Teaching and Learning Resource Center

AI Considerations for Teaching and Learning

A driver's finger touching a car's GPS navigation touch screen.


Artificial intelligence (AI) is all around us. If you have used a mobile phone, driven a car with navigation, or asked a virtual assistant to complete a task, chances are you’ve recently used or encountered some form of AI-assisted technology.

The rapid emergence of applications that leverage AI to gather information, organize ideas, draft prose, and generate media has prompted special consideration for how educators can support both student learning and academic integrity in a world where these tools are increasingly available.
 

An instructor with a tablet helps a group of students working together.

The introduction of ChatGPT, Google Bard, and similar AI chatbots has prompted varied responses from educators and a deluge of resources on how we should respond to this new technology. While some see potential in embracing AI, others express concern about its implications for academic integrity. For example, how should we address AI’s ability to replicate student responses to writing prompts, perform certain kinds of information analysis (e.g., summarizing), and convincingly fabricate research? These questions extend beyond student writing and research as well, since AI can be used to generate code, prep for exams, read complex texts, create art, and more.

It's helpful to remind ourselves that the dynamic of technological change in education is not new. We frequently adapt our instruction to integrate new teaching tools and address an ever-changing digital landscape. With each new advancement, it’s wise to engage in dialogue around its implications for teaching and learning. While scholarship on AI and education is still emerging*, we can rely upon existing evidence-based approaches to guide decisions around whether to fully embrace, cautiously integrate, or carefully limit AI-powered technologies in our courses. 

This Teaching Topic will help you make informed choices about AI use in your course by providing background on generative AI tools, an overview of their benefits and limitations, and practical guidance for integrating them into your teaching.


* The insights and guidance provided below will evolve as new information arises around generative AI tools and their impact on teaching and learning.


What is Artificial Intelligence?

Artificial intelligence (AI) is “the capability of a machine to imitate intelligent human behavior” (Merriam-Webster). Advancements in AI have transformed the way we live, including how we teach and learn. Think about some examples of AI-assisted technology you might encounter in education today, including calculators, automated grading tools, text editors, transcription programs, and assistive technology. You may even remember the first iterations of some of these technologies and the conversations about benefits and challenges that followed.

Generative AI applications can generate content, rather than merely analyze existing data, by utilizing Large Language Model (LLM) technology. Many of these applications function as AI-powered chatbots—in other words, users submit a prompt and content is generated in real time in response to that prompt.

One of the more widely known and discussed AI-powered chatbots is ChatGPT. Developed by tech company OpenAI, its large language model was trained using very large datasets, codes, and texts, and it pulls from all this data to generate responses. Using predictive technology, it can “create or revise written products of all kinds, including essays, computer code, lesson plans, poems, reports, and letters” (University of Toronto, n.d.). It’s likely OpenAI is also utilizing user prompts and ChatGPT responses to train the model as the company collects data from users and continues to modify and improve the tool.

While ChatGPT is well-known, it is far from the only generative AI system. In fact, the range of AI tools available is expanding on an almost weekly basis as companies develop their own versions. Educators may be primarily focused on AI’s ability to generate text, but it is worth noting that ChatGPT and many other AI applications can also create code, images, music, and other media.

Some additional examples of generative AI applications include:

Microsoft Copilot and Adobe Firefly are currently the only generative AI tools that have been vetted and approved for use at Ohio State. Copilot is an AI-powered chatbot that draws from public online data, giving you access to better answers and greater efficiency, but with additional security measures in place. Adobe Firefly is a generative AI engine that aims to support and augment your creative work. You can use Firefly to generate and enhance images, edit objects, and more. 

Learn more about approved AI tools at Ohio State. 

Caution

Security, privacy, and accessibility

Ohio State educators are advised to avoid using third-party technologies that have not been vetted and approved by the university because they have not undergone a review for security, privacy, or accessibility. Do your research when selecting tools—comply with university policies and provide alternative options, when needed. Do not enter institutional data into generative AI tools, and discuss privacy and security concerns openly with students if asking them to use these tools.

Generative AI: Benefits and Limitations

As with any emergent technology, generative AI comes with both benefits and limitations. Some of these are still being discovered through user experimentation and updates to the technology. Though much of what we know about generative AI applications and AI language models will shift over time, we share some important considerations below.

Potential Benefits

It is helpful for educators to consider that generative AI:

Provides learners a tool for generating rough drafts, outlines, and brainstorming notes.

Generative AI applications like ChatGPT can assist students during the earliest stages of the writing process, auto-generating text for learners who are either stymied by writer’s block or stuck during the brainstorming process. When prompted, these systems can produce reams of raw content (of varying levels of quality and accuracy) that students can further evaluate, interrogate, and research. Using AI tools in this fashion can help students during the difficult preliminary stages of the composition process, creating a workable path toward their own inquiries and investigations (Gero, 2022; Krause, 2022; Weissman, 2023).

Summarizes and clarifies longer or potentially difficult texts.

AI chatbots can also condense and summarize longer texts with only moderate error, potentially aiding students during the reading and research process. They may help in clarifying and explaining daunting or challenging texts in simple, digestible language. This function might potentially help learners (especially English language learners) gain a deeper comprehension of dense academic materials by making obscure prose and concepts more approachable and accessible (Anson and Straume, 2022; Warner, 2022).

Assists learners with automated grammatical assistance and language acquisition.

When prompted, generative AI applications like ChatGPT can provide direct and immediate automated assistance for students struggling with grammar, mechanics, and syntax. They can identify, explain, and even correct basic grammatical mistakes. Additionally, AI language systems can function as a fluent conversation partner for informal language practice. This might be of particular benefit for English language learners and multilingual students who are still learning the basic mechanics of writing in English (Warner, 2022).

Promotes wider classroom discussion around rhetoric, style, and AI literacy.

Generative AI applications also provide an avenue for discussing various facets of rhetoric, authorship, and academic integrity with students. They can function as the focal point of a broader conversation about the ethical questions posed by AI language systems, especially as their continued use and development alters our understanding of plagiarism and cheating. Using generative AI, we can help students develop their own style, skill, and voice as authors, particularly when we ask them to review and discuss their work in contrast to machine-generated texts (Fyfe, 2022; Grobe, 2023; Anson and Straume, 2022).

Known Limitations

Educators should also be aware that generative AI:

Generates incomplete, inaccurate, or false information.

Although they draw from vast datasets of text, AI-powered chatbots remain limited to the information available to them at the time of their training. In other words, they cannot access or consult with external sources of information, nor can they self-correct or fill knowledge gaps with correct information. For example, ChatGPT often punctuates its responses with obvious fabrications, failing to maintain accuracy when tasked with generating knowledge outside its dataset. Users can also prompt ChatGPT to churn out obvious misinformation and nonsense, making it generate “garbage output” that is presented credibly and uncritically. In particular, it struggles when prompted to generate text about current events or recent developments, particularly on anything that has occurred after 2021 (Fyfe, 2022; Schatten, 2022; Grobe, 2023).

Creates inaccurate or fabricated citations.

In addition to a penchant for generating misinformation, generative AI tools are incapable of conducting research and substantiating claims with credible evidence. When prompted to conduct research or cite secondary sources, for example, ChatGPT often fabricates research references and riddles the text with plausible sounding but entirely false or made-up claims, quotations, and scholars (Fyfe, 2022; Krause, 2022).

Includes plagiarized text without proper attribution. 

Generative AI’s understanding of American academic integrity and copyright standards is virtually nonexistent. Texts generated by language models have consistently committed frequent and flagrant acts of plagiarism, from direct, word-for-word plagiarism to misrepresenting others’ ideas as their own (Tutella, 2023).

Reiterates biases and is prone to discriminatory, non-inclusive language.

Generative AI applications can sometimes employ biased or discriminatory language, repeat extreme or controversial viewpoints, or slip into explicit racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and so on. Even when safeguards are added to filter out some of the more extreme or discriminatory positions, AI language systems are still prone to generating text that reinforces certain stereotypes, biases, and belief systems (Hutson, 2021).

Replicates, but cannot replace, human agency and expression.

Generative AI applications use predictive algorithms to generate text based on user input. Despite their relative fluency and adaptability, they cannot comprehend the meaning behind their words or exhibit human-like levels of critical thinking. This disconnect sometimes leads to text that sounds stilted, makes insubstantial claims, and lacks the subtle intricacy of human expression. AI can also commit rhetorical errors with relative frequency, pepper its texts with meaningless filler phrases, and over-rely on certain writing formulas. For instance, ChatGPT has a strong preference for five paragraph essays with short, three-sentence paragraphs and often overuses single word modifiers and transitions (Grober, 2023; University of Central Florida, 2023).

Additional Considerations

Educators may also want to think about the following murky areas related to generative AI applications. 

Generative AI may harvest and share student data.

ChatGPT and other tools are third-party software systems that can track, collect, and share data from their registered users. For example, OpenAI’s privacy policy claims that it reserves the right to harvest and share user data but does not clarify for whom and for what purpose. This brings up potential concerns regarding privacy and security (Caines, 2023), and some students may be uncomfortable using or creating accounts with generative AI applications. Therefore, exercise caution around requiring students to use AI applications and consider alternatives for supporting student learning and meeting your instructional goals.

The copyright status of AI-generated works remains unclear.

Questions regarding the intellectual ownership of AI-generated texts remain contentious, with no foreseeable resolution in sight. Users should err on the side of caution when it comes to claiming outright authorship of anything created by ChatGPT or other AI language systems (McKendrick, 2022). There is also a lack of clear guidance on how to cite material generated by AI in any of the major citation styles such as MLA and APA.

AI platforms may transition into subscription-based and pay-to-use services.

As with many free applications, we should consider that generative AI applications could someday require payment or offer “premium” services to paying users, bringing about potential equity and access issues. OpenAI has already introduced ChatGPT Plus, a pay-to-use service.

Explore strategies for having open discussions with students about AI concerns, including helpful conversation starters and class activities, in AI Teaching Strategies: Having Conversations with Students. 

Teaching and AI: Strategies and Examples

When considering adoption of any new technology or teaching strategy, begin by reflecting on course goals and learning outcomes. Then decide whether integrating or allowing the technology in your course can enhance learning and support specific assessments and activities (Wiggins & McTigue, 2005). Activities and assignments designed to support students’ self-directed learning or develop their skills in leveraging the latest technologies for professional practice could potentially require different approaches to AI than those focused on fostering creativity or reflective practice.

Each section below offers suggestions for supporting your students to develop knowledge and skills around AI while maintaining an evidence-based lens on instruction.

College students work in groups using laptops and mobile phones.

Align to Learning Goals and Outcomes

Reflecting on your course goals prior to deciding if and how to integrate generative AI technology will help you clarify learning outcomes, facilitate alignment to activities and assessments, and support student success. Activities and assignments that scaffold the process of learning, as opposed to those that assess the product of learning (e.g., student-developed artifacts such as written assignments, code, or media), may be well-suited to the integration of generative AI applications. When using potentially transformative technologies such as generative AI in your course, strive to create learning experiences that enable students to practice what Bloom (1956) considers, "… the more complex classes of intellectual abilities and skills," such as applying, analyzing, evaluating, and creating.

In the table below, consider how the use of generative AI in each learning activity supports the example learning outcome.

Learning OutcomeAI-Supported Learning Activity
In Nursing, students should be able to summarize research behind evidence-based practice.Students work in groups to examine and critique AI output of a literature summary vs. human-based summaries and consider the implications for how they inform a specific clinical practice scenario.
In Sociology, students must be able to examine literature reviews to establish the background for proposed research. Using relevant disciplinary databases and Google Scholar, students track down the citations (students might need some guidance here) in an AI-generated literature review to evaluate 1) whether the citations exist and 2) how relevant they are to the proposed research.
In a Biology lab experience, students must be able to articulate valid experimental methods that contribute something novel to scientific knowledge.Putting themselves in the position of scientific peer reviewers, students evaluate and critique AI output of a methods statement vs. human-based statement for validity and for how it articulates its contribution to the science.
In an Academic English Writing Program course, multilingual and international students must identify rhetorical patterns in a range of genres in American academic contexts.Students use AI to generate three different passages paraphrasing a key source for a paper making an argument, note patterns among the different passages (how the passages represent the author’s points, what is emphasized, their accuracy, critique potential bias in point of view or language), and in an annotation, choose which passage is most useful for their argument and explain how they would revise it for their paper.

Students may need additional guidance when using new technologies. Use the following suggestions to plan how you will support student learning during AI-related learning activities.

  • Model motivation and excitement about AI as a potential learning tool, when appropriate.
  • Outline strategies that are critical to success when using AI tools in your course. For example, guide students toward appropriate approaches to evaluating AI-generated output, such as identifying false claims, logical fallacies, fabricated evidence, and unacknowledged biases.
  • Provide actionable feedback to students on their use of these strategies and on their performance in AI-supported learning activities.
  • Create opportunities for students to reflect on their use of AI and explain how it impacted their learning.
  • Gauge students’ interests and comfort with using AI applications and offer alternatives when possible. For example, if students have privacy or security concerns around setting up an account in a particular app, you could provide them with pre-generated AI output instead.
  • Prepare ancillary resources to help students navigate any unfamiliar AI tools they are required to use.

Explore more ideas in Universal Design for Learning: Planning with All Students in Mind and Supporting Student Learning and Metacognition. 

UX Tip

Active Learning 

AI-supported learning activities are a great opportunity to use active learning strategies to foster engagement and create a student-centered experience. Active learning can be broadly described as “any instructional method that engages students in the learning process" (Prince, 2004). Recent meta-analyses have established its value both in terms of student learning (Freeman et al., 2014) and equity (Theobald et al., 2020). You might intersperse small-scale activities like Think-Pair-Share and polling during lecture, reference AI for low-stakes brainstorming or Writing-to-Learn activities, or plan more structured and time-intensive activities that utilize AI output such as case studies, student-led discussions, debates, and peer review.

Explore how you can use technology to support active learning strategies in your course by viewing this recording of Active Learning with Technology or by registering for an upcoming session.

Design for Transparency

A growing body of research suggests transparency of instruction is important for enhancing the student experience and supporting academic success. Studies have shown that intentional design of instruction for transparency contributes to greater learning outcome achievement, particularly among first-generation students (Winkelmes et al., 2016; Howard, Winkelmes, and Shegog, 2020) and in teaching large-enrollment classes (Winkelmes, 2013). This notion is further supported by research on the use of explicit assessment criteria, which has been found to support student self-regulation (Balloo et al., 2018).

When considering AI in teaching and learning, the following transparency-related considerations are important to note.

Set clear expectations for students’ use of AI in your syllabus and discuss them openly.

Communicate in your syllabus about expectations for students’ course-related uses of AI (Wheeler, Palmer, and Aneece, 2019). Set tone, routines, and guidelines early in the term and engage students in openly discussing the opportunities and limitations of AI, as well as what represents misuse of AI in your course or for specific assignments and activities. See Support Academic Integrity below for more guidance.

Design transparent assignments and activities, and share explicit assessment criteria for them.

Apply the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework to communicate the purpose, task, and criteria for success for each of your course activities, assignments, and assessments. Are AI-related skills relevant? How will they help students meet learning outcomes? Use this exercise to explicitly state why, when, and how AI can or should be used or prohibited in your course (Winkelmes et al., 2016). Visit http://www.tilthighered.com for TILT templates, examples, and resources.

Provide a rubric—or work with students to co-develop a rubric—for all assignments and assessments. To support student understanding of assignment expectations, you could even have them use the rubric to evaluate AI-generated responses to the assignment prompt.

Involve students in decision-making to give them ownership in AI policies and assessment criteria for your course.

Avoid transactional engagements with students when addressing AI—do not simply provide policies about AI technologies in your course or recite assignment instructions. Instead, adopt transformative approaches that involve students in the review, feedback, and decision-making around your policies and assessment criteria. For example, you might craft a discussion exercise in which students examine the grading rubric, ask questions, offer feedback, and practice applying it to sample work. They can then reflect upon the rationale for the inclusion or exclusion of AI tools in the given assignment (Balloo et al., 2018).

Discuss the ethical implications of AI in real-world contexts beyond the classroom.

Discuss with students the current and emerging roles of AI in real-world professional and practice settings and incorporate these connections into assignments when relevant. How might AI-related skills benefit students in their studies or careers beyond your course? Speak candidly about the ethical considerations of organizations and professionals using AI to inform decision-making, policy setting, and other aspects of work. Conversations can stay within the confines of your field of study or extend to broader contexts with which students have contact, including education, finance, government, healthcare, and law (Villasenor, 2023).

Learn more about designing assignments that use AI in AI Teaching Strategies: Transparent Assignment Design. 

Support Academic Integrity

When we think about academic integrity, we often default to its negative connotations and imagine punitive measures and prohibitions. But academic integrity in practice is more nuanced. It is meant to support ethical behavior, not just to punish students for cheating or other forms of misconduct. Being intentional and thoughtful about your approach will help you maintain a culture of honesty and trust in your class, even when new technologies or tools are introduced.

Five students talking animatedly while looking at a laptop.

When it comes to generative AI technology in particular, outright bans would be unproductive and difficult to enforce consistently. They could potentially result in what John Villasenor describes as “the injustice of false positives and false negatives,” where some students are able to circumvent our prevention efforts and others are falsely accused and unjustly penalized for using AI to helm their compositions (2023). And while it may be tempting to move to only in-class exams and writing assignments, or to use timed online quizzes with AI-detection tools activated, you can’t rely solely on emerging technologies to detect all AI-generated responses. Moreover, these strategies for preventing AI use (or misuse) could have serious implications for equity, inclusion, and accessibility in your course.

We recommend a more positive and proactive approach to AI and academic integrity.

  • First, communicate transparent expectations and policies around academic integrity (and specific AI-related considerations) to your students.
  • Second, design or re-design your assessments proactively to promote academic integrity.
  • Finally, know that employing AI-detection technologies should be your last resort for deterring academic misconduct. 

Read more in A Positive Approach to Academic Integrity.

Whether you decide to actively use AI in your teaching, design assignments to minimize the use of AI, or take a more prohibitive approach, the following strategies can help you reduce misconduct and support your students to understand academic integrity in the context of their own work.

Define Clear Expectations for Integrity

It's important to establish expectations for academic integrityboth in general and specific to AI useearly in the term. Be prepared to provide the rationale for policies when discussing your syllabus with students and before major assignments and assessments throughout the term.

Include university policies for academic integrity in your syllabus.

Openly communicating the university’s policy for academic integrity in your syllabus will help to level set expectations for your course as well as for students’ academic careers at the university. Facilitate a conversation around university expectations at the beginning of the term and, as needed, during your course.

The university does not currently have an official policy on the use of generative AI chatbots or other AI tools. However, if a policy specific to AI is adopted, it would be best practice to include that policy in your syllabus. You may consider other sample syllabus statements concerning generative AI applications, such as these from Princeton University and Northwestern University.

Discuss with students how the use of AI fits within the university’s policies on academic integrity and misconduct. For example, students may have the misconception that since a chatbot is not a real person, they can use the text it generates without plagiarizing or committing misconduct. Prompt them to consider the nuances of using AI-generated works and related ethical considerations to help them understand what is permitted and prohibited at the university and in your course.

Communicate your course-specific policies for academic integrity and AI use in your syllabus.

Beyond university policy, you may have additional expectations for academic integrity in your course. While your course policy does not need to read like an official university definition, it should be clearly communicated and use inclusive, student-centered language. Include a statement in your syllabus and facilitate a conversation around your expectations at the start of term. Your course policies might address whether students can use specific AI applications such as ChatGPT, the conditions under which they are permitted to use them (e.g., generating ideas, developing outlines, creating rough drafts, revising and editing), how they should reference their use of AI, and who students should contact if they have questions about using AI.

If you decide to use any AI-detection tools in your course, clearly communicate how and when you will use them via multiple outlets (e.g., syllabus statements, policy discussions, Carmen announcements, in-class reminders, assignment instructions). Explain your rationale for using them to help students see the broader context of the affordances, limitations, and ethical implications of using AI.

Share specific guidelines for AI use and integrity for individual assignments and assessments, as needed.

There may be specific assignments or assessments in your course for which you definitely want students to use or not use AI applications. Beyond course-specific policies and syllabus statements, remind students of these expectations before relevant activities, assignments, and assessments. Include explicit recommendations or restrictions in prompts and directions, and clarify them in open discussions with students.

Using the Carmen course template can help you set clear expectations for each assignment in your course. With the assignment template, utilize the bullet points and icons in the Academic Integrity section to communicate your expectations (i.e., prohibit, permit, permit and encourage, require) for using generative AI applications. Use the other sections (Directions, Resources) to provide more detailed information. For example, if you are requiring or recommending that students use a specific AI application for an assignment, include information about the tool and additional guidance for technology requirements, troubleshooting, account setup, and student privacy. You might also remind students of how to provide proper attribution and use your preferred citation style for all resources they use, including generative AI applications.


Create or ADAPT ASSIGNMENTS TO PROMOTE INTEGRITY

Carefully consider how each assignment or assessment in your course can best support student learning as well as academic integrity. This vital strategy aligns with many of the best practices for designing assessments of student learning, such as connecting assignments to learning outcomes, providing authentic learning experiences, and creating achievable assignments.

The following strategies will support students to engage meaningfully in the work they author and produce in your course, whether you permit the use of AI tools or not.

Leverage multimodal assignments.

Creating assignments that cannot be completed solely by AI-assisted technology can help to minimize student reliance on it. For instance, instead of having students write a policy brief, ask students to create a presentation outlining their research findings and policy recommendations for a specific intended audience. You can still be flexible in terms of presentation tools and format (e.g., recorded voiceover PowerPoint, Flip, Adobe Express) to give students agency of choice. Having students articulate their learning in multiple formats helps them reframe their learning and gives them rhetorical flexibility to communicate in a range of contexts (Selfe, 2007).

Explore the Ohio State Toolset and Additional Tools as you consider the variety of technologies and formats students can use to present their work.

Emphasize the process, not the product.

When given an input, generative AI applications produce an output. But learning is a process that is not just about generating a product, and this is an important distinction for students who feel the pressure of high-stakes assignments and grades. Incorporate scaffolded assignments that build on one another and include different types of tasks (e.g., proposal, outline, literature synthesis, rough draft, peer review, final draft). By breaking down a larger assignment into smaller chunks, and having more frequent lower-stakes assignments, students experience the process while recognizing the connection between components. Scaffolded assignments also provide ample opportunities for feedback and revision, which allow students to refine their thinking and learning (Bean, 2011).

Prompt student reflection and metacognition.

New AI chatbots may sound more human than earlier versions. Nonetheless, having students include personal reflections or connect to their lived experience for your assignments will bring in a human element that chatbots cannot adequately replicate. Students might reflect on personal and professional experiences, their growth in your course, and why course content is valuable to them. You can also ask students to describe their writing process and reflect upon the steps they took. Creating intentional opportunities for students to reflect on their learning strategies can help them become more successful, self-directed learners (Ambrose et al., 2010).

Connect to current events or build upon in-class comments.

Generative AI applications like ChatGPT are trained on an enormous amount of data, but they have limitations that you can leverage. For example, most of the data ChatGPT was trained on is from before 2022 (at present). Therefore, you could ask students to relate their learning to a current event for which ChatGPT may not yet have enough information to properly generate a response. Guiding students to connect and apply their learning to current events can help them see the value of their learning, improve their engagement and motivation, and apply their learning to relevant real-world contexts (Ambrose et al., 2010).

Create authentic assignments with real-world value.

Students who see value in and feel connected to what they are learning may be less likely to rely on AI-generated support to complete an assignment. Consider how you can integrate real-world content (such as case studies) and authentic tasks (such as project proposals or practice client sessions), to increase students’ motivation on assignments. As with connecting activities to current events, engaging students in tangible real-world tasks allows them to translate key course concepts into meaningful practice.

Consider workload.

Students may be more likely to resort to generative AI tools if their workload is heavy or their assignments and deadlines feel unmanageable. Take stock of the amount, length, and sequence of assignments in your course to mitigate any unnecessary pressure on students.  It can be helpful to estimate the workload in comparison to your course’s number of credit hours.

If, despite your efforts to apply an integrated approach to academic integrity, you suspect a student has used generative AI to commit misconduct, the case can be submitted to the Committee on Academic Misconduct.

Reflect on Teaching

The need to address the issues and opportunities created by AI is now a reality for educators. While the above recommendations for addressing AI in your teaching are informed by evidence-based approaches, the effects of AI on student learning and experience will not be immediately clear. This is further complicated by the fact that AI technologies are still emerging and evolving, making their effects difficult to pin down. As such, understanding the impact of your own course redesign efforts or AI-related teaching strategies will require intentional reflection and evaluation.

Below are a few suggestions for reflecting on your teaching, with a particular focus on AI.

Review summative assessment data.

Analyze data for any summative assessments (such as exams, essays, projects, or presentation) in your course that aligned to instruction that leveraged or limited AI. What insights on your approach to AI can you glean from students’ performance?

Review formative assessment data.

Consider data and observations from formative assessments related to AI, including quizzes, in-class practice activities, and student reflections. What insights on your approach to AI can you glean from students’ engagement and performance?

Collect and consider student feedback about AI use in your course.

Plan how you will collect student feedback about the use (or non-use) of AI in your course. You can survey students about your instructional approaches, any barriers they encountered in your course, and what elements most supported their learning and success. You might also revisit any informal written reflections students submitted about their use of AI during the term.

The Small Group Instructional Diagnosis (SGID) is a service offered by the Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning that provides instructors with valuable student feedback through a focus-group style evaluation conducted by an instructional consultant. Information is collected on supports and barriers to student learning, as well as ideas for positive change. Your consultant can gather student feedback on specific areas of interest, such as your approach to AI in your instruction.

Track your own observations and reflections about AI use in your course.

Your personal reflections on the teaching and learning process, particularly around new uses of AI and specific AI-related learning activities, will be helpful in determining what to maintain or change for the next iteration of your course.

Reflection is only as valuable as the work you do afterward… Each of the above components can provide meaningful insights as you iterate and improve upon your instruction to better support student learning. 

Find Help

Thoughtfully considering your course goals, learning outcomes, and uses of technology may enhance and transform your teaching practice (Hilton, 2016). Changes that are a fundamental departure from your current practice could mean major adjustments to the learning activities, assessments, and instructor and student roles in your course. Sometimes these shifts may even require a complete redesign of your course.

If you are unsure where to begin or need guidance along the way, a number of units across Ohio State are available to support you. To find assistance with course and assignment redesign, beyond the support provided by your department, browse our Teaching Support Forms.

Image
A student types on a laptop from which illustrated chat bubbles are rising.

References