Integrating AI in Teaching

Since 2024, Chinese higher education has rapidly adopted smart education practices, integrating AI-enabled solutions in classrooms, tutoring, assessments, and support systems to foster adaptive learning environments. While elite institutions like Beijing Normal University and Huazhong University of Science and Technology have advanced intelligent classroom evaluations and academic early warning mechanisms, addressing the needs of over two million educators in non-elite institutions remains a challenge. This article explores “micro-empowerment” in AI-enhanced teaching through a case study of D majors at S Open University, focusing on practical applications like AI-assisted writing and automated grading. A pilot project for AI-empowered capstone assignments demonstrated the success of teaching reforms, showing high consistency between AI and human evaluations while reducing workloads. It highlights the need for scalable AI tools, robust training data, and educator-developer collaboration to advance inclusive and efficient teaching practices.