Artificial Intelligence (AI) is reshaping the landscape of academic services, offering innovative solutions that prioritize student engagement, streamline administrative tasks, and inspire collaborative projects. At their session “Beyond the Classroom: How AI is Revolutionizing Administrative Services,” presenters Tara Kent, Heather Sieracki, and Anik Baker, all from the American Musical and Dramatic Academy (AMDA) showcased how AI is revolutionizing academic institutions.
Exploring AI's Transformative Role
The speakers shared with attendees how AI-driven communication strategies are elevating student engagement and responsiveness. By harnessing AI tools, their office has transitioned from factual emails to engaging, personalized messages, resulting in improved interactions between students and faculty.
The presenters expanded on this topic, emphasizing the shift from factual emails to engaging conversations using AI-generated communication to tailor communication to student needs, effectively conveying information and prompting timely actions from faculty, resulting in improved student outcomes.
Streamlining Administrative Processes
The presenters also highlighted AI's impact on data management and project collaboration. By leveraging AI in their administrative tasks, the presenters have been able to simplify many of the repetitive or time-consuming projects they previously worked on. This allows their teams to work smarter and more innovatively. Spreadsheet automation and custom scripting (heavily aided by AI) with Google apps have become essential components of their office operations.
Fostering Innovation through AI Collaboration
Using AI prompting strategies like RTF (Role, Task, Format), RISEN (Role, Instructions, Steps, End goal, Narrowing), and RODES (Role, Objective, Details, Examples, Sense Check), the presenters use AI to generate (and collaborate on) ideas and refine projects.
The session also tackled common misconceptions about AI in education, emphasizing its role as a tool for professional development and administrative simplification. Despite initial concerns about academic integrity, the presenters believe that AI is proving to be a catalyst for positive change, offering opportunities for skill enhancement and process improvement.
AI is paving the way for future projects that enhance efficiency and collaboration across academic departments. From generating marketing text to developing enrollment analysis scripts, AI-driven initiatives promise to revolutionize academic services and support institutional growth.
In the closing Q&A session, attendees sought guidance on choosing AI models and ensuring code quality. The advice? Start small, experiment with controlled datasets, and validate outcomes progressively. This iterative approach ensures responsible AI utilization and supports continuous learning and adaptation.