Innovation is in my blood, just like it is at the university. I’m not good about sitting idle and regurgitating the same thing each semester — I am always asking myself what we can do better. Around the time artificial intelligence entered our collective vernacular, we began to create a custom AI tutor that leverages our class teaching materials to help students review lessons, receive custom study sessions, and quiz themselves on course content.
It’s been a year since we launched the AI tutor for students, and so far we’re seeing about a nearly 5 percentage point increase in their grade if the students use the tutor at all, and about 9 percentage points better on their final letter grade if they use it four or more times. This AI tutor also helps to level the playing field: there’s no cost to the student, and no concerns about scheduling or availability of a traditional tutor. It can be accessed anywhere, anytime.
Another example of how we’re innovating is our use of the Anatomage Table. We are the first animal science program in the nation, possibly the world, to incorporate this state-of-the-art, cutting-edge virtual anatomy and physiology dissection table technology in the classroom. The 3D virtual technology allows students to see a heart pumping in real time and watch blood flow — something that can’t ethically be done otherwise. The tool offers students additional viewpoints and specimens to look at and reinforces the ideas that we talk about in the classroom.
Our students’ needs have evolved; what they expect from their coursework, faculty, and university is different from what it was 20, 30, 40 years ago. I know this personally — I graduated from Iowa State University in 2014 and have taught for six years. While the foundation of what we’re teaching in animal science doesn’t change, how we’re teaching it can and does — and we’ll continue to look for opportunities to innovate.
