G2.01 - Deep Dive: Riding the AI Wave: Using AI to Teach Advocacy

Brief Abstract Summary: Artificial intelligence (AI) is everywhere we turn; on our cell phones, in our homes, and in our professional lives. Since the technology is here to stay, health education specialists can utilize it in ways that can make our jobs easier and improve our pedagogical effectiveness. This session will focus on easy and practical uses of generative AI in the instruction of health advocacy. The presentation will share multiple ways attendees can utilize generative AI in their own classrooms as they train the next generation of health advocates. Attendees will have the opportunity to walk away with at least one individualized plan for implementation.

Detailed abstract description: Every institution of higher education is discussing artificial intelligence (AI), including its uses and pitfalls. Many are spending significant time and resources developing policies and training to detect the unethical utilization of generative AI by students, but others are working to train faculty, staff, and students about how to utilize generative AI in ways that can expand their professional skills and abilities (Williamson & Shay, 2020). Generative AI is here to stay; what if we lean into AI and use it to our advantage?
Many students and teachers at all levels are already using generative AI (Walton Family Foundation, 2023). It is important that they are equipped with necessary skills to ensure the vast ways generative AI can be used in advocacy efforts are put into practice in a way that best helps the communities with which they work. Generative AI experts have listed current (and changing) best practices for utilizing the tool in ways that will benefit both instructors and students (Mollick & Mollick, 2023).
Generative AI can help streamline and improve teaching advocacy in several ways. First, it can synthesize thousands of data points and help to identify areas to focus on for advocacy (Hutson et al., 2022). Second, when identifying key areas to advocate, it can assist students in their writing of letters to policy makers, opinion pieces and even summarizing key messaging used to produce fact sheets for advocacy purposes. Third, generative AI can be used in the synthesis of data, case studies and resources (Hutson et al., 2022) used for teaching and even how to construct role playing of effective advocacy visits.
Faculty are being asked to do more with less time, often taking away from innovation in their courses. Generative AI could help reduce some of the burden, thus making more time for faculty to focus on teaching innovation, research, service, and their own professional development for adapting and evolving technologies (Zeide, 2019).
By embracing the multitude of ways generative AI can be applied to improve efficiency and effectiveness of advocacy instruction, it could revolutionize how we prepare the next generation of health education advocates. When used ethically and correctly, generative AI tools can help instructors, from novice to seasoned, develop activities, lessons, and assessments that celebrate generative AI as a tool (Gulavani et al., 2022). This session will include specific tools and strategies that can be immediately applied to attendees' own advocacy instruction goals. Additionally, attendees will learn about various generative AI training sources that can be utilized to meet their personal and instructional goals.