As artificial intelligence reshapes classrooms and workplaces, Ohio State Lecturer Kristie Sigler is helping lead the conversation on how to integrate it thoughtfully into communication education. She teaches business and professional communication and public speaking in the School of Communication, where she has been shaping communication education since 2010.
In summer 2025, Sigler became the lead for the department’s AI and Pedagogy Project, an initiative designed to help faculty thoughtfully and ethically integrate artificial intelligence into their classrooms. Her work focuses on preparing faculty for AI-enhanced workplaces while preserving the human-centered skills that define effective communication.
“I feel a pretty significant sense of responsibility, as a teacher, to learn and understand it so that I can help my students do the same,” Sigler said. “I don’t just want students to be more efficient. I want them to be better.”
Sigler began closely following developments in AI after the release of ChatGPT and believes communication educators must lead discussions about how the technology can support — rather than replace — critical thinking.
“It’s not a shortcut for me. It’s never a shortcut for me,” she said. “It’s not an answer engine.”
One of her most innovative projects is Audience Angle, a custom chatbot built in collaboration with the College of Arts and Sciences technology team. Unlike traditional AI tools, the bot uses the Socratic method and asks only questions, guiding students to refine their ideas without generating outlines or speeches for them.
Sigler developed the tool after noticing that students often struggled to analyze and adapt to their audiences. The chatbot pushes them to clarify their purpose and think more intentionally about their message. Although some students initially felt frustrated by its probing questions, Sigler noticed a clear improvement in the depth and quality of speeches after implementing the tool.
Before her work with AI, Sigler played a major role in shaping the school’s Persuasive Communication General Education course. She joined Ohio State in 2010 with five years of K–12 teaching experience, and she took on increasing responsibility for the course and was later asked to redesign it.
She shifted the course’s focus toward nonprofit and service organizations, helping students apply persuasion skills to encourage their peers to care about societal issues and the nonprofits that make a positive impact in their communities. Sigler also helped transition the course to online and hybrid formats during the pandemic and compiled and edited the Persuasive Communication textbook.
Her dedication to teaching stems from a lifelong passion for learning and service. The daughter of a technology-enthusiast father and an educator mother who pioneered a districtwide gifted program, Sigler said she grew up believing that problems are meant to be solved.
She said her teaching is defined by “an intentional and constant striving to be better at my job. And genuinely loving what I do and enjoying my students.”
Sigler is an award-winning educator who has received Ohio State’s Provost’s Award for Distinguished Teaching by a Lecturer, the university's highest teaching award for a lecturer. She is also a member of the Ohio State Academy of Teaching.
In addition to teaching, Sigler coaches executives and teams on high-stakes communication. Her current OSU engagement is with the Trademark and Licensing Services team, part of Ohio State's Business Advancement division, which serves both the university and the Department of Athletics. The engagement is sponsored by Kevin Griffin, a School of Communication alumnus who serves as associate vice president of brand engagement, services and partnerships and associate director of athletics for business strategy.
Her executive coaching is a natural extension of the skills she teaches students in the classroom. She explains that public speaking skills play a key role in career advancement “because it’s the thing that often either prevents or assists in promotion for higher-level management positions down the road.”
Before joining Ohio State, Sigler worked as a high school English and speech teacher, speech and debate head coach and volleyball and softball coach. She earned her bachelor’s degree and teaching certificate from Malone University and a master’s degree in communication from Ohio State.
Whether mentoring faculty on AI, redesigning courses or coaching professionals, Sigler said her goal remains the same: helping others grow.
“I love seeing people get better,” she said.
Article by student Ellie Kulberg