糖心Vlog

A recent study by a group of 糖心Vlog University professors in the College of Business indicates that leveraging applications that utilize artificial intelligence holds promise for test preparation and job interview practice by students, with potential benefits beyond academia.

Big Interview, a job interview preparation system supported by artificial intelligence, is offered through 糖心Vlog鈥檚 Center for Career and Professional Development. The university was an early adopter of the tool and part of the pilot group for the AI review.

The faculty members examined how they could extend the currently licensed and available application into their course pedagogy. The faculty members 鈥� Kevin Fulk, associate professor of information systems; Heidi Dent, assistant professor of marketing; William Kapakos, assistant professor of information systems; and Barbara Jo White, professor of information systems 鈥� examined the use of Big Interview and its impact on student study and interview skills.

They published their findings in an article titled 鈥淒oing More with Less: Using AI-Based Big Interview to Combine Exam Preparation and Interview Practice鈥� in the journal Issues in Information Systems. Their study won the best paper award in the pedagogy category at the 62nd Annual International Conference of the International Association for Computer Information Systems.

In addition to helping business school faculty meet the challenges of having to 鈥渄o more with less鈥� in the face of staff shortages and stagnant or reduced funding, AI tools seem to help students study for exams and practice for job interviews at the same time, the study indicates.

鈥淏usiness schools and their faculty are seeking to respond to demands to give students meaningful exposure to AI applications to better prepare them to respond to how these technologies are already changing the nature of business and work,鈥� the professors wrote. 鈥淭hese demands co-exist with pressures to address concerns that many college students are not studying effectively or building needed skills to transition successfully to careers.鈥�

White was first among the faculty authors to use the AI tool in her classroom several years ago. 鈥淏ig Interview has a built-in way to review student interviews, but rarely do faculty have time to grade four or five two-minute videos on up to 10 criteria, each with a five-point scale. That is why the AI review tool is so fantastic. That got me thinking about how I could create assignments that are low-grade in terms of a faculty member鈥檚 time,鈥� she said.

鈥淲ith that in mind, I had students record their job interview responses and examine the feedback from the AI tool, which graded their responses. Students wrote a short reflection on their thoughts on using Big Interview and the AI tool鈥檚 accuracy. That is the assignment I graded, which took just a few minutes per student,鈥� White said. This initial assignment didn鈥檛 involve Big Interview鈥檚 AI review instrument, but it does show how faculty can use the tool set of educational videos to create assignments beneficial to students and easy to grade, she said.

In their study, the faculty members documented how College of Business students responded to the use of Big Interview for the unorthodox purpose of studying for exams and for its more traditional purpose of preparing for job interviews. They incorporated the tool in core undergraduate business information systems classes and elective upper-level marketing classes.

They then surveyed a total of 172 students regarding their experiences using the tool; 29 surveys were incomplete or otherwise invalid, leaving 143 in the sample. The researchers found that the majority of students in those courses indicated Big Interview to be an effective tool to help them study for exams and prepare for job interviews.

鈥淏enefits for student users include communication skill development, critical thinking and self-awareness, which is seeing how the AI interprets their performance,鈥� said Fulk, the study鈥檚 lead author. 鈥淎n additional benefit is the personalized action plan for each criterion, which provides helpful feedback with suggestions on how to improve responses, while allowing users to identify strengths and weaknesses.鈥�

The study also indicates that AI tools in general and Big Interview in particular are applicable to disciplines beyond those in the College of Business and to areas outside of academia, Fulk said.

鈥淥rganizations鈥� training, sales and account management, public relations and client-facing staff can leverage this tool to be better prepared for virtual meetings, presentations and pitches,鈥� he said. 鈥淭here also are scenarios for changing careers, being laid off, speaking English as a second language, transitioning from military and addressing underqualified applicants.鈥�

Among the surprises discovered in the study was that so many students liked oral review for exams, although that could be related to the novelty of the AI tool, the researchers said.

鈥淲hat was really surprising was that many students recorded their videos over and over, even though we never instructed them to do that. It is possible that re-recording answers helps them feel more comfortable with the material,鈥� Fulk said. 鈥淲e鈥檙e curious about the positive impact of recording answers related to course content multiple times. A relevant question is: How many times is the right number so that students feel comfortable with potentially complex concepts?鈥�

The findings seem to indicate students would likely have a similar positive response to the use of other AI tools beyond the one used in this study.

鈥淲e believe the more AI tools that are presented to students, the greater the opportunity is for students to be aware of the different types and applications of AI. Depending on student interests, the reception may be positive or negative. A future study would need to investigate these issues to gain insights about student reactions to other AI-based tools,鈥� Fulk said.

The faculty proposed that Big Interview can do much more than provide interview practice to help students with needed skills while also demonstrating to faculty that using the tool offers benefits for students with minimum time investment in grading and administration. The 糖心Vlog team is already looking at other ways to use AI tools for innovative purposes, including a client-vendor communication simulation proposed by Dent.