7 Questions on Experiential Learning at Indiana U

• 07/19/23

The same thing will apply to how we utilize powerful tools like AI in developing our work and analyzing information. One of the key things that AI will offer us is analyzing the information that we have, compartmentalizing it, making it useful. It's like we're in an enormous vault underground somewhere and we have 4,000 tons of information. How do we make use of it? That's a tremendous thing that AI can contribute to what we'll do in the future.

I suspect, however, that one of the charming things about creativity is its idiosyncratic nature. People talk about AI painting Van Gogh paintings: AI can analyze a number of Van Gogh paintings and determine he used green next to alizarin crimson and he didn't allow it to mix together to make brown, and he did that in 500 paintings. But one day, if he'd lived long enough, Van Gogh might have gotten up and said, "You know what? I hate alizarin crimson. Now I'm going to use ultramarine, violet, and orange." That's the idiosyncratic nature of a human intelligence.

Ultimately, students need to be well grounded in the fundamentals of what creates powerful advertising. And at the same time, they need to learn some of the technologies to execute it. But it can't get to the point where the technology becomes more important than understanding what it is we're trying to do.

CT: Have there been any challenges or surprises that came up along the way when you're working with students on experiential learning projects?

Schwab: Well, it's often surprising to me that it all comes together at the end. I'm always saying, "Oh my God, we have a presentation in two days and they've got nothing and it's all going to blow up. It's not going to work." And you know, they always surprise me. They come through; they have great ideas. I don't know why I'm always surprised — I guess I'm just a worrier. It's incredible how much students can learn and how fast if they're truly committed to learning.

CT: Any final advice?

Schwab: What I've learned about myself a teacher is that I have to come back to what I know really well, and what I know really well is something that I did for a long time before I went to teaching: I persuaded consumers to consider products. And I don't mean it to sound weird or impersonal, but I think about my students as brands or products that are going out into this vast marketplace where they're going to be competitive against other students who are basically other brands. If you think about going down a supermarket aisle, there might be 400 brands of cereal. How do you choose one over the other? I try to design experiences for students that are going to make them stand out when they're interviewing for a job or they're showing people their portfolios. So my advice would be to think about what you can do with your students that will make them more successful in the field once they leave school.