Harry Potter And Artificial Intelligence Meet In This Literature Class
A North Campus course is merging the worlds of Artificial Intelligence and literature to create a unique learning experience for students at Miami Dade College.
The exploratory initiative—Harry Potter and the Secret Power of AI—uses AI to analyze the fantasy novel series.
A cohort featuring 22 Honors College students, in majors such as computer science and communications, is conducting the study for their Issues in Literature & Culture—LIT 2480—class this fall.
“It’s an experiment,” said Carmen Bucher, one of the associate professors teaching the course. “There hasn’t been, that we know, anyone who has fed an entire series, implementing AI to read it.”
The idea is one of 10 projects supported by the President’s Innovation Fund. It’s being supported by a two-year $10,000 grant, the majority of which will be used to pay for an intern who will assist students with the AI portion of the class.
Studying the Harry Potter series is not a new concept at MDC. It was first offered as a normal literature class in 2018 and has been taught at North, West, Wolfson and Eduardo J. Padrón campuses.
However, this fall’s course is the first to incorporate AI. Students in the class are aiming to apply technology to learn about literary techniques—such as alliteration, metaphors and similes.
In addition to AI, the class implements literary elements from the book into class activities. For example, students are sorted into four different Harry Potter houses—Slytherin, Ravenclaw, Hufflepuff and Gryffindor—where they compete for points by conducting activities such as Kahoot games—a competition-style quiz used in schools to study.
“The class feels like you are in a classroom at Hogwarts trying to compete with your classmates for points,” said Angelica Pita, a second-year criminal justice student taking the 16-week course. “It gets very competitive but we are all having fun.”
The idea for the hybrid course was born last year after the North Campus announced it was opening an AI Center. After the announcement of the new facility, Bucher reached out to George Gabb, a computer science associate professor, to carry out her vision.
“To be able to see the general population of students engaging in having these discussions about this technology that’s going to be shaping the future of the workforce and the work that we do is very rewarding,” Gabb said.
Besides the course, Gabb and Bucher partnered with Stephanie Garcia—the associate director of Learning Resources at North Campus—to create a LibGuide. The open-source website directs users to resources such as visuals, materials and information that can be used as a course guide.
The Harry Potter AI LibGuide is expected to be active within the next year.
Meanwhile, the course is already inspiring new ideas. There are plans to possibly expand the technology in subjects such as philosophy, business and math at various campuses.
“We’re heading into the future where technology is the height of everything we do,” said Ulysses del Pino, a second-year political science student taking the Harry Potter AI class. “I’m very excited to see what I can do as a poli-sci major and how I can use this AI project to learn more now and to use it later on in my career.”
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