AI’s Multimodal Future Is Here. Integrating New AI Capabilities In The Classroom.

AI image generated using Google ImageFX from a prompt “Create an image of a professor training an AI computer chip as if it was a dog in a university classroom.” https://labs.google/fx/tools/image-fx

January 6, 2025January 9, 2025 ~ K. Quesenberry ~ Leave a comment

In my last post, I needed a pep talk. In teaching digital and social media marketing I’m used to scrambling to keep up with innovations. But AI is a whole other pace. It’s as if I’m trying to keep up with Usain Bolt when I’m used to running marathons.

Like the marathon I signed up for in July, November comes quickly. No matter how training goes the start time comes, the horn goes off, and you run. Here comes the Spring semester. No matter the number of AI updates dropped in December I need to show up ready to go in early January.

If I want to make a difference and have an influence on how AI impacts my discipline and teaching, I don’t have a choice. I can relate to what AI expert Ethan Molick said in his latest Substack,

“This isn’t steady progress – we’re watching AI take uneven leaps past our ability to easily gauge its implications. And this suggests that the opportunity to shape how these technologies transform your field exists now when the situation is fluid, and not after the transformation is complete.”

The other morning, when I should’ve been finishing Fall grades, I spent a couple of hours exploring AI updates and planning how I’ll advance AI integration for Spring. Instead of AI bans (illustrated by the Fahrenheit 451 inspired image of my last post), I’m going deeper with how we can train AI to be our teaching friend, not foe.

NotebookLM opens up teaching possibilities.

A lot of new AI updates came this Fall. One that caught my eye was Google’s NotebookLM. In a NotebookLM post, I explained how I was blown away by its Audio Overview of my academic research that it turned into an engaging podcast of two hosts explaining the implications for social media managers.

I see potential to integrate it into my Spring Digital Marketing course. NotebookLM is described as a virtual research assistant – an AI tool to help you explore and take notes about a source or sources that you upload. Each project you work on is saved in a Notebook that you title.

These are the various notebooks I’ve used so far for research and the new course notebook. — The various notebooks I’ve used so far for research and for my Digital Marketing class.

Whatever reference you upload or link, NotebookLM becomes an expert on that information. It uses your sources to answer questions and complete requests. Responses include clickable citations that take you to where the information came from in sources.

As a Google Workspace for Education user, uploads, queries, and responses are not reviewed by human reviewers or used to train AI models. If you use your personal Google account and choose to provide feedback, human reviewers may see what you submit. To learn more click here.

Source files can be Google Docs, Google Slides, PDFs, Text files, Web URLs, Copy-pasted text, public YouTube video URLs, and Audio files. Each can contain up to 500,000 words or 200MB files. Each notebook can contain up to 50 sources. Added up NotebookLM’s context window is large compared to other models. ChatGPT 4o’s context window is roughly 96,000 words.

When you upload to NotebookLM, it creates an overview summarizing sources, key topics, and suggested questions. It also has a set of standard documents with an FAQ, Study Guide, Table of Contents, Timeline, or Briefing Doc. An impressive feature is the Audio Overview which generates an audio file of two podcast hosts explaining your source or sources.

NotebookLM as an AI tutor.

I plan on using NotebookLM as an AI tutor for students in my Spring Digital Marketing course. I like the open-source text I’ve been using for years, but the author has stopped updates. The strategic process and concepts are sound, so I update content with outside reading and in-class instruction.

I tested NotebookLM creating a notebook for Digital Marketing course resources. First, I uploaded the PDF of the text. Then, I added website links to six digital marketing websites that I use for assigned readings and in-class teaching. Finally, I added my blog. I plan to show students how to create theirs at the beginning of the semester.

This is my notebook for Digital Marketing. I was impressed with asking it questions that I often get from students about assignments. — This is my notebook for Digital Marketing. I was impressed with the answers it gave to questions I often get from students.

AI may not be accurate 100% of the time, but controlling the sources seems to help and puts less pressure on crafting a perfect prompt. My discipline knowledge knows when it gets something wrong. I tested my Digital Marketing NotebookLM asking questions on how to complete main course assignments such as personal branding blogs, email, SEO, and content audits. I haven’t noticed any wrong answers thus far.

Important note about copyright.

I’m testing NotebookLM in this class because my main text is open source and all the websites I link to are publicly published sites (not behind paywalls). Google is clear about its copyright policy,

“Do not share copyrighted content without authorization or provide links to sites where people can obtain unauthorized downloads of copyrighted content.”

We should set a good example and educate students by not uploading copyrighted books or information only accessible through subscriptions or library databases. Below is my general AI policy for the course.

The policy carves out acceptable and helpful uses of AI while explaining the ways AI should not be used. — This policy carves out acceptable/helpful AI use while explaining ways AI shouldn’t be used.

In completing final reports students will access information behind paywalls such as Mintel reports. They’ll add the information and cite it as they’ve done in the past. The goal isn’t to use NotebookLM to complete their assignments for them. The goal is to give them a resource to better understand how to complete their assignments.

NotebookLM as a study tool.

I see NotebookLM as a positive tool for student learning if used as a study guide, reinforcement, or tutor. It would have a negative impact if used to simply replace reading and listening. What’s missed when you use AI in the wrong way is depicted in an infographic I created for a previous blog post on the importance of subject matter expertise when using AI.

For a website assignment, my course NotebookLM gave a nice summary of the process and best practices to follow. That’s something students often struggle to find in the text and other sources. The assignment requires pulling from multiple chapters and resources. The notebook summary included direct links to the information from various text chapters and digital marketing blogs. I also tested its accuracy with questions about an email assignment and had it create a useful study guide.

This will be so helpful for an assignment that student often miss steps and best practices as it draws from multiple parts of the text. — Answering questions will be helpful in assignments where students often miss steps and best practices that draw from multiple parts of the text and readings.

Students can create audio overviews of podcast hosts talking about a topic drawing from the sources. Impressively, when I asked for an Audio Overview explaining the value of a personal professional blog assignment to students it understood the student’s perspective of thinking blogs are outdated. It began, “As a student, I know you’re thinking blogs are outdated, but personal professional blogs are a great …” The Audio Overview also adjusted the text process for businesses and applied it to a personal branding perspective.

Going beyond Copilot in other areas.

I also plan on students leveraging new AI capabilities in Adobe Express and Google’s ImageFX in multiple classes. Our students have free access to Adobe Creative Suite where new AI capabilities go beyond Firefly generated images. In Express you can give it text prompts to create mockups of Instagram and Facebook posts, Instagram stories, YouTube thumbnails, etc.

Students' ideas will be able to be expressed even better with Abobe’s new text to create AI interface in Adobe Express along with its image creation capabilities with Firefly. — Students’ ideas can be expressed better with the text to create AI interface in Adobe Express along with the image creation capabilities of Firefly.

AI’s multimodal future is here.

That other morning I also dove deeper into new AI multimodal capabilities. It was so remarkable I recorded videos of my experience. I explored new live audio interactions in NotebookLM and created a demonstration of what’s possible with Google’s Gemini 2.0 multimodal live video.

I was blown away when testing the new ability to “Join” the conversation of the podcast hosts in NotebookLM’s Audio Overview. While the hosts explained the value of a personal professional blog, I interrupted asking questions with my voice.

Near the beginning, the hosts tell students to write about their unique skills. I clicked a “Join” button and they said something like,

“Looks like someone wants to talk.” I asked, “How do you know your unique skills?” They said “Good question,” gave good tips, and continued with the main subject. Later I interrupted and asked, “Can you summarize what you have covered so far?” They said sure, gave a nice summary, and then picked back up where they left off.

Finally, I interrupted to ask a common student question, “What if I’m nervous about publishing a public blog?” The hosts reassured me saying people value honesty and personality, not perfection. What really impressed me was the hosts answering questions about things not specifically in the sources. They could apply concepts from the sources to understand the unique perspective of a given audience.

Multimodal AI as a live co-worker.

This last demonstration of the new multimodal capabilities of AI is for my own use. With Gemini 2.0 in my Google AI Studio account, I could interact in real time using text, voice, video, or screen sharing.

The video below is a demonstration of what’s possible in live video and conversations with Gemini 2.0 as it “sees” what‘s on my screen. I had a conversation with it to get feedback on the outline for my new five-part AI integration workshop I’m planning this Spring for faculty on campus.

Writing the last two blog posts was time well spent.

Planning what I’ll do in the Spring and writing these last two blog posts has taken me two-three days. Because it was 100% human created there was a struggle and a time commitment. But that is how I learn. This knowledge is in my memory so I can explain it, apply it, or answer questions.

Talking to Gemini was helpful, but it doesn’t compare to the conversations I’ve had with colleagues. AI doesn’t know what it feels like to be a professor, professional, or human in this unprecedented moment. Let me know how you’re moving beyond AI bans and where you’re executing caution.

I have a lot of work to do to implement these ideas. That starting horn for the new semester is approaching fast.

100% Human Created!

Beyond AI Bans: An End of Year AI Integration Pep Talk for Educators.

AI image showing a university professor burning AI inspired by the book Fahrenheit 451.

December 24, 2024January 13, 2025 ~ K. Quesenberry ~ Leave a comment

In December 2022, my first experience with AI was using ChatGPT to write a blog article about social media marketing. I’d been practicing and teaching social media for over a decade, yet ChatGPT wrote an impressive and scary good article in less than a minute – something that may have take me hours!

How did you feel after your first use of ChatGPT? Since then I’ve had ups and downs with Generative AI. From full embrace and cautious integration to dystopian fear and overt avoidance. It’s been a long journey, but I’ve learned much along the way.

The end of the year is a time for reflection.

What I find I need at the end of a long hard year is a pep talk. Anyone else? December alone gifted us “12 days of OpenAI” and major updates from most AI companies like Google, Anthropic, Perplexity, Meta, Apple, Microsoft, IBM, and xAI. I’m still processing what happened in Fall classes and have just two weeks to update courses for Spring.

I can relate to what AI expert Marc Watkins says in his latest Substack,

“I need a reset. Truly, we all do. For the past two years, educators have been asked to reevaluate their teaching and assessments in the wake of ChatGPT, adopt or refuse it, develop policies, and become AI literate. Except generative AI isn’t a normal or novel development within our field of study we can attend some conferences or webinars to understand its impact to keep up with it. None of this has been normal…”

University faculty are woefully behind.

I’ve accomplished much since Fall 2022: Two books, four research articles, three conference presentations, a top teaching paper award, and multiple AI presentations to professionals and faculty. Yet, negatives have me losing sight of the positives.

This fall my LinkedIn feed felt full of posts and comments about how far behind university professors are in AI. I know critiques are valid. In my first adjunct appointment in 2009, a media professor still didn’t teach the Internet because “it was a fad.” Like any profession dinosaurs exist.

University faculty are leading AI adoption.

However, the profs I mostly interact with are working hard to learn and keep up. For every head-in-the-sand professor, there are plenty trying to keep their heads above water with the pace of AI change. My workload has increased with AI not decreased.

So it’s hard to read comments that generalize us all as behind and advocate for replacing us with AI teaching agents. The profs I follow, like Ethan Molick and Marc Watkins, aren’t just teaching but innovating AI in education and their professional disciplines.

Professors are old and boring.

Despite many more positive comments and evidence of grads excelling, human tendency is to focus on the negative. Years ago, I got a student comment,

“I can’t believe someone old enough to be my dad is teaching social media.”

Another student once told me I need to update my headshot because I don’t look like the website photo anymore. Then there’s the student who said my voice is monotone and boring. Ouch! Despite being in the minority, those comments still hurt and I have trouble forgetting them years later.

Professors have wisdom from experience.

Does age equate to being behind? I have a much bigger picture of the world and have lived through many waves of tech advancements. I’ve also spent nearly two decades practicing marketing and now a decade researching and teaching it. A week ago I received this comment from a student’s internship report,

“My academic background in marketing, particularly courses in social media marketing and digital, laid a solid foundation for this internship. Concepts learned in these courses proved instrumental in creating effective social media posts. Without these courses, my social content would have not been as effective or efficient.”

Great right? Yes, but I still struggle to get the negative out of my head. I know I’m not auditioning for America’s Got Talent, I’m an educator not an entertainer, so why can’t I let it go? Human brains have a negative bias. We all tend to engage, emphasize, and focus on the negative – something social media algorithms take advantage of to keep us scrolling.

So thanks to the grad from two years ago who recently gave me a LinkedIn shout-out for my project management software and HubSpot certificate integrations preparing him well. I also appreciate the student graduating this Spring who has had two internships and has already been hired into her dream sports marketing job. She thanked me for what she learned in my digital marketing and other classes to get her there.

We need grace, humility, and confidence.

Constructive criticism is key to learning and advancement, but you also can’t take it too much to heart. You’ll either be so discouraged you give up or you’ll become too timid to experiment for fear of the negative. I am in that moment right now.

I apologize to students and professionals in my field for the ways I was behind in AI advancement or days I wasn’t always engaging. Hopefully, there is room for grace. I’m also humble enough to take the things I can improve upon and implement them in this short window before next semester. To do this I need a boost of confidence.

So this is a pep talk to those profs and professionals who don’t have their head in the sand. You’re trying to keep your head above the water. I’m striving for humility to learn from critiques, grace for my failings, and confidence to head into the Spring semester – with the audacity to teach digital and social media marketing in my early 50s.

We need to be more human, more bold.

Speaking of audacious. It’s the motivation for my main article image generated by Google’s ImageFX. My prompt? Show a university professor burning AI inspired by Fahrenheit 451. My human fireworks is to not become replaced by AI teaching agents or young YouTubers selling top 10 strategies for social media success. Marketing thought leader Mark Schaefer inspired the image saying,

“AI has helped create a marketing pandemic of dull. It’s not your fault. Your company probably rewards you for being boring. You’re Google-sufficient and optimized. They’re trying to keep you in their box. But the AI bots are coming. You need to do something, and you need to do it now. It’s time to unleash the HUMAN fireworks in your content. There is no choice. You need to be audacious.”

Thanks for leading us to the future Mark (someone older than me). This is my audacious post that couldn’t be written by AI. AI can’t explain what it feels like to be a professor at this moment or a professional fearing their job loss. AI can’t know what it is to fear its own adoption or know what it is to have grace, humility, and confidence. Google’s AI Overview did give me a nice definition though,

“A state of being confident in one’s abilities while also acknowledging limitations and approaching situations with kindness and respect.”

In bold confidence we also need caution.

While we have no choice in adopting AI, we have a choice in how. Human agency still exists. I don’t want to make the mistakes we made with social media. Have you read Haidt’s book, The Anxious Generation?

Between my period of AI avoidance (pushing off meetings with faculty development) to AI embrace (agreeing to a 5 part AI integration workshop), I created a framework and process to strategically apply AI.

“Move fast and break things” may have helped develop AI, but I’d rather not. A benefit of academia I didn’t have in the fast-paced ad agency world is time for reflection. Marketing success is based on frameworks and processes. I needed that for integrating AI. The result was my summer AI blog series:

How I integrated AI in Fall classes.

Coming out of summer I went through every class and assignment to specifically look for places where I felt AI would be helpful for student learning and where it would not. I tried AI for tasks in my assignments and shared what I found with students.

Example of how I gave students specific ways to use AI for one assignment.

Each assignment had an AI section giving students specific aspects of the assignment to use AI and how. There was no general ban, but also no OK for all-out use. Using AI for everything shortchanges the learning process as the infographic below illustrates.

This graphic shows that in stages of learning you go through attention, encoding, storage, and retrieval. You need your brain to learn this process not just use AI for the process. — Click the image for a downloadable PDF of this graphic.

I also had a consistent general AI statement on my syllabi (see below). I directed students on when and how to cite AI, and what AI to use with links and directions to use it. I sent them to Copilot for convenience and financial considerations as all students had access to GPT-4 and DALL-E 3 free with their university Microsoft 365 account.

Beyond AI-specific uses in assignments, I had a general AI use policy.

I cautioned about AI copyright issues. I also didn’t want them using AI to complete an entire assignment – why I use TurnItIn’s AI checker. I never used it solely, but academia isn’t the only one using AI detection. A digital marketing professional guest speaker last term told students they use AI in many ways but use AI detectors for their writers. If a client is paying for human-created content, they want to ensure it.

Student uses of AI in assignments.

AI helped students brainstorm and express their ideas. Groups in Integrated Marketing Communications created campaigns for brands like Qdoba. In a class with few graphic design or art students, DALL-E through Copilot enabled them to create customized storyboards of their TV ads and YouTube bumper ads.

A custom storyboard for the Qdoba student team's IMC campaign using DALL-E via Copilot. — A custom storyboard for the Qdoba student team’s IMC campaign using DALL-E via Copilot.

We talked about AI content being great to sell ideas but there may be copyright issues publishing it. There’s also a potential consumer backlash as highlighted in recent Adage articles and Harris Polls.

Example Copilot prompt to find social media influencers. — Students used Copilot to find influencers for their brand social media projects following the prompt framework below.

In social media marketing, students used AI to generate variations of social content captions. Our social media simulation requires many organic posts that must vary for engagement and reach (as with real social posts). Students wrote the main message but let AI create versions to word counts for each social platform. For a brand’s social strategies, they used AI to research influencers, get hashtag ideas, and create images to mock up brand social media posts.

I also taught them prompts to get better results. Using the prompt framework below got me and my students much better results. I heard from colleagues at other universities who are using this framework for their students and getting better results as well.

AI Prompt Framework Template with 1. Task/Goal 2. AI Persona 3. AI Audience 4. AI Task 5. AI Data 6. Evaluate Results. — Click the image to download a PDF of this AI Prompt Framework Template.

What’s to come for the new year?

In my next post, I’ll share my plans for the Spring. Recent AI developments have opened up more possibilities. I’ll explain how I’m using NotebookLM as an AI tutor for one class. I’ll share how I’m going beyond Copilot to leverage new AI capabilities in Adobe Express and Google’s ImageFX.

I’ll also get deeper into new multimodal capabilities of AI with videos exploring live audio interactions in NotebookLM’s Audio Overview and a demonstration of live video conversations with Gemini 2.0 as it “sees” what‘s on my screen.

Banning AI and being behind in AI is the furthest from my mind. I want contribute to how AI can and should (or should not) advance marketing practice and teaching to better prepare us all for the AI revolution.

What have been your struggles and successes with AI?

100% Human Created!

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