AI Use Case Submission
Title
The Roderick Model: A Real-Time AI Framework for Experiential Learning, Authentic Assessment, and Cross-Disciplinary Instruction
Context
As a Professor of Psychology, one of my long-standing instructional goals has been to move students beyond simply learning psychological concepts toward experiencing them in authentic, real-world contexts. General Psychology is a cornerstone General Education course that serves students from virtually every academic discipline within the Tennessee Board of Regents system. While only a small percentage of my students become psychology majors, every student will ultimately work with, lead, educate, care for, supervise, or serve other people.
Traditional lecture-based instruction effectively introduces concepts, but it often falls short in helping students apply those concepts to real human interactions. I wanted to create an instructional model where learning became an active process of discovery, where students could experience course content rather than simply be introduced to it.
Application
To accomplish this goal, I developed Roderick, a real-time AI instructional assistant designed to serve as an authentic counseling client during live classroom instruction.
Rather than functioning as a content generator, Roderick serves as an interactive teaching partner that allows students to engage in realistic conversations requiring them to apply psychological theories, communication skills, critical thinking, empathy, and problem-solving in real time.
Students conduct mock counseling sessions with Roderick while I facilitate the learning experience by guiding discussion, connecting observations to course concepts, and providing immediate instructional feedback. Students evaluate the same case through multiple psychological perspectives, including:
- Humanistic
- Cognitive
- Rational-Emotive Behavior Therapy (REBT)
- Psychoanalytic
- Developmental
- Biological approaches
This instructional strategy transforms learning from passive content delivery into experiential learning. Students are no longer simply reading about counseling, communication, motivation, cognition, or human behavior. They are actively experiencing these concepts as they unfold during authentic interactions.
Equally important, this model serves as both a teaching strategy and an assessment tool. Faculty can observe student reasoning, communication, application of theory, ethical decision-making, and critical thinking during live interactions, providing meaningful formative assessment beyond traditional examinations.
Although developed in General Psychology, the instructional framework is intentionally scalable and transferable. The same pedagogical strategy can be adapted across numerous disciplines, including nursing, education, criminal justice, business, health sciences, workforce development, and technical education, wherever students benefit from realistic simulations, professional communication, and experiential learning.
Outcomes
The most significant outcome has been the extraordinary level of student engagement generated by this instructional model. Students consistently report that interacting with Roderick makes psychological concepts more understandable, memorable, and personally meaningful because they are actively participating in the learning process instead of passively receiving information.
Rather than memorizing definitions for an examination, students discover how psychological concepts operate in authentic situations. This approach strengthens critical thinking, communication, empathy, problem-solving, and the ability to transfer classroom learning into professional practice.
Because General Psychology is a General Education course, this model introduces responsible AI use to students from virtually every academic program, reinforcing the broader mission of the Tennessee Board of Regents General Education Core by helping students connect academic knowledge with real-world application regardless of their chosen discipline.
Student feedback has been consistently and overwhelmingly positive. Their enthusiasm, participation, and reflections demonstrate that experiential learning through AI creates deeper engagement and stronger conceptual understanding than traditional instructional methods alone.
This work has also been presented publicly through faculty development workshops and conference presentations, including a live demonstration and student panel discussion. During these sessions, students described firsthand how interacting with Roderick enhanced their confidence, engagement, and understanding of course material. These presentations provide evidence that the model is not theoretical. It has been successfully implemented and validated through authentic classroom practice.
Impact and Lessons Learned
The Roderick model demonstrates that artificial intelligence can serve as much more than a productivity tool. It represents a scalable pedagogical strategy that enhances teaching, learning, and authentic assessment while preserving the essential role of faculty.
I believe this model can serve as a practical AI use case for the TBR AI Exchange because it illustrates how AI can support experiential learning across disciplines. While developed within psychology, its instructional design can be adapted to numerous educational and workforce settings where students learn best through realistic practice, guided reflection, and authentic application.
The greatest lesson learned is that students remember experiences far longer than lectures. When students are given opportunities to experience concepts rather than simply hear about them, learning becomes more meaningful, transferable, and enduring. AI makes these experiences possible in ways that are consistent, scalable, and accessible while allowing faculty to remain the architects of instruction and the evaluators of student learning.