Reams have been written about the challenges with general education at US colleges and universities. Students often view general education requirements (gen eds) as “hurdles” to overcome on their way to the learning that matters to them. Campuses invest enormous time and energy revising their gen ed programs of study to create the kinds of interconnected learning experiences that produce broadly educated degree completers. When the vision of gen ed is realized for learners, they learn the habits of mind that result in the durable skills employers are looking for – critical thinking, problem solving, communication, and curiosity. Gen ed is great, so why is it discussed as a “hurdle.”
Sadly, students often trudge through gen ed courses, without realizing the intended benefits. Among college provosts (90% of whom are proponents of gen ed) only 32 percent believe that students at their colleges understand the purpose of general education requirements. There is an incredible disconnect between this well-intentioned structure and the lived experiences of most learners. What’s the root cause of the disconnect? Relevance. “Why am I doing this?” is a question that has reverberated from the minds of learners for decades. The sentiment is especially cacophonous in online education. At least in a face-to-face classroom, a student can meet a new friend or connect with a professor. The only silver lining most online gen ed learners can find is an opportunity to practice their grit and perseverance to overcome the hurdle and get to the relevant coursework.
A New Way Forward
What if there was a different way? Before AI, it would seem impossible to improve the relevance of general education coursework for every individual learner. But a new reality is upon us. Imagine the following scenario as the new future of general education for working adult learners.
Meet Tara. Tara has been working full-time at Dunkin’ Donuts for five years. She is now a manager and has acquired significant competencies related to managing her teams, hiring people, training new employees, and managing difficult customer situations. She has been gradually trying to finish her bachelor’s degree in business administration, taking online courses, and squeezing in her homework around caring for a family and managing employees.
Currently, she is in a general psychology course, and although she finds the concepts interesting, she is grinding her way through online discussion boards to finish her degree. Tara is curious, capable, and committed, but she is not looking forward to this course (or any of her general education courses).
A New Approach
Let’s imagine that Tara had been provided with a different option- an option that recognizes her role and uses AI to individualize her general education competencies. First, her employer offers to pay for a portion of her education as a benefit of her employment, a practice that actually saves the employer money. The employer also agrees to provide a mentor for Tara who will meet with her every 2 weeks to review her goals, monitor academic progress, address concerns, and help her see the connections between her learning and their business operations. The mentor has access to a shared platform that is also accessible and regularly updated by faculty and advisors at the educational institution.
Tara’s first assignment in general psychology reads as follows:
“Hi Tara! Welcome to psychology. In this course you are going to learn many valuable concepts, theories, and frameworks, and you are going to be asked to consider which theories most align with your own way of being in the world. The best part of this course is that you get to make connections between the concepts you are learning and family and/or work life. That means that as a working learner, your burden will feel lighter because things you are experiencing at work can be used as assignments for class. How does that work? Let’s dive in.
First, open your institutional instance of generative AI. Grab the syllabus for this course and drop it into the chat bot. Select the “Learning Designer” persona and paste in the following prompt for the bot.
Please design a semester-long work-based learning experience to teach me the psychology concepts and learning outcomes that are described in the attached syllabus. [INSERT YOUR JOB HERE Ex: I work a customer service job in the fast-food industry, and I manage a team of employees]. Using the concepts and learning outcomes described in the attached syllabus document, generate a list of 20 tasks that I could accomplish in my job that would show my understanding of the psychology learning outcomes described in the syllabus.
Tara provides the prompt to AI and receives the following list of tasks:
1. Identifying Customer Needs: Use psychological concepts to identify and understand customer needs and preferences.
2. Effective Communication: Apply principles of effective communication to resolve customer inquiries and complaints.
3. Empathy in Practice: Demonstrate empathy by actively listening and responding to customer concerns, showing understanding of their emotions.
4. Problem Solving: Use critical thinking skills to analyze customer issues and develop appropriate solutions.
5. Feedback Analysis: Evaluate customer feedback to identify patterns in behavior and make informed decisions for service improvement.
6. Behavioral Observation: Observe and interpret body language and verbal cues to better understand customer satisfaction and needs.
7. Conflict Resolution: Implement conflict resolution techniques to manage and resolve disputes amicably.
8. Cultural Sensitivity: Show awareness of cultural differences when interacting with diverse customers, adapting communication styles as needed.
9. Stress Management: Apply stress management strategies to maintain composure and effectiveness during high-pressure interactions…. Etc.
The assignment instructions continue, and Tara creates a work plan for herself for the semester, choosing a number of the AI generated tasks and planning to submit one as an assignment every 1-2 weeks as directed in her coursework. Tara reads that she will be asked to make connections between the theories she is learning about in her coursework and the tasks she is able to complete and submit from her workplace. Not all the tasks are possible for her with her role, but from a list of 20, she is easily able to choose 8.
Now, this seemingly unrelated general education course feels relevant to Tara’s work life. She is not being asked to manufacture responses to hypothetical scenarios on weekly discussion boards. She is being asked to use the knowledge and skills she has developed at work to scaffold new information related to the field of psychology. Generative AI provides an opportunity for any learner to do the same task with results that are individualized to them.
If you’re interested in how the prompt differs for another student, Tim uses the same prompt but adjusts it for his job as a certified nursing assistant in a nursing home. The tasks generated for Tim are as follows:
Based on the psychology syllabus you provided, here are 20 tasks that you could accomplish in your role as a certified nursing assistant (CNA) to demonstrate your understanding of psychology concepts and learning outcomes:
1. Identifying Behavioral Patterns: Observe and document common behavioral patterns among residents to identify psychological principles at work.
2. Reflective Journaling: Maintain a reflective journal where you connect daily experiences at the nursing home with psychological concepts such as mental processes or social behavior.
3. Empirical Analysis: Analyze case studies or specific situations from work to draw logical conclusions about behavior and mental processes.
4. Research Evaluation: Evaluate existing psychological research or data related to elder care practices and suggest ways to improve care based on findings.
5. Ethics in Practice: Discuss or present how ethical principles guide your behavior and decision-making process in patient care.
6. Collaboration Exercise: Work effectively with other CNAs or healthcare professionals to develop a care plan for a resident, using psychological insights.
7. Communication Skills: Demonstrate effective communication and listening skills in resident interactions, informed by psychological theories of communication.
8. Cultural Sensitivity: Recognize and respect the cultural backgrounds of residents, integrating psychological concepts of diversity. Etc.
Notice that for Tara and Tim, completing any of these tasks without any other coursework, reading, video lectures, tutorials, or information would be a challenge. It would also be a challenge to ask AI to complete the assignments given that Tara and Tim will also be asked to discuss these tasks with their workplace-based mentor who will verify completion in the platform they share with the university. The grades in the course honor the on-the-job learning with at least a third of the points dedicated to the tasks Tara and Tim can accomplish at their place of employment. These assignments are not “additional” but are a core part of the curriculum.
There are guiding questions and ideas for Tara and Tim to discuss with the mentors provided by their employer. At these mentor meetings, Tara and Tim are asked to share the work-based tasks they completed with their mentors and solicit feedback from the work-based mentor.
For example, Tim describes how he applied empathy and support to a resident, showcasing his understanding of psychological needs and processes, and making a connection to a video lecture he was assigned in his coursework. Tim’s mentor uses the shared online learning platform to validate that Tim is demonstrating empathy and support in the workplace and can reflect on that competency as a skill he is aware of developing.
Tara describes how she uses psychological motivation techniques with her team of employees. She is making connections between theory and practice and asking thoughtful questions about her observations of the employees she manages.
Employers are just as invested in developing and retaining great employees as educational institutions. When leaders in these spaces work together, the results are incredibly impactful for working learners.
The Faculty Experience
Faculty are recognizing that there is little need for them to deliver content aside from providing clarifications, feedback, examples, and guidance to students to connect them with resources that meet their needs. Tim and Tara could easily be in the same section of general psychology, taught by the same instructor and submitting similar assignments but with different contexts. The faculty instructor spends most of their time meeting one on one or in small groups with students rather than delivering content for synchronous class meetings.
In this scenario, it will be essential to clearly identify exactly what competencies learners are expected to master through the general psychology course. Clear articulation of the competencies will predict the types of outputs learners receive.
Additionally, the instructor may want to include an approval step to ensure that the AI generated tasks selected by the learner are appropriate for their learning and for the people with whom they interact. Clear guidance around what they are ethically permitted to do (i.e., don’t provide counseling, legal or medical advice if you’re not licensed to do so) may be necessary.
With the reduction in time spent delivering in-person instruction, instructors can provide great value to learners with brief, targeted, 15-minute 1 on 1 meetings to review their work, respond to questions, and provide feedback. Faculty will also quickly realize where course materials (videos, exercises, prompts) need to be bolstered when they encounter common issues among students.
Generative AI is changing education as we speak. Embracing the power of AI to individualize general education curriculum could have a significant impact on retention and completion while also solving the public perception that general education is irrelevant. Imagine a reality where graduates are reporting that the most helpful courses in their degrees were the general education courses where they learned to practice the kinds of durable skills prized by today’s employers.
Dr. Erin Crisp, EdD, serves as the AVP for Learner Success and Workforce Pathways in the University of Tennessee System. Crisp has enjoyed a variety of roles in K-12 and postsecondary education related to teaching, academic innovation, and instructional design. Her ideas have been published in Inside Higher Ed, EDUCAUSE Review, Tech Trends, the Chronicle of Higher Education, and The Atlantic. Her spouse, three adult sons, and two dogs are a continuous source of joy second only to living in Knoxville, Tennessee where opportunities for hiking abound and the Volunteer spirit is strong.