Leveraging AI for good: IDA+A partnerships provide students new ways to utilize artificial intelligence in and out of the classroom

As artificial intelligence tools become increasingly popular, Institutional Data Analytics + Assessment (IDA+A) is partnering with Teaching and Learning Technologies and academic partners across campus to harness the power of AI to positively impact students’ experiences both inside and outside the classroom. 

Enter “Charlie,” a new AI writing feature of Circuit, Purdue’s homegrown peer review application. The tool is designed to provide students feedback on written assignments. It is currently available for specific class assignments and allows students to upload a draft and receive near-instant feedback about how well their work aligns with the rubric. Charlie was designed to give suggestions and feedback, similar to a tutor in a writing lab; it won’t provide answers or rewrite sections. 

According to Lindsay Hamm, assistant teaching professor in the Department of Sociology and Artificial Intelligence (AI) Innovation Fellow with Purdue’s Innovation Hub, Charlie is helping students refine their papers. It spurs questions they can ask their instructor to improve their writing.

Hamm utilizes Charlie in three of her classes: SCLA 101, SOC 220, and SOC 411. During the spring 2024 semester, 375 students utilized the tool over 700 times.

Students shared feedback about their experience with the tool. According to a student in SOC 220, “Charlie gave great advice on how to strengthen my essay to add more emphasis on certain paragraphs that could be touched up and worded better, especially when we had to write an APA formatted essay.”

A student in SOC 411 shared, “I was surprised by how helpful the feedback was. I didn’t expect a lot, but the feedback Charlie provided was really specific and felt tailored to the essay I submitted. AI, in the past, has normally felt like it’s guessing or giving me incomplete feedback.”

Charlie has undergone multiple iterations. Initially the tool provided students with a grade number on a rubric, but this approach led to students attempting to game the system without actually improving their papers, according to Hamm.

In response, Teaching and Learning Technologies began collaborating with IDA+A in 2023 to rebuild the system. Working closely with faculty, they redesigned the system using GPT-4. Now Charlie breaks up a student’s essay and the rubric criteria it is scored on, utilizing many calls to GPT-4 to generate thorough feedback across all aspects of the assignment. The feedback is then packaged together and presented to the student inside the tool within Circuit. Faculty who are interested in using a Charlie-enabled rubric in their class can contact Teaching and Learning Technologies.

Outside the classroom, IDA+A has been working on a tool that will recommend clubs and organizations to students based on their major, classes and interests. Initially designed for College of Engineering students, the Student Organization Recommender is now overseen by the Office of Student Life and is available to all undergraduate students. 

During the 2023-24 academic year, the Student Organization Recommender was viewed over 72,000 times. Student clubs and organizations have seen a 49% increase in membership from fall 2022 to fall 2023. IDA+A is continuing to refine the data to improve recommendations. 

IDA+A is Purdue University’s central data office. Reporting to the Office of the Provost, IDA+A staff lend their expertise to a wide array of projects. Visit the IDA+A website to learn more about current projects, products and services.