Abstract
The explosion of artificial intelligence tools in recent years has created a rich environment for scholars, both in improved research and in the creation of novel methodologies. Yet in conceptually abstract fields like the social sciences these tools may prove useful as well. I present three AI-enabled methods for enhanced instructional ability, each targeting a different component of the learning and instructional process, and unified under a framework known as ClassFactory. ClassFactory aims to assist instructors in three key areas of lesson preparation, course alignment, and student assessment. ClassFactory includes BeamerBot: an AI-powered lesson generator yielding a set of lecture slides in LaTeX; ConceptWeb: a module leveraging AI to perform relation extraction and community detection methods to generate interactive knowledge graphs; and QuizMaker: an automated quiz generator drawing directly from course readings. Taken together, these methods have the potential to significantly reduce instructor administrative workload while simultaneously enhancing student learning.
