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With a flurry of negative opinions and cautionary tales on the rapid growth, effectiveness and role of Generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), two Emmanuel College educators are advocating for a different outlook.
Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Dr. Mark Flynn and Associate Professor of Marketing Dr. Jing Yang are outlining the role generative AI should play in their fields of expertise, as well as evaluating the ways in which it can be applied in classrooms.
Dr. Flynn’s paper, published this summer in “Communication Teacher,” a peer-reviewed publication of the National Communication Association, explores the importance of media literacy education and depicts an activity through which students create an infographic about the role, uses and ethical concerns about generative AI.
The lesson, which Dr. Flynn implemented in an Introduction to Media Studies course, is an approach to the topic of generative AI from a different lens, hoped to pump the brakes on the often-dystopian view on new tech and how it will impact us, Dr. Flynn explained.
“I wanted to get past that doom and gloom of what’s going to happen if we use it and address the more in-depth questions of ‘how should we use it?’” Students at Emmanuel have been really receptive to that approach, Dr. Flynn said.
“Associate Professor of Communication & Media Studies Dr. Mark FlynnIt’s embedded in the culture [here] to approach things in a way that are ethical, in a way that makes you a good human.”
One of the biggest surprises Dr. Flynn noted was student takeaways from the activity. Across a variety of topics and majors, he said all the students were able to connect with the role of AI replacing or supplementing the role of humans in the professional world.
Dr. Yang has come across similar themes in her marketing research. She presented her most recent findings at the 2024 American Marketing Association Conference over the summer, where she shared her approach to measuring the productivity and effectiveness of generative AI-powered ads.
She said she remains surprised about the amount of varying opinions on the use of generative AI, especially because there’s plenty of consensus on its great potential. But the common concerns about generative AI, like privacy and copyright issues, as well as potential replacement of human jobs are still very prevalent.
“Marketers really need to think and be careful about the consumers’ concerns when considering implementing AI,” Dr. Yang said.
Through her consumer research, Dr. Yang investigated the effectiveness and engagement of AI-powered ads, finding that the perception on those ads was generally positive, despite the seemingly negative viewpoint towards AI.
Not only that, but in more recent findings, Dr. Yang discovered that there was a less positive sentiment towards user-generated content compared to content created by ad agencies – likely because the agencies still have people involved in the process to workshop the content they share. She will present this research in the 2024 Society of Marketing Advances “The Age of AI” Conference in November.
“One thing people don’t realize is humans still have a role to play in this process,” Dr. Yang said.
And there’s no doubt that as the technology grows, current students will have a big part to play in its future.
Making Room for AI in the Classroom
This is why Dr. Flynn is continuing to be more intentional about implementing AI in the classroom, and feels it’s important for other educators to do the same – but there are two key points to keep in mind.
One is that as educators, they need to be able to properly assess a student’s learning, which in some cases, means no AI at all.
On the other hand, Dr. Flynn said AI’s growing prevalence in the world makes it important for educators to acknowledge it, as well as the fact that students will likely need to use it as part of their skillset in the workforce. In the classroom, it should be implemented in ways that they can practice those skills now and hit the ground running in their future roles, Dr. Flynn said, “we [educators] have an obligation to prepare them for that.”
Emmanuel’s School of Business & Management will aim to provide some learning opportunities in tandem with the Emmanuel Business Collaborative (EBC). Through the EBC partnership, Emmanuel business students serve as consultants to local businesses and provide them with support on real-life challenges those businesses are facing.
In the spring, Dr. Yang said students will have the chance to tackle those problems and work toward solutions using generative AI on things like ad campaigning, social media planning, logo creation and more. This hands-on experience will allow them to practice with those tools in a business and marketing setting, and will also provide the partnering businesses with a concrete plan or example of generative AI use to implement for themselves.
