AI has always been a hot topic, especially in academia. Some may have considered it taboo to use AI in college because of how easy it can be to use it irresponsibly. In other — more blunt — words, they could use AI to cheat. However, with AI becoming more and more common, students have found ways to use AI tools for good in education.
The truth is, there are plenty of options for students who want to use AI in ethical ways to help them succeed in college — in fact, some classes now even require the use of AI. “The goal of these tools is to help people learn better — by empowering them on their path to understand the material for themselves,” says Jennie Magiera, Global Head of Education Impact, Google for Education. “One in-classroom example, at University of California Riverside, students used NotebookLM to upload their interpretations of readings and materials along with a short position paper, and then debate with it to find weaknesses in their arguments.”
Even professors are using AI! “We’re seeing educators find new innovative uses of AI every day, from helping them refine the content in their class syllabi, assist in suggesting content for their lesson plans based on their learning goals, turning their written notes into infographics, and more,” Magiera says.
At this stage in AI’s development, it’s becoming more commonplace, and its capabilities are only continuing to grow. So, if you are looking to use AI to learn and succeed as a college student (without cheating!), here are some ideas, according to two experts from Google.
Preparing for Quizzes & Exams
Students are well aware of how stressful studying for exams can be, but you can use AI tools to help make the process better — you can create study materials like practice quizzes and flashcards, and then even use AI to evaluate what you need to go over, making the studying process more efficient and catered to your specific strengths and struggles.
“Exams are a really stressful time in a student’s year, and so Google has this quizzes feature where you can come up with practice quiz questions, and then based on how you did on that practice quiz, we’ll give you study guides, or flash cards or things like that, so you know what you understood and what you didn’t understand as well,” Anna Miyajima, a Senior Product Manager at Google says. “[This way] you can focus your studying and use your time more effectively.”
Brainstorming During Essay Writing
Writing papers in college can be a tedious task. Personally, I have the most amount of trouble getting started; once I create an outline where I decide how I want to format my paper, it makes the writing process easier. That’s where AI can come in to help.
“Getting started [when writing an essay] is the hardest part,” Miyajima says. “Google Gemini is super helpful as a thought partner. If some folks want to talk out loud, we have a live feature that we think is quite helpful for those types of brainstorming use cases. And then Gemini can also help with coming up with first drafts, or helping you with revisions.”
These features that are helpful for students writing essays aren’t just offered through Google Gemini, but other AI products as well. Recently, ChatGPT launched Study Mode, a feature that serves to guide students in their learning. In a video, an NBC News reporter showed how to use study mode to help guide the student in how to approach writing the essay versus the unethical use of using AI, which would be to have it write the essay for you.
Using AI as a Personal Tutor
Speaking of ChatGPT’s Study Mode feature, different AI products are incorporating this idea of using AI as a tutor. You can ask the AI questions to clarify or gain a deeper understanding, and have a conversation, just like you would with an actual tutor. “The guided learning feature [in Google Gemini] is designed exactly to help students get from information to understanding,” Miyajima says. “So this experience is very much like having a tutor, where it’s a back and forth conversation, not just like I asked the AI a question and I got an answer. It’s a really good way to learn or review new concepts.” This can be beneficial if you are doing homework and are confused or don’t understand something that was taught in class.
Catering to Different types of Learning
There are different types of learners — visual, kinesthetic, auditory, and so forth. You can use different AI features either by themselves or in tandem with each other to cater to your specific style of learning. For instance, auditory learners can turn your study notes into a podcast that you can listen to on the go. Visual learners, on the other hand, can use a video overview feature.
Managing Group Work
There are also lesser known uses for AI that can benefit students. The hardest part of working on a group project with others in your class isn’t always the assignment itself, but sometimes it’s navigating the social dynamics of working with others. I think we’ve all been there when you’ve had to work with someone who doesn’t want to contribute as much to the project, attend meetups, or put in their fair share of the work. While it might not have been designed specifically for this, AI can make these occurrences less awkward and more manageable by developing solutions, suggestions, or structures on how to ensure everyone is putting in the work from the start. It can serve as a neutral third party that can come up with a solution to propose to the group.
“Our experience today isn’t designed for group usage explicitly, but I think that Gemini is very conversational and so you can talk through a lot of things with it,” Miyajima says. “I think if you just talk to Gemini saying like, We’re five people, we have to do this [assignment], how should we split the work? Or if you have a group member who doesn’t want to show up to the meeting or something, then you struggle as a whole group. And so I would think of Gemini almost like a sounding board, right? And it’s pretty neutral and fair.”
Educating Yourself On AI Ethics
The best way you can use AI to help succeed in college is by initially and continuously familiarizing yourself on AI ethics. Once you learn more about the range of what AI specifically can and can’t do (and how it does so) then it makes using the technology so much easier and more efficient. “The tools and features that we build are created with the goal of making learning more effective and engaging and helping people learn better. At the same time, we know the key to getting the most from AI — like any technology — is knowing how to use it responsibly, ethically and effectively as a learning tool, understanding its limitations and potential biases,” Magiera says. AI is still new and it can be tricky to navigate if you’re not an expert. So, by doing this and educating yourself on AI ethics, you become a well-informed user.