Artificial Intelligence presents new frontiers for the use of technology in higher education. As an instructor, you may want to better understand how your students interact with AI technologies when completing their coursework.
Here are some activities that are designed to help instructors open a conversation around AI use to better tailor other course materials and assessments to their students' needs. They are also designed to help students understand the benefits and limitations of AI.
Human vs. Machine Contests: Invite students to compare their manual editing skills to those of an AI, fostering a discussion on the value of human touch in language.
Enhancing Inquiry with AI: AI chatbots can be used as practice partners for students to refine their interviewing techniques, a precursor to more confident and effective communication.
Peer Review with AI: Encourage students to critique AI-generated feedback on their writing, promoting discernment in self-editing.
Strengthening Arguments with AI: AI can be introduced as a challenging counterpart in debates, prompting students to strengthen their arguments.
Creative Projects with AI: Creativity and AI can coexist, as demonstrated in this assignment where students collaborate with AI to create a children's book, addressing the nuances of creative expression. Additionally, Samantha Fairclough, associate professor of practice in
management, makes use of several different AI tools in her entrepreneurship classes.
AI in Research Skills: Task students with evaluating the reliability of sources in an AI-generated literature review to underline the importance of critical evaluation.
Engaging AI in Teaching Concepts: Challenge students to teach AI about class concepts, thereby reinforcing their own understanding and mastery. This can be a playful and insightful exercise. In fact, Matt Waite, professor of practice in journalism, had his students create custom GPTs. These specialized versions of ChatGPT can be trained to do specific tasks and to respond from a particular perspective.
AI for Classroom Feedback: Utilize AI to summarize polls and discussion boards, identifying key themes and areas for further discussion, as outlined in resources like this for polls, and this for discussions.
AI in Writing: Erin Bauer, graduate lecturer, has students collaborate with AI on a critique of a journal article assignment (video 41:11).
More details at: https://teaching.unl.edu/ai/