Faculty are experts in their disciplines but may not have pedagogical training. A purpose-built AI agent can provide teaching support that helps instructors be more effective.
Teaching effectiveness varies:
Students benefit when instructors improve. Most instructors want to improve. The gap is support.
A vertical AI agent for teaching support provides just-in-time pedagogical assistance tailored to instructors' contexts.
For planning:
Outcome Alignment: Help instructors connect activities to learning outcomes.
Assessment Design: Suggest assessment approaches for different learning goals.
Active Learning Ideas: Recommend engagement strategies for content types.
Schedule Optimization: Balance content coverage with learning depth.
For execution:
Discussion Prompts: Generate questions that promote critical thinking.
Explanation Alternatives: Offer different ways to explain difficult concepts.
Feedback Drafting: Suggest constructive feedback on student work.
Reflection Prompts: Help instructors learn from teaching experiences.
For improvement:
Engagement Visibility: Show patterns in student engagement with content.
Assessment Analysis: Highlight where students struggle.
Comparative Context: How does this course compare to benchmarks?
Improvement Suggestions: Based on evidence, what changes might help?
Teaching support must respect instructor autonomy:
Teaching data is sensitive. Instructors must trust that information isn't used against them.
Better teaching produces better learning. AI agents can make pedagogical support more accessible—when built with respect for academic freedom and instructor autonomy.
*Universities exploring teaching support AI should prioritize platforms that protect instructor confidentiality, respect academic freedom, and provide implementation partnerships that understand faculty culture. The goal is instructor empowerment—not surveillance that undermines teaching.*