This session will provide insight into the current state of academic AI in higher education through results of a campus-wide San Diego State University student survey with over 7,800 responses, as well as strategies developed in collaboration with dedicated AI Faculty and Student Fellows. An overview of the SDSU Academic Applications of AI (AAAI) micro-credential program will provide guidance for responsible uses of generative AI, including classroom and research applications.

Strategies for a holistic approach to addressing academic AI will be shared that ensure the student learning experience is enhanced and supported by empowering faculty and students alike to leverage AI technologies to personalize instruction, adapt to individual student needs, and foster engagement and success.

Our session will emphasize the importance of acknowledging diverse student perspectives, thoughtfully integrating AI tools, and fostering their ethical and effective use to promote academic success. We aim to provide suggestions for how both faculty and students should engage deliberately and responsibly with AI technologies.

In this presentation, I will present multiple ways in which ChatGPT can be used for teaching, learning, and assessing L2 vocabulary. I will demonstrate how ChatGPT can be an excellent source of information for the various aspects of word knowledge: part of speech, spoken form, common meanings, word parts, common collocates, synonyms, register, and frequency. I will also show how ChatGPT can be used to provide strategies for word learning and help increase memorability by providing the translation of the word in one’s L1, example sentences in one’s field of interest, mnemonic devices, jokes, poems, dialogues, and ASCII art. Finally, I will show how learners/instructors can (self-)assess knowledge of a word by having ChatGPT ask thought-provoking questions or simple yes-no, true-false, multiple-choice, and fill-in-the-blank questions. While acknowledging ChatGPT’s limitations, this presentation will highlight how ChatGPT can be superior to using other tools for word learning such as dictionaries and concordancers.