Political Science Teachers, Postsecondary

Prepare course materials, such as syllabi, homework assignments, and handouts.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can generate detailed syllabi, assignments, and handouts tailored to learning objectives with minimal human input.

Maintain student attendance records, grades, and other required records.

AI: Fully automatable - AI-integrated systems can reliably record attendance, maintain gradebooks, and produce required records automatically.

Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can efficiently search literature, identify relevant sources, and generate correctly formatted bibliographies for specialized reading assignments.

Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can research, draft, and format competitive grant proposals and budgets to a near-final state, although final strategic choices and institutional approvals remain human responsibilities.

Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as classical political thought, international relations, and democracy and citizenship.

AI: Partial - AI can generate and deliver prerecorded lectures and materials but lacks full real-time interactive judgment and classroom presence.

Evaluate and grade students' class work, assignments, and papers.

AI: Partial - AI can accurately grade objective work and provide draft feedback on essays but struggles with nuanced, high-stakes, and integrity-affected judgments.

Compile, administer, and grade examinations, or assign this work to others.

AI: Partial - AI can create and auto-grade many exam items and assist with administration, but secure proctoring and final oversight for high-stakes tests still require humans.

Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.

AI: Partial - AI can seed and moderate online discussions and keep them on-topic but cannot fully replicate human facilitation of live classroom dynamics and subtle social cues.

Keep abreast of developments in the field by reading current literature, talking with colleagues, and participating in professional conferences.

AI: Partial - AI can monitor and summarize new literature and flag developments but cannot replace human networking, conversations, and conference participation.

Conduct research in a particular field of knowledge and publish findings in professional journals, books, or electronic media.

AI: Partial - AI can accelerate literature reviews, data analysis, and drafting but cannot independently conceive, ethically conduct, and take scholarly responsibility for original research.

Plan, evaluate, and revise curricula, course content, course materials, and methods of instruction.

AI: Partial - AI can propose curriculum revisions and analyze outcomes, but decisions require contextual judgment, accreditation knowledge, and stakeholder consensus.

Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.

AI: Partial - AI can provide routine advising and 24/7 answers but cannot replace the mentoring, nuanced judgment, and personal support of in-person office hours.

Advise students on academic and vocational curricula and on career issues.

AI: Partial - AI can provide personalized curricular and career recommendations based on data but lacks institutional authority, nuanced context awareness, and the mentorship relationships to fully replace a human advisor.

Supervise undergraduate or graduate teaching, internship, and research work.

AI: Partial - AI can support supervision by providing feedback, monitoring progress, and suggesting resources, but cannot assume full responsibility for mentoring, ethical oversight, and formal evaluation.

Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks.

AI: Partial - AI can analyze course needs and recommend textbooks and materials, but cannot complete procurement transactions or fully account for institutional purchasing rules and instructor preferences.

Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.

AI: Partial - AI can automate many administrative tasks and provide decision support, but cannot fulfill the leadership, legal authority, and human consensus-building required of a department head.

Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.

AI: Partial - AI can facilitate collaboration by generating documents, coordinating schedules, and suggesting solutions, but cannot fully replicate human collegial interaction and shared decision-making.

Serve on academic or administrative committees that deal with institutional policies, departmental matters, and academic issues.

AI: Partial - AI can draft policy briefs and prepare materials for committees, but cannot serve as an official committee member with institutional representation and binding decision-making authority.

Participate in campus and community events.

AI: Partial - AI can produce event materials, support outreach, and participate virtually, but cannot authentically attend, network, or represent the institution in person.

Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.

AI: Partial - AI can power recruitment outreach, streamline registration workflows, and assist placement matching, but cannot fully replace human judgment, relationship-building, and official admissions or placement decisions.

Act as advisers to student organizations.

AI: Partial - AI can provide tailored advice, meeting agendas, and resources to student organizations but cannot fully replicate the ongoing interpersonal mentoring, institutional authority, and in-person presence of a human adviser.

Provide professional consulting services to government or industry.

AI: Partial - AI can generate policy analyses, briefings, and evidence-based recommendations for government or industry clients but cannot fully substitute for client-facing judgment, ethical accountability, and relationship-driven consulting workflows.