI. "Creativity" is one such area which holds promise for competitive edge for humans, but it needs additional attention and articulation in view of AIs increasingly producing impressively creative output. This talk will provide insights on the use of AI’s creative capabilities for education.

10:45 – 11:05 am:  AI Stress Test: Leveraging Technology to Strengthen Student Analysis and Critical Thinking, Prof. Sharon Stoerger, School of Communication & Information: This session explores using AI as a “thinking partner” to support student growth in analysis, writing, and critical thinking. In a course that uses information collection and analysis techniques to understand markets, competitors, and trends, students wrote 3 versions of the future — best case, most likely case, and worst case — and then used AI tools to analyze the strength of their arguments. AI provided targeted feedback, uncovering assumptions and encouraging deeper analysis as students revised their work. This case study demonstrates how AI can enhance learning by fostering reflective thinking, offering personalized guidance, and preparing students for strategic decision-making across diverse fields.

11:05 – 11:25 am:  You’ve Got a TA in Me: Fostering an Inclusive World Language Classroom with AI Tools, Prof. Jenny Yang, School of Arts & Sciences, Asian Languages and Cultures: This session reviews how generative AI can serve as a tireless teaching assistant in the world language classroom to help create a more equitable learning experience for all students. The presentation shares how AI-infused tools can be utilized to address challenges in meeting student learning needs in a subject that relies on frequent assignments and assessments, which often results in onerous prep load for the instructor. Drawing from the presenter’s recent teaching collaborations in Chinese as a second language contexts, examples include multimodal course materials to support student learning preferences, differentiated activities to bridge learning gaps, and dynamic question banks to provide flexible assessment options. How these strategies can be transferred and scaled across disciplines will also be discussed.

11:25 – 11:45 am:  AI at RBS: Teaching AI and Teaching with AI, Profs. Hussein Issa and David Ding, Rutgers Business School (New Brunswick & Newark): This session discusses ongoing AI education at Rutgers Business School from three levels. We will first review initiatives on AI education at RBS, showcasing how AI is incorporated into different degree programs and courses. We then provide an overview of how RBS faculty and students are using AI in teaching and learning. We conclude by presenting examples of how we help business students understand AI applications, limitations, and ethics, including in an undergraduate course in Audit Analytics, an MBA course in Healthcare Services Management, and a doctoral course in Data Mining and Business Intelligence. These examples also examine potential biases associated with AI-based algorithms.

11:45 – 11:55 am:  COFFEE BREAK

Panel Discussion

11:55 am – 12:50 pm:  Impacts of AI in Assessing Learning: This moderated discussion, including faculty panelists and audience Q&A, explores the challenges of determining and evaluating student learning in the context of the availability and widespread student use of AI. 

12:50 – 1:00 pm:  Concluding remarks, Dr. Haley and Dr. Carolyn Moehling,  Senior Vice Provost & Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education, Rutgers-NB

Faculty presenter bio information  

Tracie Marcella Addy, PhD, MPhil., is Founding Director of the Institute for Teaching, Innovation, and Inclusive Pedagogy (TIIP), a teaching development hub for instructors across Rutgers University-New Brunswick. An accomplished educator, scholar, educational developer, and author Dr. Addy launched TIIP in May 2024 as part of the Academic Master Plan. https://tracieaddy.com. Find out more about TIIP at www.teaching.rutgers.edu. 

Xin (David) Ding, Ph.D., is Associate Professor & Interim Vice Chair of the Department of Supply Chain Management at Rutgers Business School. Dr. Ding teaches data analytics and business intelligence applications in graduate programs. His research leverages econometrics and analytical models to enhance operational excellence through service design, workflow optimization, and business intelligence in competitive markets. His work has been published in Financial Times Top 50 journals, and he serves as an Academic Scholar with the Cornell Institute for Healthy Futures. He is passionate about data science applications, ML and AI-bias, and data-driven decision making.  https://www.business.rutgers.edu/faculty/xin-ding 

Anna Haley, Ph.D., is Associate Professor at the School of Social Work. Since Fall 2023, she has served as Chair of the New Brunswick Faculty Council, and additionally as New Brunswick Faculty Representative and Executive Committee member for the Rutgers Senate. Dr. Haley’s commitment to cultivating robust shared governance stems in part from her research and teaching emphases in organizational structure and behavior. She teaches management and leadership to professional students, and researches the organizational correlates of employment conditions, and the impacts of job quality on workers’ wellbeing.

Hussein Issa, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Accounting Information Systems at Rutgers Business School. Dr. Issa chairs the RBS AI Taskforce, and is a recent past President of the Strategic and Emerging Technologies Section of the American Accounting Association. His research focuses on the applications of emerging technologies (such as AI, Robotic Process Automation, Blockchain, Outlier detection, AIS) in accounting and auditing, both in the private and government sectors. He developed different methodologies to identify and prioritize exceptions (which was the topic of his dissertation, "Exceptional Exceptions"). Dr. Issa has received several teaching and teaching innovation, research, and service awards. https://www.business.rutgers.edu/faculty/hussein-issa

Carolyn Moehling, Ph.D., is Senior Vice Provost & Vice Chancellor for Undergraduate Education. Dr. Moehling is responsible for promoting continued excellence in undergraduate education at Rutgers–New Brunswick. She directs the Office of the Chancellor's programs designed to advance student success. She also works closely with the leadership in the schools to encourage curricular and pedagogical innovation and to expand opportunities for experiential learning to prepare students for the world that lies ahead. She is a professor in the Department of Economics in the School of Arts and Sciences.

Jim Samuel, Ph.D., is Associate Professor of Practice and Executive Director of the Informatics Program at the Bloustein School of Planning & Public Policy. An expert in artificial intelligence (AI) and information science, Dr. Samuel’s research focuses on human-AI interaction, big data, AI applications, and the socioeconomic impacts of AI. He holds a Ph.D. from Baruch College – CUNY, an M.B.A. in international finance from Thunderbird-ASU, AI/NLP training from Stanford, and an M.Arch degree. Dr. Samuel has published extensively in top academic journals and advises businesses on AI-driven strategies. He is passionate about AI, data science, and informatics-driven thought leadership. LinkedIn: https://go.rutgers.edu/rutgersinfx   X: https://x.com/jimsamuel/

Sharon Stoerger, Ph.D., is Assistant Dean for Programs and Assessment at the School of Communication and Information. As an Assistant Dean, she teaches undergraduate and graduate courses and has a background in program leadership, including directing the Information Technology and Informatics (ITI) program and co-founded the Women in Technology and Informatics (WITI) student organization. Dr. Stoerger's work focuses on the intersection of gender and technology, emerging instructional technologies, and management in information organizations. She is passionate about creating inclusive, innovative learning experiences and empowering faculty to integrate AI effectively into their teaching practices. https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharonstoerger/ 

Jenny Yang, Ph.D., is Associate Teaching Professor & Language Programs Coordinator in the Department of Asian Languages and Cultures at the School of Arts and Sciences. Dr. Yang is trained in theoretical linguistics at Yale University, and teaches undergraduate courses on Chinese language and culture, as well as graduate seminars on teaching Chinese as a second language. Her recent teaching projects focus on differentiated learning, active learning, learning motivation, and inclusive pedagogy. She is a Co-Intelligence Exploration Teaching Fellow (AY24-25), a Humanities Plus Grant recipient (AY24-25), and a Provost’s Teaching Fellow (AY22-23).