Introduction to Artificial Intelligence in Teaching and Learning
Course Summary
This course looked at how artificial intelligence can be used to assist in the teaching and learning processes. Although it touched on the hindrance that is obvious to educational institutions, Niya Bond focused on the positive ways that artificial intelligence could be used. She discussed the importance of “prompt engineering” and how to make AI give you accurate assessments and activities to assist in teaching and learning.
Why Did I Choose This Course?
Being from a technology-based field, I am not one to immediately be negative about one technology or another. I try to look at the good and bad uses of each new “advancement” in teaching and learning. I've seen AI used negatively time and time again to allow students to cheat the system and not complete their own work. I have also seen the ways that AI can help with classroom and homework activities in a class that I took as a student. Whether we like it or not, AI is not going to go away. We need to learn how to deal with the good and the bad. So, I wanted to see what OneHE professionals had to say about the matter and what uses they thought were beneficial to teaching and learning.
Personal Reflections
Niya Bond, the facilitator of this course, kept to the topic at hand. She explained what generative AI was, and she was even frank about her reservations on the topic to start with. It surprised me that she shared that, but I liked it. She didn't come out full force or try to shove anything down your throat. I think that helped to present the material in a way that others might accept as well. Starting with the welcome module, I felt confident that I was going to get a lot out of this one. She focused on generative AI being a tool, “like many other tools that have passed through higher education” that could be used to assist educators and not detract from them. I really liked that analogy.I, like many of us, have been subjected to a chat bot that acted as a service representative for a company that we've made a purchase from. It can be a highly frustrating experience as they are programmed only with certain responses … which never seem to be the answer to the question that we are actually asking. Generative AI, as shown in this course, is 1000 times better than that. It can be a collaborator, a second set of thoughts to discuss a topic or see things from perhaps a different perspective. AI is still quite limited compared to humans, but it is an extra edge for things like web design and development by coming up with situations and issues that the coder/designer hasn't thought about themselves.
For example, when working with Search Engine Optimization and Web Site Design, if I come up with the possible problems a programmer will face, I more than likely know the solution to that problem. I came up with the problem. So, my mind already has the solution being processed. Using generative AI as a collaborator, as pointed out in this course, allows us to expand our ideas and situations beyond just what we think of. Why is that relevant to me? Because I teach website design/programming as well as search engine optimization classes. I don't want the students to be limited to just what problems they come up with. They need to think beyond that.
This course went into more depth on those aspects of the topic of generative AI that interests me. I learned of a few other ways that I could use AI to come up with in class activities and practical activities for the field as well. It is a good course, and I will probably go through it again a few more times to make sure I have the full benefit from her knowledge.
New Approaches
The current “Search Engine Optimization” (ITWP 1450) class doesn't use any form of generative AI in it. On the MACA (Media and Communication Arts) side of website design, the Design for Web class does use generative AI to create case studies and various tasks the student has to work through. I intend to work some of these activities into the SEO class on the coding side of website design. One of the hardest things to come up with are the foils, or problems, that your site could face when looking at SEO. Generative AI can assist with that if the right prompting is used.I'd like to work prompt engineering into the SEO class as well instead of just coming up with all the prompts myself. That might not be something that is added right now though. It isn't part of the current course objectives, and I don't want the class to be about AI. I want to use it as a tool to assist instead.
For the “Introduction to Web Programming” (ITWP 1000) class that I teach, I would like to give a few situations to AI and have them create some practical coding activities. I'd like to have a few scenarios for the class to solve what is wrong with the code. By having AI come up with the code, I can remove any bias on how it should be written.
My Predictions
With the institution of generative AI into a couple aspects of the classes, I think that the students will get a better real world feel for the situations they would find themselves in as designers and coders. They will have to face real world issues that generated “personas” would face when accessing the site. That way the students can solve problems and become better website programmers and designers.The students might face some challenges learning how to work through the system to start with. That's why I think that I will create the general prompt for the SEO class for personas and empathy maps. They might not be comfortable with the AI interface to start with, and having prompts created for them would let them ease into learning how to use it properly.
My Aspirations
I want to learn more about the ways that generative AI can assist in teaching and learning. I would also like to find ways to be able to limit the use of it for cheating purposes. I know that is a lofty aspiration. I know that we won't succeed in making anything “cheat proof”. Instead, I want to come up with more assessments and assignments that make it less likely that the student would want to cheat and would want to learn instead.For the two classes that I have to work on updating and integrating current technologies into, I know that this will not be a one semester fix. So, my aspiration is to be open to suggestions and to realize that there isn't one universal answer to make it all better. I need to remember that I am newer to teaching, and not everything needs to be changed just because it can be.