New semester, new series! 🎉
​

As a new semester begins, we are wading into unknown waters around what AI means for higher education. Tools like ChatGPT are evolving fast, changing the educational landscape at a pace that is tough to keep up with. The site AI Fire has infographics of all of the different AI tools available. Here are just 52 alternatives to ChatGPT ...

​

With this email series, I want to explore how AI will influence our work as nurse educators and what we can do to navigate this shift in the educational landscape with confidence.

In some ways, I feel that we are ahead of the curve. As a practice profession, many of our teaching techniques and evaluation strategies involve the active practice of providing nursing care. We have skills lab check-offs, clinical rotations, and care planning worksheets that cannot easily be entered into an AI program. We ask for reflection on actual care experiences and the application of theory to real-life patient scenarios, which also cannot be generated by an AI language model.

But still, these techniques do not eliminate the challenges that we face.

And at this point, when everything is still new and developing, what do we do?

🔬 Let’s look at this through the lens of pathophysiology - the ole’ fight or flight response from the sympathetic nervous system. Our senses have detected something new, triggering a response and sending us into action. Sometimes this system is lifesaving. Other times it is not the correct response for the situation and can actually be harmful.

1. Flight - Run far enough away and then simply carry on. Or make no clear decision besides avoidance.
2. Fight- Take an offensive stance and work to prevent students from using AI. Implement policies against its use. Block access to it when possible.

​

Neither of these seems right to me. But is there a potential third option?

🚧 Proceed with caution?

I’ve decided that this third option is the approach I will take. I can identify both benefits and limitations. I see how it could start a revolution in how students learn (check out this TED talk about how AI could save, not destroy, education), increase the technology available at the bedside, and radically influence how we evaluate students. But I am also wary of plagiarism, ethical concerns, faulty academic integrity, theft of intellectual property, and growing biased information.
​

So with this series, I will write my thoughts on how we can proceed with caution. Here are the topics:

​

📖 Another comforting thought - we have navigated sweeping technology changes multiple times in our careers. Many of us were practicing nurses before electronic medical records (EMRs) and remember charting on paper. While EMRs were available in the 1990s, their widespread use is relatively recent. In this article, from 2011, there are still questions about whether an EMR will catch on and issues of resistance from healthcare providers. And in a similar sentiment to what we are feeling now, the article discusses that while there are challenges, there are also substantial potential benefits, including improved patient safety and increased communication with patients.

In more recent history, which we are still navigating, the COVID-19 pandemic also brought unprecedented changes to nursing, healthcare, and education. It quickly advanced the tools and resources available to deliver quality distance education. I had rarely used a video conference meeting before 2020. And while I also feel the unease of the undercurrent of a transition, I am optimistic. As a profession, we have navigated widespread change before. And I am confident that our creativity, resilience, and resourcefulness will help us successfully do it again.

​

​

Until next week, Martha