Artificial Intelligence in Everyday Life 2.0: Educating University Students from Different Majors

TL;DR

This paper describes an introductory AI course designed for university students from diverse majors, aiming to improve understanding of AI's capabilities, limitations, and societal impacts through practical assignments and evaluations.

Contribution

It introduces a multidisciplinary AI education approach, including course design, assignments, and insights, to enhance AI literacy among non-computer science students.

Findings

Students gained practical AI experience

Positive course evaluations and improved understanding

Insights into effective multidisciplinary AI teaching

Abstract

With the surge in data-centric AI and its increasing capabilities, AI applications have become a part of our everyday lives. However, misunderstandings regarding their capabilities, limitations, and associated advantages and disadvantages are widespread. Consequently, in the university setting, there is a crucial need to educate not only computer science majors but also students from various disciplines about AI. In this experience report, we present an overview of an introductory course that we offered to students coming from different majors. Moreover, we discuss the assignments and quizzes of the course, which provided students with a firsthand experience of AI processes and insights into their learning patterns. Additionally, we provide a summary of the course evaluation, as well as students' performance. Finally, we present insights gained from teaching this course and elaborate on our future plans.