Results of the recent Student Tech survey confirm what we already know about AI at NMC: Faculty across the college are developing innovative ways to teach and train students about Gen AI. 

Students responding to the survey said that they are learning how to use Gen AI for everything from study guides to data analysis in classes ranging from nursing to business to CIT. 

CIE is launching a feature in this newsletter to highlight the large and small ways that faculty are helping our students respond to this game-changing technology. Our first faculty featured is Manufacturing Technology instructor Hollianne McHugh. Here’s a paraphrase of Hollianne’s comments:

JL: How do you use Gen AI in the classroom?

HM: One way is to give students sources to feed into Notebook LM and teach them how to use it as a study prep tool. They can create podcasts or make flashcards from the material. That’s what I like about it. They can create different study tools based on how they learn, but I can facilitate what they feed into Notebook LM. I’ve also taught them how to use Gemini so they can generate more practice problems. Another application is for chapter summaries. I ask students to summarize the chapter pictorially, and some of the students have used AI to do that. 

In another class, I have AI review LinkedIn pages and give students feedback. We’ve had discussions on not taking the AI feedback at face value. It’s more like having another set of eyes on a document to think about options for revising. 

Another great exercise involves the thank-you notes we write after we go on tours of local companies. I’ll open up Gemini, gather all the students’ ideas about the tour, and get Gemini to compile thoughts. I try to express to students that we’re using this as a tool. What it produces isn’t necessarily our final product.

JL: Do you know if students are using Gen AI tools you’ve taught them at work? 

HM: I’m not quite sure they’re there yet. We talk about ways that they can apply it, but I haven’t had too many conversations about consistent use in the workplace. AI is just emerging in TC manufacturing right now. So students may not be using it for individual tasks, but they’re seeing where it’s going in the machinery and the inspection tools. 

It is definitely part of the conversation with student apprentices. We share examples in class of how AI is being used in industry in TC. Some of the students say they are seeing AI being used in quality inspection. Some students see the value in the consistency that AI can provide for inspections rather than using a person in that role. And then I have some students who are very against it for ethical reasons, or they don’t believe it is effective, 

I tell them you’ve got to keep your eyes open. Whether you like AI or not, you’ve got to educate yourself about it. You can make decisions from there.