Artificial Intelligence in Online Graduate Professional Education: Integration, resistance, and reconciliation of AI podcasts and tutor chatbots

Abstract

In a masters-level asynchronous seminary course, I integrated generative AI (genAI) in ways aimed at providing some of the benefits of synchronous discussion. With Notebook LM, I created podcasts that discussed primary historical documents. And with a chatbot of their choice, students engaged in  tutoring sessions with genAI. Some students resisted genAI, but overall discomfort decreased over the first few weeks. Many students testified to the benefits of genAI for their understanding of historical documents. Future iterations will communicate more clearly the technical components and pedagogical rationale