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Key Takeaways
- A University of Pennsylvania economics professor utilized AI to develop a comprehensive 12-hour study plan on sociologist Erving Goffman, suggesting a shift in educational models to focus on areas where AI cannot replace human instruction.
- The use of AI in education has the potential to enhance critical thinking and personalized learning, but experts warn that improper use could undermine learning and trust among students.
- Professors advocate for assignments that encourage deeper engagement and critical thinking rather than rote answers, allowing AI to assist in the learning process without diminishing the educational experience.
A University of Pennsylvania economics professor used artificial intelligence to compress a week-long master’s module on sociologist Erving Goffman into just 12 hours, prompting questions about how AI will reshape higher education.
He concluded that AI is pushing universities to change how they teach, focusing on what AI can’t replace. Other experts told The College Fix AI can help students think more deeply if used well, but warn that without proper rules, it might compromise learning and trust.
Reached for comment, Penn economics professor Jesús Fernández-Villaverde directed The College Fix to several of his posts on X in which he detailed his experience using an AI tool called Claude to create a personalized study plan.
“I asked Claude to prepare a study plan based on my professional background, prior knowledge, and the hours I had available: an introduction to Goffman’s life and work, selections from his best and most influential writings, and an examination of his impact on social theory. The plan was outstanding,” he wrote in one post.
He wrote that “A 90th percentile real professor of sociology” could not have produced a better plan. And while he is not yet a Goffman expert, he has an understanding comparable to what a typical master’s course on modern sociological theory would produce in the week focused on the sociologist.
He added that he “can now imagine someone designing self-learning courses in many fields that are better than what you can get outside the very top universities, at close to zero marginal cost.”
The professor then questioned what this means for universities moving forward.
“Currently, about 63 percent of recent high school graduates in the United States enroll in college. Imagine that this number drops to 50 percent over the next decade due to AI,” he wrote in another post.
In order to maintain their competitive advantage, universities must provide offerings that AI cannot. They must emphasize peer networks and access to cutting-edge research, which AI does not have, Fernández-Villaverde told Business Insider.
Reached for comment, University of Texas at Austin history professor Steven Mintz told The College Fix that AI forces higher education institutions to confront weaknesses in pedagogy.
As the founding director of The University of Texas System’s Institute for Transformational Learning, Mintz has led efforts to develop “new educational models and technologies that can make a quality education more accessible, affordable, and successful,” according to UT Austin’s website.
He said although universities claim to value the development of strong arguments through critical thinking and clear writing, many courses are not structured to support these objectives.
Mintz believes that assignments should be designed to make students think, instead of merely producing answers.
Valuing process and product equally will encourage students to gradually refine their work, instead of mindlessly using AI to generate a final outcome.
When assignments are designed this way, students can use AI to discuss, defend, and explain their ideas to polish their arguments, Mintz said.
“If we use it well, it frees instructors to do what only humans can do: mentor, challenge, guide, and engage students in sustained intellectual conversation,” Mintz told The Fix.
By harnessing AI, “we have a real opportunity to move toward something we’ve long claimed to value but rarely achieved: education that is individualized, demanding, and deeply human,” he said.
Supporting this perspective, the Brookings Institution released findings from an 18-month Global Task Force on AI in Education in January.
Emma Venetis, a senior research analyst at Brookings’ Center for Universal Education, told The Fix, “The Global Task Force found that while AI has a real potential to enrich learning, particularly through purposefully built educational tools with safety guardrails, current student use of general-purpose AI tools presents risks to learning, trust, and student development.”
“Without stronger safeguards, AI literacy, and system-wide action, these risks currently outweigh the benefits,” she said.
She added that AI can enrich learning if it improves relationships, capabilities, or participation in the classroom.
