Why university lecturers are turning to AI in classes | Letters

Dr Talia Hussain says there is no incentive for lecturers to invest hours preparing a module they may teach only once

I disagree with the decision of lecturers to use artificial intelligence to create teaching materials (‘We could have asked ChatGPT’: students fight back over course taught by AI, 20 November), though I understand the pressures and incentives that they are responding to.

As a recent doctoral graduate, I can only get fixed or zero-hours teaching contracts. Each taught hour may take days of preparation that is not accounted for in the pay formula. I have developed material including work plans, assessments, reading lists and tutorial tasks for three different modules, requiring much more time than I was paid for. If I were able to reuse these materials, my time investment would pay off. Budget cuts and hiring freezes meant that I delivered these modules once. There is simply no incentive for someone to invest time in a module that they may teach only once on a precarious contract.