By Robyn Clanton
A great deal of conversation in academia is around how to view or engage with the world of artificial intelligence. While there are many viewpoints to consider, one thing I am sure of is that it is not going away. While AI cannot, nor should it, take the test or apply for a job for you, it can help you prepare for the test or big interview. Let’s look at a few creative and responsible ways that some of our clients have used AI in the past year.
Job Search Support: One client was in the thick of a job search, which we all know can be a very daunting and overwhelming process. There are multiple tasks to complete, cover letters to write, and connections to be made. In preparing for interviews, this client asked ChatGPT to provide quality questions to ask for a specific position and to share possible responses. Reviewing these questions and answers helped provide a mock interview type process and give greater confidence in stepping into the conversation with the hiring manager. Encouraged by this, she also brainstormed ways to use AI to help strengthen her cover letters and resume.
Practice Tests and Problems: For many of our school-age clients, the use of AI is a very big minefield. I was most impressed with how one student used AI to help him better prepare for his end-of-year math final. He asked his AI platform to generate numerous practice problems for him in each of the skills. Then, he worked his way through each of these problems, being sure to ask AI to walk him through the solution if/when he could not solve it correctly. This practice was fantastic in helping him study for the exam and, ultimately, earn a solid end-of-year score!
Notetaking: Another creative way to use AI is with notetaking. One client took a course to prepare for an upcoming exam for medical school. There was a guest lecture with close to 10 hours of video materials, and he felt that it was impossible to sit through and absorb so much material. With the use of an AI platform, he provided it with the video in order for AI to create a transcript and bullet-point notes from the lecture. This helped him synthesize the information in a way that was more manageable and useful for his studying.
In each of these examples, the user was thoughtful and mindful of how to use AI. I’m curious: how are you using AI? Have you heard about a way to incorporate it but feel nervous to do so? Let’s explore this together!