By Timothy Ritterbusch, Staff Writer
Wheaton College is piloting BoodleBox AI, an artificial intelligence platform, in an effort to benefit students, staff and faculty while maintaining institutional and academic integrity. Wheaton began the pilot project on Feb. 19, making BoodleBox’s platform available to select staff and faculty, with room for future expansion.
BoodleBox, which describes itself as “AI built for lifelong learning and work,” has been integrated into numerous universities throughout the country. The platform enables users within a campus to work together using a wide range of AI tools, including models from Anthropic and OpenAI, while also giving schools greater control over how tools are used.
Wheaton Chief Information Officer Alan Wolff said that BoodleBox offers the college better oversight of how AI is used on campus. Students putting sensitive information into AI tools is a major concern for the college, Wolff said. Notably, BoodleBox is compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), which protects the privacy of student records.
Many colleges and universities have chosen to give students access to paid AI tools like ChatGPT Edu. Cedarville University became the first Christian college or university to give students access to that program in January.
Wolff also noted that BoodleBox will be more affordable than comparable platforms like ChatGPT Edu, in the event that Wheaton chooses to invest in the platform after the pilot. Additionally, the platform offers greater transparency in AI use — something useful for professors seeking to implement AI in their classrooms.
According to Chad Rynbrandt, vice president for finance and operations, Wheaton chose to try BoodleBox because of how it can streamline the work of staff and faculty, particularly in campus operations. “There are so many places where it can be an accelerant, that investing in a platform that can help us with some of those areas of acceleration is worthwhile to consider now,” Rynbrandt said.
President Philip Ryken noted that exploring the possibilities of AI responsibly is critical for Wheaton’s mission as an institution of higher education.
Ryken noted that most future Wheaton graduates will use AI in various capacities. “We need to make sure that they have the discernment to know how to use AI tools in ways that increase — not decrease — human agency, creativity and beauty,” said Ryken.
Student Government Association Secretary for Sustainability and Operations Kirsten Lim, a senior studying business economics, said that BoodleBox offers greater security for Wheaton. Lim is co-chair of Wheaton’s Student Technology and Auxiliary Services Student Advisory Council, which advises Wheaton’s chief information officer.
“This would be a better way to approach it because information is protected, and the responsible usage of AI will be promoted,” Lim said.
Even with a privacy-focused option like BoodleBox, reservations remain. Philosophy professor Sarah Borden argued that as Wheaton considers implementing AI, ethical concerns must come first. “We ought first and foremost to be thinking in terms of the types of uses that aid human flourishing and the types of uses that harm human flourishing,” Borden said.
Wheaton’s stance on AI came to the forefront at the town hall chapel in early February, where senior business major Andrew Johnston asked Ryken about Wheaton’s approach to AI. At the time, Ryken emphasized the importance of using AI wisely. He said that the challenge is “actually knowing when not to use the tools and knowing the humanity that you can bring when you’re not using those more important things.” At press time, Johnston did not respond to a request for comment.
While Wheaton is exploring AI, its focus remains on the people of the campus. Wolff said that his hope is for Wheaton to implement AI in ways that increase flourishing for the campus community.
“10 years from now, I’d love to say that we implemented AI in ways that made Wheaton College more efficient and stronger and enabled us to focus on things that matter most,” Wolff said.
