[Air-L] CFM--AI and Education

[Sarina Chen]

Dear Colleagues,

Greetings!

Below please find the CFM: *AI and Education*, for Vol. 57 of *Iowa Journal
of Communication*.

Thank you very much for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Shing-Ling Sarina Chen
Dept. of Communication Studies
Univ. of Northern Iowa
Cedar Falls, IA 50614
USA

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*AI and Education*
*How to use AI in teaching and learning*

Artificial Intelligence (AI) includes any device utilized computer
technologies to emulate or exceed human capacities.  While AI
was historically used by mathematicians to find patterns in huge data sets,
recent developments of AI have utilized the pattern-matching capacity to
generate words, images, videos, and sounds, called Generative AI (GenAI).

Teaching and learning utilize language, GenAI's specialty is language.
Hence, GenAI positions itself as a best teaching assistant for the
teachers, and a best study aid for students.  However, how to effectively
utilize AI in teaching and in studying, in order to maximize the benefits
that GenAI provides, and avoid the shortcomings of GenAI, have become
crucial questions to be addressed among teachers and students.

*Virtual Teaching Assistant*
GenAI has many features that make GenAI a greeting teaching assistant.
GenAI can come up with a strategy for crisis communication, or provide
contingency scenario planning for organizations.  GenAI could be a useful
conversation partner for learning foreign languages.  GenAI could generate
lessons for students to critique. Given these features of GenAI, how can
communication teachers restructure their courses to adapt to the use of AI
in their teaching?  What are best practices to weave GenAI into lessons to
utilize the benefits of the technology?

*Virtual Study Aid*
GenAI also possesses many features to assist students in learning.  GenAI
could annotate long documents, make highlights in long research papers,
answer questions about materials, make flashcards, and produce practice
quizzes.  In addition, GenAI can check grammar and help clarify sentences
in writing.  GenAI could also help with research assignments.

*Pitfalls and Precautions*
Based on how GenAI is constructed, utilizing GenAI in teaching and studying
are not without pitfalls.  GenAI is based on large language models which
predict the next most likely word in a sequence; hence it does not adhere
to presenting factual or truthful information.  Hence, GenAI is likely to
generate false information, called hallucination.  What skills do educators
and students need to have to avoid or detect hallucinations?

AI generated content has been found in new sites, content farms, and
product reviews.  Fabricated events, medical advice, and celebrity death
hoaxes are examples.  What media literacy skills do students need to have
to help them detect false information?

Given GenAI can generate essays upon receiving textual prompts, how to
transform essay writing in courses to prevent students from cheating--using
GenAl to write essays for them?

*Call for Manuscripts*
To provide answers to these important questions regarding utilizing AI in
teaching and learning,* Iowa Journal of Communication* is publishing a
special issue, *AI and Education* in 2025.

If interested please submit an abstract of no more than 750 words to
Jeffrey Brand (Jeffrey.brand at uni.edu) by *May 15, 2024*.

If the abstract is selected for inclusion, the final manuscript is due
*November
15, 2024*.

For any question about this call for manuscripts, please send your queries
to Jeffrey Brand, at jeffrey.brand at uni.edu.

Sincerely,
Jeffrey Brand
Guest Editor of* Iowa Journal of Communication*, Vol. 57, No. 1, 2025
Dept. of Communication and Media
Univ. of Northern Iowa
USA
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