Psychology Teachers, Postsecondary

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

AI: Fully automatable - AI can draft syllabi, homework assignments, handouts, and adapt them to learning objectives and course level, producing ready-to-use course materials with minimal human editing.

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

AI: Fully automatable - Maintaining attendance, gradebooks, and administrative records is routine data management that AI and integrated information systems can reliably automate.

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

AI: Fully automatable - AI can compile exam questions, administer tests via proctoring platforms, and grade many exam types automatically, enabling end-to-end exam workflows when integrated with assessment systems.

Select and obtain materials and supplies, such as textbooks.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can research, compare, recommend textbooks and supplies and—in environments with procurement integrations—automatically place orders and track acquisitions, effectively handling selection and obtaining tasks.

Develop and use multimedia course materials and other current technology, such as online courses.

AI: Fully automatable - By 2025 AI tools can routinely generate and assemble multimedia course materials, create interactive modules and videos, and integrate them into online courses with minimal human effort.

Compile bibliographies of specialized materials for outside reading assignments.

AI: Fully automatable - AI can efficiently search academic databases and compile accurate, up-to-date bibliographies tailored to specialized reading lists with high reliability.

Prepare and deliver lectures to undergraduate or graduate students on topics such as abnormal psychology, cognitive processes, and work motivation.

AI: Partial - AI can prepare high-quality lecture content and even deliver recorded or scripted lectures, but cannot fully reproduce the real-time pedagogical responsiveness, class facilitation, and nuanced interaction of an in-person instructor.

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

AI: Partial - AI can fully automate grading for objective assessments and provide rubric-based feedback on many assignments, but subjective evaluation of complex papers and nuanced clinical/lab work still requires human judgment and oversight.

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

AI: Partial - AI can analyze learning data, propose curriculum changes, and generate course content and pedagogy suggestions, but final curriculum planning and accreditation-aligned decisions require human governance and contextual judgment.

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

AI: Partial - AI can continuously scan, summarize, and synthesize current literature and virtually simulate discussions, but it cannot fully replace the human aspects of collegial networking and in-person conference participation.

Initiate, facilitate, and moderate classroom discussions.

AI: Partial - AI can initiate and moderate online or text-based discussions and assist in prompting and summarizing, but it lacks full pedagogical judgment, real-time classroom presence, and the nuanced social/emotional cues of a human instructor.

Supervise students' laboratory work.

AI: Partial - AI can support lab supervision through protocol guidance, remote monitoring, and safety checks, but cannot fully replace the hands-on oversight, immediate hazard response, and responsibility of an in-person supervisor.

Provide clinical services to clients, such as assessing psychological problems and conducting psychotherapy.

AI: Partial - AI can provide assessments, therapeutic exercises, and preliminary support (e.g., CBT tools), but cannot fully deliver accountable clinical services, manage crises, or meet legal and ethical requirements for psychotherapy.

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

AI: Partial - AI can assist with mentoring, feedback, and managing student work and data but cannot fully replace human judgment, accreditation responsibilities, and empathetic mentorship required for supervising teaching, internships, and research.

Maintain regularly scheduled office hours to advise and assist students.

AI: Partial - AI can provide scheduled, on-demand advising, answer routine questions, and triage student needs, but cannot fully replace human mentorship, confidentiality handling, and sensitive judgement required in office hours.

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

AI: Partial - AI can automate literature reviews, data analysis, and drafting of manuscripts, but original conceptual contributions, experimental design, ethical oversight, and accountable authorship still require human researchers.

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

AI: Partial - AI can offer personalized curriculum and career guidance using data and labor-market signals, yet it cannot fully account for individual nuances, institutional constraints, or provide the relational mentoring students often need.

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

AI: Partial - AI can analyze policy documents, draft minutes and recommendations, and help prepare materials for committees, but it cannot assume fiduciary responsibility or the political and ethical judgment required for governance roles.

Perform administrative duties, such as serving as department head.

AI: Partial - AI can automate many administrative tasks (scheduling, reporting, policy drafting) but cannot assume the full leadership, institutional authority, and political/ethical accountability of a department head.

Collaborate with colleagues to address teaching and research issues.

AI: Partial - AI can facilitate collaboration by summarizing literature, coordinating edits, and suggesting solutions, but genuine collegial negotiation, trust-building, and shared academic decision-making remain human-centric.

Participate in student recruitment, registration, and placement activities.

AI: Partial - AI can handle outreach, candidate screening, communications, and placement-matching algorithms, yet cannot fully perform official enrollment actions or the relationship-building and final human decision-making in recruitment and placement.

Supervise the clinical work of practicum students.

AI: Partial - AI can support clinical supervision with case summaries, risk flagging, and training guidance, but cannot bear legal/licensed responsibility or provide the nuanced ethical and interpersonal judgment required for sole clinical supervision.

Provide professional consulting services to government or industry.

AI: Partial - AI can generate analyses, policy briefs, and technical recommendations for government or industry, but professional consulting typically requires client relationship management, contextual negotiation, and liability-bearing roles that AI cannot fully assume.

Write grant proposals to procure external research funding.

AI: Partial - AI can draft literature reviews, aims, budgets, and boilerplate text to produce competitive proposals, but cannot independently manage institutional commitments, PI responsibilities, or the strategic relationship-building often needed to secure funding.

Review books and journal articles for potential publication.

AI: Partial - AI can perform detailed critiques, check methods and clarity, and produce reviewer-style comments, yet domain-expert judgment, ethical oversight, and editorial responsibility make full replacement unlikely.

Act as advisers to student organizations.

AI: Partial - AI can advise student organizations on planning, governance, and risk mitigation and provide ready-to-use resources, but cannot fulfill official advisor responsibilities that require institutional accountability and in-person mentorship.

Participate in campus and community events.

AI: Partial - AI can create content, run virtual sessions, and help organize events, but participation in live, in-person campus and community events often requires physical presence, local relationships, and representational duties that AI cannot fully perform.