Artificial intelligence as a mentor in the graduate online classroom: opportunities and challenges

Purpose A series of three online activities in a 16-week graduate class were supplemented with the use of ChatGPT (an artificial intelligence or AI large language model) for the purpose of mentoring students during the design and development of their assignments. This study examined the perceived learning experiences and challenges when interacting with educational prompts designed using ChatGPT. Participants were professional teachers and instructional designers, so their rich experience in education provided valuable insights into the use of artificial intelligence as a mentor. Design/methodology/approach This convergent parallel mixed-methods design collected both quantitative and qualitative data simultaneously via online surveys after three mentorship exercises using ChatGPT. (1) An AI activity that generates ideas for content and technology integration. (2) An AI activity that provides choices and suggestions for assignment delivery. (3) An activity that produces personalized, AI-generated learning paths and rubrics. Findings The AI mentor activities improved idea generation, efficiency, and provided immediate feedback that enhanced student engagement and motivation. Participants appreciated ChatGPT’s ability to guide them through rubrics, create personalized learning paths, improve self-regulation and promote the exploration of new topics. Participants reported challenges in developing cross-disciplinary skills and critical thinking, and that there is a risk of over-reliance on AI for generating ideas, potentially undermining students’ independent creative thinking. Implications for teaching and research regarding how to improve prompt writing to improve critical thinking, personalized feedback and alignment with course objectives are proposed. Research limitations/implications Implications for teaching and research regarding how to improve prompt writing to improve critical thinking, personalized feedback and alignment with course objectives are proposed. Originality/value The goal of this research is to examine identified gaps in the research literature, namely the effectiveness of AI interventions on student learning satisfaction, how to design AI prompts for engaging learning activities, and identifying the strengths/opportunities for AI mentorship in the learning process.