How Professors Really Use AI: New Data from Higher Education

While K-12 struggles with AI literacy and training, higher education faculty are already deep into experimentation—for better or worse. Research from Anthropic analyzing roughly 74,000 conversations between university professors and the AI chatbot Claude reveals that 57% of AI use focuses on curriculum development, including designing interactive simulations and web-based learning games. About 13% involves academic research, while 7% centers on grading student work. Notably, professors tend to automate tedious administrative tasks but take a more collaborative approach with teaching and lesson design.

Why K-12 Educators Should Care: The higher education experience offers both warnings and inspiration for K-12 teachers. On one hand, Georgia State University professor Sue Kasun demonstrates AI's time-saving potential, using it to brainstorm reading lists and create grading rubrics—always checking for accuracy and alignment with learning objectives. On the other hand, the finding that professors use AI for grading has alarmed some researchers. Marc Watkins of the University of Mississippi fears a "nightmare scenario" where students use AI to write papers and teachers use AI to grade them: "If that's the case, then what's the purpose of education?" Both Kasun and Watkins emphasize that colleges and universities have failed to provide adequate guidance, leaving faculty "alone in the forest, fending for ourselves."

Key Takeaway: K-12 has an opportunity to learn from higher education's mistakes. Don't let teachers experiment in isolation. Create clear guidelines about appropriate and inappropriate uses (particularly around grading and student feedback). The decisions being made now will shape education for years to come.