Learning vs. Shortcuts: AI’s Place in College Education
By Jonathan Hopper, English and Journalism student exploring the intersection of AI and media through hands-on research
Artificial intelligence is here to stay, and universities must decide how to respond. Should AI be integrated into the classroom, and if so, how much? Will students increasingly rely on it, and should that be encouraged? None of these questions have easy answers.
A survey conducted by Professor Robert Quigley, our faculty advisor for the AI team, revealed that at least 85% of students use AI at least once a month, with 13% of respondents using it multiple times per day. Among them, 20% admitted to using AI when writing essays. Professors have few tools to detect unauthorized use, and the ones that exist are often unreliable.
During my time at UT, I have observed two distinct approaches toward AI in the classroom. Journalism courses have embraced AI, sometimes even requiring its use for assignments. Literature courses, on the other hand, have largely rejected it. For example, the syllabus of one English course states: “The use of generative AI tools for any part of your work will be treated as plagiarism and reported.” The divide is clear: some disciplines see AI as an opportunity, while others perceive it as a threat.
I hesitate to endorse one approach over the other. English courses follow a familiar pattern: read a text, discuss it, then write literary criticism. This process is fundamental to the academic study of literature, and it is difficult to see where AI fits in. Personally, I have used it to brainstorm ideas and structure outlines, but I draw the line at letting AI generate my arguments. Reading an AI summary is no substitute for reading literature itself. The intricacies of sentences, the mental images conjured by beautiful prose—these are elements AI cannot replicate.
That doesn’t mean I’ve never been tempted to use AI to complete an assignment. Heavy workloads and looming deadlines make AI an attractive shortcut. Yet, I remind myself that sometimes learning how to do something is more important than the immediate outcome. I may never need to recall the finer points of economic developments in early 20th-century dystopian literature, but writing that essay taught me how to craft a compelling argument and effectively communicate my ideas. If students see college as merely a path to a degree, AI presents an easy way to minimize effort while still earning passable grades. But if education is about learning and intellectual growth, shortcuts come at a cost.
Professor Sarah Mason, who teaches Victorian literature, acknowledges this dilemma. “I don’t want a punitive relationship with my students,” she told me. “If they choose to use AI to complete assignments, the worst thing that happens is that I waste my time grading something AI wrote.” Her attitude reflects a broader reality: at a certain point, the responsibility for learning falls on the student.
Journalism, however, has always evolved with technology, and the School of Journalism has been more accepting of AI. A key reason is that the fundamental skills of a journalist, conducting interviews, building relationships, investigating stories, cannot be replaced by AI. It can assist with brainstorming questions or formatting an article, but journalism remains a deeply human profession.
One of my journalism classes assigned us to instruct an AI to write an article for us. I was excited to see it on the syllabus, and not just because I work with AI and knew I could write a strong prompt. The assignment was eye-opening for many of my classmates. It demonstrated that the quality of an AI’s output is dictated by the quality of its input. The more you understand a subject, the better the AI’s results will be. Just as importantly, it showed that AI is not infallible. You need enough knowledge to recognize when it makes errors—and sometimes, fixing those mistakes takes longer than just doing the work yourself. This approach encouraged students to experiment with AI while equipping them with the skills to use it effectively.
College is about more than just learning hard skills like citation methods or programming languages. It is about developing soft skills: critical thinking, effective communication, and the ability to engage with complex ideas. Studying literature teaches students how to construct an argument. Studying journalism teaches how to listen, analyze, and synthesize information. AI cannot replace these processes, but it can enhance them when used correctly.
Higher education is undergoing a profound transformation, and AI will undoubtedly play a significant role in that change. The majority of students believe their professors are taking the right approach to AI, and I tend to agree. I am encouraged by the university’s willingness to adapt to this new technological landscape, and I hope it continues to innovate and provide students with the tools they need to navigate an AI-driven world.