Tag: Instructors

Retirees as Instructors

For the last few days, I’ve been in Boone, N.C., for the kickoff conference of the Rural Talent Lab. The conference has been terrific, with thoughtful presentations and a chance to reconnect with some folks I hadn’t seen in a while. I’m still processing much of what I heard, but one line in particular jumped out at me.

The presentation was about offering programs in the trades for students in rural locations. Addressing the frequent shortage of instructors in high-demand fields, one speaker—my notes betray me, so I don’t know who—mentioned that “we’re in the golden age of retirement, with baby boomers hitting age 65 every day.” He (I think) went on to say that if colleges were to approach companies with the suggestion of having them incorporate some teaching into employees’ final years before retirement, it could act as a combination of a glide path to retirement and a way to get well-qualified and experienced people as instructors.

I read once that the sign of a great idea is that as soon as you hear it, you wonder why you hadn’t thought of it. This one passes that test.

The areas in which this would make the most sense in the short term are the trades: HVAC, welding, plumbing and the like. These fields combine technical know-how with the ability to handle real situations in the field. It’s one thing to know how to fix a pipe; it’s another to know how to handle a cantankerous homeowner or business manager who accuses you of ripping them off. That’s where an instructor with long experience in the field can bring an added dimension.

An arrangement like this could make sense for the instructors, too, given the physical demands of these jobs. As they get older, the prospect of spending less time bending themselves into tight spots or fighting metal and more time teaching might hold some appeal. When I taught at DeVry in the late ’90s, I had a fair number of students in their 40s who were switching careers from construction to computer repair; nearly all of them mentioned back and knee injuries and general physical wear and tear as motivators. It’s not difficult to imagine that someone in a field like these, approaching retirement, might want to give their knees and backs an easier assignment. Teaching isn’t an easy task to do well, but its physical demands tend to be more modest.

For the employers, I could imagine a couple of upsides. For one, they might be able to hold on to good employees a little longer if those employees could intersperse teaching with their usual work. Secondly, they’d ensure a continued pipeline of new tradespeople coming in. It’s no secret that many skilled trades are facing a retirement cliff, since they largely skipped a generation. They need newbies.

For colleges, the upside would be having experienced professionals with industry contacts in high-demand fields. Yes, there would have to be some professional development in teaching techniques and dealing with common student issues. But stepping up our mentoring game is a good idea anyway—if this is the motivation to do that, so be it.

Wise and worldly readers, have you seen this tried at scale? If so, are there any hard-won lessons you could share? As always, I’m at deandad (at) gmail (dot) com.

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October 31, 2025
What Can College Instructors Offer Their Students in the Age of AI? – Faculty Focus

The Age of AI is Upon Us.

Generative AI is changing the landscape of higher education, in both good and bad ways (Balch, 2023). In a world where AI skills and fluency will be necessary and marketable, colleges and universities have made efforts to embrace AI in the classroom (e.g., Balch & Blanck, 2025; Butulis, 2023; Parks & Oslick, 2024) and to provide their students with instruction and practice in using AI in productive and ethical ways (e.g., Schoeder, 2024). As the capacity of AI grows to complete increasingly complex tasks, we (as college instructors) may wonder what we can offer our students in the age of AI. Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates recently stated in an interview that advances in AI will mean the humans will no longer be needed “for most things,” and stated that doctors and teachers in particular could be replaced by AI (CNBC, 2025). Microsoft AI CEO Mustafa Suleyman stated the AI, because it will have the ability to complete tasks faster and more reliably than human workers, will change occupations broadly and will have a “hugely destabilizing” impact on the occupational landscape. Suleyman further stated that the fundamental purpose of AI is to be labor replacing (CNBC, 2025).

In higher education, we see our students use AI in many ways, to provide both authorized and unauthorized aid in their completion of assignments. We have crafted AI policies to help our students understand how AI is and is not permitted in our classes, and some of us have devoted energy to try to detect and police AI use in our classes. Given this reality in which AI can provide and synthesize information for and to our students at their requests in seconds, it is not completely paranoid to ask the question, “What can we, as college instructors, offer our students in the age of AI?”

Why College Instructors Matter: A Student’s Perspective

I had a conversation with one of my students recently about this exact question. He visited my office and in the course of our conversation he asked me how I thought I would use AI as a college instructor moving forward. I admit that I did not have the most thoughtful or eloquent answer as I discussed trying to keep up with advances, to recognize the utility of AI, but also to continue to foster critical thinking skills in my students. He told me that he uses ChatGPT all the time (and he is not alone among students in doing so; Kichizo Terry, 2023). He told me how quick and convenient it is. He surprised me, though, by telling me that he uses ChatGPT despite thinking that it would create “brain rot” in him and other students because it was doing their thinking for them. He then gave me the answer about what we can offer our students. He said that college instructors are not needed to give information to their students, at least not the foundations, definitions, etc., that comprise of a lot of traditional lecturing. He said that students could read much of the content off our PowerPoint slides and in the assigned readings without AI. What college instructors are needed for, he said, is to motivate our students to learn. We are needed to inspire students to come to class, to ask questions, to work out the answers with them. We are needed to engage them and to help them develop curiosity and critical thinking skills to offset their potential AI-induced brain rot. He said that students have had access to the information we teach prior to AI. They could always find and read the content on their own. What we can do as instructors is inspire them to learn the content, to ask their own questions, and to perhaps motivate their AI use to serve their own curiosity beyond the conversations in our classes.

Our Role as Instructors in the Age of AI

This is our role as instructors in the age of AI. This was our role as instructors prior to the advent of AI. As instructors, our role is not just to provide access to content. We cannot compete with the other resources available to our students in our fundamental content knowledge. Our role is to excite our students about the content. Our role is to inspire our students to learn that content. Our role is to bring PEACE to our classes so that our students will see the value in our classes and will engage in our classes to deepen their curiosity and their learning. PEACE is an acronym that stands for Preparation, Expertise, Authenticity, Caring, and Engagement (Saucier, 2019; Saucier, 2022; Saucier, Jones, Schiffer, & Renken, 2022). Beginning on the first days of our classes (Saucier, 2020; Saucier, Renken, Fulton, & Schiffer, 2024), we can demonstrate to our students that we have a plan, that we have content knowledge, that we are real living human beings with relatable thoughts and emotions, that we care about our students and their learning, and that we are enthusiastic and invested in the content we will learn with them. We can nurture our students’ intrinsic motivation to learn the content through demonstrations of our own engagement, activating the process of trickle-down engagement by which our own engagement as instructors promotes our students’ engagement and their subsequent learning (Saucier, Miller, Martens, & Jones, 2022). We can cue our engagement in the content by intentionally and explicitly sharing our own enthusiasm about the content and its value and importance (Saucier, Jones, Miller, Schiffer, Mills, & Renken, 2025).

AI is here. It is here to stay. It is a valuable tool that can accomplish important tasks quickly. Our students recognize its value and are already using it in many ways, both in and out of our classes. As college instructors, we are best served in providing our students with something that AI is not yet able to – our authentic investment in the learning, experiences, and success of our students. We have the ability to inspire our students’ wonder and curiosity in ways that will inspire them to be intrinsically motivated to learn and to keep learning. We should embrace this role as we teach in the age of AI.

Donald A. Saucier, Ph.D. (2001, University of Vermont) is a University Distinguished Teaching Scholar and Professor of Psychological Sciences at Kansas State University. Saucier has published more than 100 peer-reviewed journal articles and is a Fellow of the Society for Personality and Social Psychology, the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues, the Society for Experimental Social Psychology, and the Midwestern Psychological Association. His awards and honors include the University Distinguished Faculty Award for Mentoring of Undergraduate Students in Research, the Presidential Award for Excellence in Undergraduate Teaching, and the Society for the Psychological Study of Social Issues Teaching Resource Prize. Saucier is also the Faculty Associate Director of the Teaching and Learning Center at Kansas State University and offers a YouTube channel called “Engage the Sage” that describes his teaching philosophy, practices, and experiences.

References

Balch, D. E. (2023, August 25^th). Artificial intelligence: The rise of ChatGPT and its implications. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/artificial-intelligence-the-rise-of-chatgpt-and-its-implications/

Balch, D. E., & Blanck, R. (2025, March 31^st). AI-powered teaching: Practical tools for community college faculty. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/ai-powered-teaching-practical-tools-for-community-college-faculty/

Butulis, M. (2023, December 6^th). Embracing artificial intelligence in the classroom. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/embracing-artificial-intelligence-in-the-classroom/

CNBC (2025). “Bill Gates: Within 10 years, AI will replace many doctors and teachers—humans won’t be needed ‘for most things’.” Published March 26, 2025.

Kichizio Terry, O. (2023, May 12^th). I’m a student. You have no idea how much we’re using ChatGPT. Chronicles of Higher Education. https://www.chronicle.com/article/im-a-student-you-have-no-idea-how-much-were-using-chatgpt

Parks, M., & Oslick, M. E. (2024, May 22^nd). Empowering student learning: Navigating artificial intelligence in the college classroom. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/empowering-student-learning-navigating-artificial-intelligence-in-the-college-classroom/

Saucier, D. A. (2019, September 9^th). Bringing PEACE to the classroom. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/philosophy-of-teaching/bringing-peace-to-the-classroom/

Saucier, D. A. (2020). Rocking your first day of class (and beyond!). E-xcellence in Teaching, Society for the Teaching of Psychology. Retrieved from: https://teachpsych.org/E-xcellence-in-Teaching-Blog/8454525

Saucier, D. A. (2022, February 23^rd). Bringing PEACE to support all students. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved from: https://www.insidehighered.com/views/2022/02/23/professors-should-learn-about-respond-students-unique-experiences-opinion

Saucier, D. A., Jones, T. L., Miller, S. S., Schiffer, A. A., Mills, H. D., & Renken, N. D. (2025). Cueing engagement: Applying the trickle-down engagement model to instructors’ in-class behaviors. Teaching of Psychology, 52(1), 45-52.

Saucier, D. A., Jones, T. L., Schiffer, A. A., & Renken, N. D. (2022). The empathetic course design perspective. Applied Economics Teaching Resources, 4(4), 101-111.

Saucier, D. A., Miller, S. S., Martens, A. L., & Jones, T. L. (2022). Trickle down engagement: Effects of perceived teacher and student engagement on learning outcomes. International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 33(2), 168-179.

Saucier, D. A., Renken, N. D., Fulton, C. E., & Schiffer, A. A. (2024, August 26^th). Making memories on the first day of class. Faculty Focus. https://www.facultyfocus.com/teaching-strategies/making-memories-on-the-first-day-of-class/

Schoeder, R. (2024, July 31^st). Our responsibility to teach AI to students. Insider Higher Ed. https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blogs/online-trending-now/2024/07/31/our-responsibility-teach-ai-students

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May 12, 2025
AI Detection Tools Are Powerful When Instructors Know How to Use Them

To the editor:

I’m sympathetic to the overall thrust of Steven Mintz’s argument in Inside Higher Ed, “Writing in the Age of AI Suspicion” (April 2, 2025). AI-detection programs are unreliable. To the degree that instructors rely on AI detection, they contribute to the erosion of trust between instructors and students—not a good thing. And because AI “detection” works by assessing things like the smoothness or “fluency” in writing, they implicitly invert our values: We are tempted to have higher regard for less structured or coherent writing, since it strikes us as more authentic.

Mintz’s article is potentially misleading, however. He repeatedly testifies that in testing the detection software, his and other non-AI-produced writing yielded certain scores as “percent AI generated.” For instance, he writes, “27.5 percent of a January 2019 piece … was deemed likely to contain AI-generated text.” Although the software Mintz used for this exercise (ZeroGPT) does claim to identify “how much” of the writing it flags as AI-generated, many other AI detectors (e.g., chatgptzero) indicate rather the degree of probability that the writing as a whole was written by AI. Both types of data are imperfect and problematic, but they communicate different things.

Again, Mintz’s argument is useful. But if conscientious instructors are going to take a stand against technologies on empirical or principled grounds, they will do well to demonstrate appreciation for the nuances of the various tools.

Christopher Richmann is the associate director of the Academy for Teaching and Learning and affiliate faculty in the Department of Religion at Baylor University.

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April 8, 2025
Empowering Instructors & Students – Sovorel

This is my new book that I am very excited about because I think that it can really help a lot of people, especially instructors (at all levels) and students. It is vital and truly an imperative that we in academia help develop AI Literacy. Available on Amazon as an ebook, paperback, or hardback: https://www.amazon.com/AI-Literacy-Imperative-Empowering-Instructors/dp/B0C51RLPCG

BOOK DESCRIPTION:

The AI Literacy Imperative: Empowering Instructors & Students” is a seminal work that delves into the critical need for everyone to have AI Literacy in modern society, especially in academia. The book explains how educators must have a deep understanding of the key aspects of AI literacy: Awareness, Capability, Knowledge, and Critical Thinking, to effectively teach this vital skill to students.

Drawing upon extensive research and practical experience, author Brent A. Anders, PhD. presents a comprehensive guide for instructors to integrate AI literacy into their curriculum. By exploring the fundamental concepts and applications of AI, this book empowers educators to equip their students with the skills necessary for success in both their professional and personal lives in our new AI integrated society.

Throughout the book, a deep understanding of the complexities of AI and its implications for society are demonstrated. Through a rigorous exploration of the latest research and pedagogical considerations, the book provides educators with a clear roadmap for teaching AI literacy in a way that is understandable, manageable, motivational, and upholds academic integrity.

“The AI Literacy Imperative: Empowering Instructors & Students” is a must-read for educators, students, instructional designers, librarians, researchers, and everyone else. By providing a comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide on the main components of AI literacy, covering everything from overreliance, writing assignments with AI, deepfakes, ethical considerations, future possibilities, and much more in-between, this book helps everyone better understand AI, use it more effectively in education, and help create a better AI integrated.

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June 4, 2023