Excellence in Innovative Instructional Delivery (Team Honor)

James K. Martin II, assistant professor, and Jeffery C. Powers, associate professor and associate director of problem-based learning, both in the Department of Medical Education & Scholarship at Rowan-Virtua School of Osteopathic Medicine, designed and implemented a Socratic AI tutor for their graduate Biochemistry and Molecular Biology course (MBS 00501). Using Google NotebookLM, Martin and Powers curated the tool’s knowledge base with course- specific lecture recordings, slides and supplementary readings, creating “Professor Dobbi,” an AI learning partner trained exclusively on course content. Unlike general-purpose chatbots, Professor Dobbi is designed to guide students through conceptual understanding rather than simply provide answers, functioning as a 24/7 Socratic study partner that complements faculty interaction. Students valued the tool’s accessible, judgment-free environment, with one noting, “I wasn’t embarrassed to ask about things I should have already known.” Early data suggest promising trends in student performance and reduced failure rates. The innovation requires no specialized technical training or institutional cost, making it immediately transferable across disciplines.