Lately, I’ve had more and more conversations with colleagues and staff members about AI. What I’ve noticed across these conversations is that while there’s broad awareness of basic tools, the depth of understanding and usage of those tools is extremely varied.
I’ve seen students use it (and misuse it) for just about everything. I’ve seen faculty use it to prepare for class and build out lesson flows. And kudos to the few I’ve seen using it to simulate real-world learning situations — in fields like nursing and computer networking.
But when I talk with college administrators, I see much less engagement with AI in their daily work. And honestly, I get it. A college administrator’s day is different every single day. That makes learning how to use AI uniquely challenging — because how can you rely on AI to help solve problems when you don’t even know what the problems will be? It takes experimentation, and most of us don’t have time for trial and error.
For colleges with limited staff and tight budgets, that time is even harder to find. But that’s exactly where AI can help the most. Used wisely, it can level the playing field — offering new ways to boost efficiency, automate routine tasks and make data-informed decisions without needing a large tech team. In this article I share some practical get-started advice, and focus on tools that are either free, already built into what you’re using or worth the investment because of the time it saves.
Using AI for communications
Before you ask AI to help you write, you first need to teach it how you write. The good news? You’re coming to AI with a lifetime of writing behind you — with plenty of samples it can learn from to emulate your voice.
When I got started, I gave it what I considered my best writing — both short and long examples — like staff communications, letters of recommendation, articles and even grant proposals. These helped the tool get a clear sense of how I express ideas and structure my thoughts.
It’s important to note that in my experience, only the paid version of ChatGPT does this well ($20 per month currently). It’s the only mainstream AI tool (so far) with the memory function that can carry what it learns about you from one session to the next. Gemini and Copilot are useful in other ways — which I will get to — but if you want AI that can truly capture your tone and writing style, the paid version of ChatGPT is the best option right now.
And yes — just like a new colleague — the more you work with it, the more it learns about you, your college, and how you think and write. Here are some sample ChatGPT prompts to get started:
- “I’m going to share several examples of my writing. Please review them and learn my tone, word choice, and structure. After, I’ll ask you to help me draft messages in my voice.” → Then paste in three to five writing samples.
- “Here are several emails I recently wrote to staff. I want to use this as a reference for future messages. Learn my writing style from this and let me know what you notice about how I communicate.” → Paste the samples and see how the AI responds. It’s a great way to test if it “gets” your style.
- “I’m sharing a few different types of writing I’ve done — an article, an email and a short announcement. Please study them and summarize the common patterns you see in my writing style, including tone, sentence length, formality, and how I open and close messages. I’ll use this to help you write like me in future drafts.” → Paste in two to four varied examples.
When writing, I recommend you do a quick draft yourself before using AI. It’s a great polisher — and it does a fantastic job if you’ve already laid out the core concepts and structure. In many ways, your rough draft becomes the prompt — and the better the prompt, the better the output.
If you’ve already taught AI your writing style, combining that with your draft gives you the best shot at a final product that is authentic, but saves you lots of time. If you start from scratch and let AI take the lead, the result will almost always sound less like you.
Writing on your own first is also one of the best ways to keep AI from hallucinating — or giving you false or inaccurate statements. When you start with your own ideas and voice, AI works as a refining tool rather than a replacement. Here is an exercise to test this strategy:
- Draft a quick bulleted outline or a rough draft.
- Ask AI to revise it in your tone or clean up the structure.
- Always fact-check anything AI suggests before sharing.
Even when AI gets the tone and structure just right, always make a final pass for yourself. Think of AI as your assistant — not your editor-in-chief. It’s fast and helpful, but it doesn’t know your audience the way you do, and it definitely doesn’t have your instincts.
Give everything a last human read before you hit send or publish. Tweak a word here or there, add a sentence that sounds more like something you’d actually say, and cut anything that feels a little off.
Choosing the right AI tool for the task
Each AI tool does something a little different. When I need to learn about something quickly — but also go deeper than just a surface summary — I turn to Google’s Gemini. Its Deep Research feature is one of the best tools I’ve found when I need to get smart on a topic fast.
Here’s what makes it work — it doesn’t just spit out an answer. It starts by building a research plan based on your question. You can look it over and make changes to focus it where you need. Once you approve the plan, it pulls together a full report, often several pages long, with clickable sources if you want to go deeper. It saves me hours of hunting things down on my own.
Even better, you can use Deep Research in the free version of Gemini, with up to three research reports per week at no cost. For most users, that’s enough to try it out and start building AI into your workflow without a financial commitment. If you find yourself relying on it more often, Gemini Advanced is available through a paid upgrade.
As an example, I recently used Gemini to get a better understanding of the different versions of the federal appropriations bills — what the House proposed, how the Senate changed and added to it, and how all of that compared to the White House budget. I was especially focused on how these proposals would impact community college students. The report Gemini pulled together helped me cut through hundreds of pages of budget language and news coverage. I used that research to help shape the content and focus of the PTK Advocacy Center’s work on Pell Grant funding — see: www.ptk.org/Pell.
When it comes to generating visuals, Gemini stands out — at least in my experience — as stronger than ChatGPT. This is especially true if you’re looking for inspiration for infographics, visual layout or design-driven content. While both tools can help brainstorm ideas, Gemini tends to produce more structured and visually intuitive suggestions. If you compare the two side by side on a visual task, you’ll likely notice the difference in clarity and layout-focused thinking.
Using Gemini and ChatGPT together has become part of my regular workflow. Gemini gives me fast, focused research — great for understanding complex topics or checking for the latest updates. ChatGPT helps me take what I’ve learned and shape it into clear, useful writing. Together, they’re like the best research assistant and the best writing assistant working side by side — and they’re always available, even at midnight before a big deadline.
Let’s not forget about convenience. If you’re already using Microsoft 365, Copilot is the most convenient tool to reach for. It’s right there inside Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint — which means you don’t have to copy and paste anything into a separate tool. You can ask it to summarize an email thread, rewrite a paragraph or make a PowerPoint slide more concise, all without leaving the file.
Keep in mind that Copilot doesn’t have the ability to truly learn your voice the way ChatGPT does, but you can tell it what kind of tone you want — professional, casual, straightforward — and it will adjust accordingly. It’s especially useful when you’re in the middle of a document and just need quick help moving something along.
Final thoughts
AI isn’t just another tech trend — it’s a practical tool that can help you move faster, think more clearly and get more done with less. And that matters, especially for community colleges where resources are stretched, and staff often wear multiple hats.
Even if you are on a tight budget, AI can be a game-changer. It can turn a one-person communications office into something that runs like a full team. It can help an overextended administrator stay on top of complex policy changes, draft grant proposals and communicate clearly with stakeholders — all before lunch. These tools won’t replace your team, but they can extend it in ways that truly matter.
Many of the most effective AI tools — like Gemini’s Deep Research or ChatGPT’s writing support — are free or low-cost, and they’re available to anyone with an internet connection. That’s what makes this moment different. For the first time, cutting-edge capability isn’t limited to well-funded institutions. AI can level the playing field — if we let it.
So start where it makes sense. Experiment a little. Use AI to reclaim your time and refocus your energy on the things only you can do. Because in places where opportunity is often harder to come by, the work you do — and the way you lead — matters more than ever.
About Phi Theta Kappa
Phi Theta Kappa is the first national honor society recognizing the academic achievement of students at associate degree-granting colleges and helping them to grow as scholars and leaders. Recognized by the American Association of Community Colleges as the official honor society for two-year colleges, the PTK comprises 4.5 million members and nearly 1,250 chapters in 11 countries, with approximately 220,000 active members in the nation’s colleges. Learn more at http://ptk.org.
