While some academic instructors see generative artificial intelligence as an insidious intruder that undermines student learning, School of Communication Studies Assistant Teaching Professor Jennifer Koella views tools such as ChatGPT as an assistant that can enhance critical thinking skills.
“When generative AI hit, and when ChatGPT was released in November of 2022, I already had it implemented in my class by January. It’s a very valuable tool if you know how to use it. It is there to assist you in your work, not do your work for you, and if you teach it for the tool that it is, it can be very beneficial,” she said.
It is this future-forward approach that earned Koella a 2025 AI Faculty Innovator award from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville’s Teaching and Learning Innovation (TLI). As part of that honor, TLI recorded a video interview with Koella sharing the ways AI is taught and used in her classroom so other teachers can emulate her practices.
AI literacy is number one on pretty much any list you look at. If our students don’t know how to use it as a tool, then we’re doing them a disservice; because when they hit the job market, they are not going to be chosen over someone who has AI literacy.”
Being an early adopter of technology is not new for Koella, who graduated from high school in 1988 and used her graduation gift money to buy her own desktop computer in a time when few households had such a device. In 1997, she was a graduate student at the then-College of Communications’ when she created and taught the college’s inaugural course on web design, Journalism 422: Managing News Websites. Now, several years and many technological leaps later, Koella is still staying ahead of the curve and embracing relevant emerging tools she knows will benefit students.
“I worked in the industry for over 30 years, so I do a lot of research on what companies are looking for in new employees, because I want to incorporate as many skills as I can that the market is requiring. AI literacy is number one on pretty much any list you look at. If our students don’t know how to use it as a tool, then we’re doing them a disservice; because when they hit the job market, they are not going to be chosen over someone who has AI literacy,” Koella explained.
Using AI in the College Classroom
Koella hits the ground running with AI literacy in the sections of the course she teaches, CMST 247 Business and Professional Communication Honors. Early in the course she has students earn a LinkedIn Learning certificate in AI prompt engineering so they can know the best ways to ask generative AI questions as well as add an impressive line to their resumes. She then teaches them how to use AI in a way that broadens their capabilities and streamlines workflows but still requires them to use critical thinking skills.
For example, she shows students how to use AI to vet sources for credibility. When a student finds relevant sources to cite for a speech, they can often waste time reading through academic papers and other articles looking for pertinent information where there may not be any. Koella shows them how to enter the URL for a source into the AI with accompanying prompts to see if the source is credible, contains relevant information for their topic, and to determine if the source is biased. The students will still have to read the good sources the AI vets, but they saved themselves time by not sifting through irrelevant or poor sources they would never have used.
Another way she teaches students how to utilize AI is for data analysis.
“They learn how to create better prompts and decrease the number of inaccurate answers, then we use it to brainstorm ideas, and we use it to do data analysis. For example, the very beginning of the semester as a class we sit down and discuss what do we need to know about our audience—which is the classroom—to help tailor our speeches to be of interest to this specific audience, our class,” she said. “We gather important demographic data such as their major, hometown, clubs, hobbies, interests, all that stuff we discuss as a class and the students can run this data against their topic to see if it would be of interest to the audience. We collect all that data, and I show them how to tailor their speeches to the audience.”
She also stresses that students need to prompt the AI to give them multiple suggestions so they still “exercise their brains.” Having multiple options means they must make their own decisions about what topic, which sources, and what approaches to take in their speeches, which often sparks creativity, Koella said.
“The rule of thumb that I give my class is, if it is something I would help you with in my office, then of course use chat for it. Am I going to write your attention getter for you? No, but I will help guide you to make it more engaging,” she said.
She also stresses that her use of AI is based on best practices taught through courses she has taken and certifications she has earned. These include:
- AI Strategy from Cornell University
- Several courses from Vanderbilt University, including:
- Prompt Engineering for Educators Specialization
- Innovative Teaching with ChatGPT
- Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT
- Trustworthy Generative AI
- GPT Vision: Seeing the World through Generative AI
- And she is currently enrolled in Data Analysis; Blockchain at Duke University
Using AI to Level the Playing Field
Apart from teaching students how to use AI, Koella employs the technology to make her courses more accessible for students who have challenges that can make learning more difficult for them. Whether it is because they are dyslexic, speak English as a second language, are neurodivergent, or have another disability or learning disorder that impacts their coursework, Koella has sought out and provided her students with AI solutions to aid their learning.
“I’ve done a ton of research on accessibility because my daughter has ADHD, as well as autism, and watching her struggle with material has obviously brought it to the forefront of my considerations,” Koella said.
As she has made changes to help those who need assistance, Koella has discovered that everyone in the classroom has benefitted from the different learning options. One of the more unconventional tactics she uses is a “flipped classroom,” where her lectures are provided in text and short videos online for students to read or watch as their homework, and their classroom time is spent actively working researching, writing, and practicing their speeches. While this teaching method isn’t powered by AI, it is another example of Koella’s untraditional approach that has made her a student favorite.
I want it to be a level playing field. I want everyone to have whatever they need.”
When students aren’t in class they can still feel as if Koella is right there helping them along the way, thanks to one of the most radical uses of AI she has recently deployed. That’s because Koella’s students can go to their online classroom on Canvas and find a digital avatar of their teacher explaining the course content to them in videos. The avatar’s physical appearance and voice are barely distinguishable from the flesh-and-blood instructor they see in class.
“I always wanted to offer videos for my students who are audiovisual learners. But I knew I’d never have the time to record everything,” she said. “So, I spent the entire summer creating an avatar of myself that I could give a script to and create videos to fully explain everything in the text.”
Here’s some other ways Koella has utilized AI and tech to help students succeed:
- For her dyslexic students, Koella has an in-depth tutorial on how they can add a font, OpenDyslexic, to their computer that will change the font of most websites and software programs into one that is easier for them to read. She was interviewed earlier this year by The Volunteer Channel about this, and the segment also features a communication studies student who benefitted from Koella teaching her how to use it.
- For her English as a second language students, she has provided instructions on how to prompt AI to translate her materials into just about any language.
- For her neurodivergent students—or really any student who wants help with time management and organization—Koella shows them how to put an assignment into ChatGPT and have it break that assignment down into manageable tasks. They can get as detailed as telling it they want to work on it in 10-minute blocks, what days and times they have available, and when it is due, and have it spit back out an entire plan and schedule in whatever format they request.
As for students who are averse to using AI, Koella is empathetic to their concerns and doesn’t require them to use it. She provides those students with alternative instructions on how to do all the same tasks without AI assistance.
“I want it to be a level playing field. I want everyone to have whatever they need,” she said.