AI in Syllabus & Classroom -- Lecture Notes and Reflection

Generative AI technology permeates our lives. It generates excitement and fear among educators. What is it and what can educators do with it? Below are some notes from presentations by Paul McKimmy, Michael Menchaca, and others, with some independent research notes.

Generative AI is predictive. 

Generative AI produces new texts, images, sounds, and videos based on a trained model with a large language database. But it does not recite them. AI produces what it predicts as a reasonable response to a question, but not necessarily as a factual or accurate response. It is not a dictionary or an encyclopedia. This is the reason that you will receive different responses for the same question that you ask at different times. As Dr. McKimmy said, "If you are not the expert to evaluate the response, you have a problem."

What can AI do?

  • Brainstorm
  • Draft
  • Outline
  • Writing
  • Programming
  • Everything that we ask students to do in a written assignment 

Prompt Engineering

  • Explain the problem clearly
  • Give context (role, purpose, audience, media)
  • Explain the structure of the output you want
  • Explain the tone, style, or personality you want in the response
  • Provide any unique knowledge needed

Instead of "Write a paper on AI," you can make it more specific: Write an 800-word formal and concise guide on how to help students use generative AI in freshmen-level creative writing college courses with examples of tools and resources." 

This reminds me of a way for the instructor to revise their assignments--be more clear about the purpose, audience, style, and tone that they want the students' products to look like, rather than just "Give an oral presentation!"

Ways to Use AI in Classrooms 

Based on Assigning AI: Seven Ways of Using AI in Class (oneusefulthing.org), which provides concrete prompts for AI to function in different roles:
  1. Mentor: Provide feedback
  2. Tutor: Give direct individualized instruction 
  3. Coach: Prompt metacognition, prompting students self-reflection and self-regulation
  4. Teammate: Provide alternative viewpoints; help learn the team's function
  5. Student: Receive explanation and instructions
  6. Simulator: Deliberate practice
  7. Tool: Accomplish tasks
See an excerpt below for AI to function as a coach: The amount of instructions on how the AI should behave can be extensive!
"...Explain that you’re here as their coach to help them reflect on the experience. Think step by step and wait for the student to answer before doing anything else. Do not share your plan with students. Reflect on each step of the conversation and then decide what to do next. Ask only 1 question at a time. 1. Ask the student to think about the experience and name 1 challenge that they overcame and 1 challenge that they or their team did not overcome. Wait for a response. Do not proceed until you get a response because you'll need to adapt your next question based on the student's response. 2. Then ask the student:.." (From Assigning AI: Seven Ways of Using AI in Class)

AI Tools

AI Tools Directory: Search keywords or browse by category. The search results show the tool's category, description, and pricing.

Chat

ChatGPT

Answer prompts and follow-up questions. You can ask ChatGPT to assume certain roles (e.g., coach, student, team member) and interact with you. It has both the desktop version and a mobile app.

phind.com 

An AI-powered search engine that gives responses with sources provided. It aims to be a reliable and up-to-date resource. Users can easily locate source information and verify the responses given by Phind. If you do not sign in, you receive responses based on ChatGPT 3.5 model. If you sign in, you can ask 20 questions and receive responses based on ChatGPT 4.0 model. This is my favorite search engine for professional or technical questions.

Microsoft Bing 

 AI embedded in MicroSoft browser Edge. It can answer questions, do research, follow up, and draft plans. Google Bard is a similar app.

Claude AI Assistant

According to Claude AI,  it claims to be a more truthful, trustworthy, safer, more honest, and concise alternative to ChatGPT. It can process (e.g., summarize) PDF, txt, cvs, and other files.

Khanmigo 

Khan Academy's AI-powered guide. Tutor for learners. Assistant for teachers. It charges $9/month or $99/year but the payment is considered donation and tax deductible.

Generating Pictures and Art

Blue Willow 

A free plan allows generation of up to 20 images a day. Easy to use. No complex login required for first time use.

DALL-E  

Must pay to use the service. $15 can buy 115 credits.  According to Joy Zhang, each use costs 1 credit which results in 3-4 renderings of a prompt. Joy provided The DALL·E 2 Prompt Book as a resource. 

Canva Text to Image 

After you create a Canva account and log in, you will be able to create free images using text prompts. You have free 50 credits per month and each use is 1 credit which renders 4 images. 

Research

Upload a PDF and ask questions to better understand research. Free and secure. Files uploaded will not be shared.

Elicit

Sign in using a Google account. After entering search keywords, return with citations, a summary of each literature, and a synthesis of top papers. Can copy and paste the synthesis and download literature with their summary in a csv file. Neat! Free use with 5000 credits.  

Research Rabbit 

Often referred to as a "citation-based literature mapping tool." Can create a collection of literature and receive recommendations for the collection. Keep you updated with the latest papers. Allow collaborative collection with others. The visualization panels create citation network graphs to visualize the relationship between papers in your collection. 

AI Detection 

GPTZero

AI Resources

  • Resource list compiled by UH Instructional Design Professional Learning Community and UH Online Innovation Center.
  • pensandpixels.org list of AI resources for education and conference materials and recordings
  • Suggest more in the comment below :). 

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