Whether you’ve embraced AI with enthusiasm or kept it at arm’s length, there’s no denying that artificial intelligence is becoming ubiquitous in education. And, while dual enrollment in all its forms is continuing to grow at unprecedented rates, school districts and colleges — many of which have not yet set their own internal policies on the use of generative AI — are facing questions about whether and how AI tools should be used across institutions for dual enrollment courses. As is often the case with new technologies, there are enthusiasts and skeptics — and many of us have a foot in both camps.
In the same moment that many schools are restricting the use of cell phones and other personal electronic devices, the integration of technology and instruction is more essential than ever in our education system. High schools are searching for the balance between keeping students’ attention in the classroom while also preparing them to use the technology of today. My own teenager’s dual enrollment instructor limits students to having no more than three internet browser tabs open at one time. When I asked why, my daughter informed me that teachers are “terrified of ChatGPT.” Whether or not her assessment is accurate, it captures the unease surrounding AI and its role in student learning.
Despite the current hand-wringing about generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Claude, and the ever-increasing list of large language models (LLMs), the reality is that many AI tools are already inside our institutions. AI plays an essential role in countless products that colleges and high schools are currently using. Many of the most common career exploration platforms, such as Naviance and YouScience, rely on AI to recommend courses and career paths based on students’ interests and aptitudes. Some education systems have even gone so far as to create bespoke tools for their local environments. In pursuit of personalized learning experiences, AI is an attractive prospective partner in helping students customize their education.
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“If we want dual enrollment to be more than a nominal experience or a toe-dip into the world of postsecondary education, how do we help students get genuine meaning and value from those courses and understand them within the context of personally relevant education pathways?”
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As high school and college instructors alike navigate the role of AI in the classroom, dual enrollment practitioners are simultaneously facing another essential question. New Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) data in 2024 reveals that more than 20% of community college students are dual enrollment students. However, the rapid growth of dual enrollment has outpaced the development of advising systems needed to help students select courses that align with their future academic and career goals. If we want dual enrollment to be more than a nominal experience or a toe-dip into the world of postsecondary education, how do we help students get genuine meaning and value from those courses and understand them within the context of personally relevant education pathways?
AI presents two potential strategies to help us answer that call. Perhaps we leverage AI tools to streamline and make more efficient the tedious administrative duties that steal precious minutes from advisors, counselors, and teachers so they have more time for the humanity of their roles — building relationships with students. Or perhaps we lean into the robot-as-advisor model that brings information to students anywhere they have access to the internet. While there’s significant momentum behind the latter model, there’s an equally valuable opportunity for educators to harness AI to enhance human connection.
We are in the early days of this AI journey, and educators in dual enrollment must simultaneously navigate this path through both high school and college policy environments. There are many district-wide and whole-college solutions that our institutions will adopt, and, hopefully, those decisions will be guided by insight from students and practitioners.
But, as much as this work will require thoughtful policymaking by our leaders, progress is equally likely to be pushed forward in bursts of innovation from practitioners applying new approaches to persistent challenges. In these early days, a lot of ground can be covered by enterprising pioneers who are willing to experiment and learn by doing. The opening up of generative AI to individual users means that educators, advisors, and administrators alike have opportunities to create tools to manage daily tasks or to work with students. Even novice AI users are starting small with strategies like designing AI chatbots to handle routine student inquiries or using AI-produced videos and podcasts to communicate with students using more dynamic media than the email and text messages that often go unread.
To realize the potential of dual enrollment for positive disruption of the high school to college pipeline, it is essential that colleges and their school district partners develop strategies to ensure students can make meaning from these postsecondary opportunities and connect them to equitable, relevant pathways to careers. The precise role that AI will play in this effort has not yet been determined, but creative early adopters are already using these tools to manage their teaching and advising loads and teaching students to use them as well.
AI will shape every aspect of students’ lives, whether we embrace it or not. As colleges and school districts explore new AI tools, it’s crucial to listen to practitioners and students. Early adoption and experimentation can unlock opportunities. As we encounter examples of AI use within dual enrollment, we must hold up practices that address our most persistent challenges and increase the potential of dual enrollment as a pathway to both academic success and meaningful careers.
To learn more about using AI as an essential tool in preparing dual enrolled students for future careers, register for ATD’s Nov. 20 workshop, Strengthening College and Career Exploration in Dual Enrollment, the second event in our AI Workshop Series.