The Pharmacy Fika Crew talks with Conan MacDougall, PharmD, MAS, BCPS, BCIDP from the University of California San Francisco about the best uses of artificial intelligence (AI) to support learning. There are lots of "cool tools" that can summarize content and generate ideas (efficiently and effortlessly), but the work of learning requires some degree of desirable difficulty. How do we find the right balance and use AI tools wisely?

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Resources

Bastani H, Bastani O, Sungu A, et al. Generative AI Can Harm Learning. The Wharton School Research Paper, July 15, 2024.

Pardos ZA, Bhandari S. ChatGPT-generated help produces learning gains equivalent to human tutor-authored help on mathematics skills. PLOS One 2024. doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0304013

Kestin G, Miller K, Klales A, et al. AI Tutoring Outperforms Active Learning. Nature Portfolio (Preprint, Under Review)

Mollick E. One Useful Thing. Substack (a subscription is free, but you can financially support this work!) and for the latest info, check out his X feed: https://twitter.com/emollick

Wharton Generative AI Labs (website). Lots of excellent resources and videos related to AI use for educational purposes ... regularly updated.

YouTube Video: How does ChatGPT work? Explained by Deep-Fake Ryan Gosling

YouTube Video: How RAG makes LLMs like ChatGPT more accurate and up-to-date. By Deep-Fake Chance The Rapper.

Google’s NotebookLM: https://notebooklm.google/

Coursera: Accelerate your Learning with ChatGPT by Jules White and Barbara Oakley.

Bowen JA, Watson CE. Teaching with AI. A Practical Guide to a New Era of Human Learning. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press, 2024

2025 American Association of Colleges of Pharmacy (AACP) AI Institute: https://www.aacp.org/event/2025-artificial-intelligence-ai-pharmacy-education-institute

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The Pharmacy Fika podcast is a positive and compassionate “place” (a virtual community) where pharmacy and other health professions educators gather to discuss teaching, learning, scholarship, and academic life… plus the snacks that support their best work. So grab your favorite beverage and listen to the Pharmacy Fika podcast with your colleagues.

The Co-Hosts are:

Stuart T. Haines (Executive Producer), University of Mississippi School of Pharmacy – sthaines@olemiss.edu
Tina Brock, University of Melbourne Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry, and Health Sciences - tina.brock@unimelb.edu.au
Jeff Cain, University of Kentucky College of Pharmacy - jeff.cain@uky.edu
Kristin Janke, University of Minnesota College of Pharmacy - janke006@umn.edu

Disclaimer (inspired by Whad’Ya Know?): All opinions expressed on the Pharmacy Fika podcast are well-reasoned and insightful. Needless to say, they are ours and our guests alone, and not those of our employing institutions.

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