The following are activities that you can use in the classroom to integrate AI into your course in engaging and meaningful ways. These can encourage students to interact with this technology wile deepening their understanding of the course content. (Adapted from SUNY Brockport's Faculty AI Guide)
| Activity | Example | |
|---|---|---|
|
AI -Generated Historical Dialogues |
Use an AI tool to generate dialogues between historical figures relevant to your course. Have students analyze conversations to gain a deeper understanding of historical events and perspectives. |
For a history class, prompt an AI tool to create a dialogue between Abraham Lincoln and Frederick Douglass discussing the Emancipation Proclamation. Students can then discuss the nuances and historical context of their conversation. |
| Creative Writing Prompt |
Ask an AI tool to generate creative writing prompts based on themes or genres being studied in class. Students can use these prompts to write short stories or poems. |
For a literature class, prompt an AI tool to create a prompt like "Write a short story set in a dystopian future where books are banned." Students write their stories and share the for peer review and discussion. |
|
AI - Generated Case Studies |
Use an AI tool to create case studies or problem scenarios relevant to your course content. Have students work in groups to develop solutions or strategies based on these case studies. |
For a business class, prompt an AI tool to generate a case study about a company facing a PR crisis. Students must develop a crisis management plan and present it to the class. |
|
AI -Created Visual Storytelling |
Have students describe a story or concept, and use an AI tool like DALL-E to generate visual representations. Students then discuss how the visuals enhance or alter their understanding of the narrative. |
For an art class, students describe scenes from a myth or legend, and DALL-E generates images. They analyze the visuals and explore how art can convey complex ideas. |
Incorporating AI in an Assignment with Guidelines
One way to address AI use is to clearly define how it can be used in your classroom. Assign students to use generative AI on an assignment - have them complete some work without using the tool, and then using the same prompt use ChatGPT or another similar generative AI tool to write the text for them.
Preventing AI Use with Inventive and Varied Assignment Design
Research has shown there are many reasons why students plagiarize. These range from feeling crunched on time, struggles for a life, work, school balance, anxiety about a topic etc. Research has also shown that students are less likely to plagiarize when the following conditions are met.
Feel connected to the topic of the assignment.
Understand the ways in which completing the assignment will support their long term learning goals.
Have worked through preliminary steps - outlines, annotated bibliographies, etc.
Have discussed their work with others, this could be a fellow student, their instructor, writing tutor, or librarian
There are numerous ways to incorporate this kind of assignment into your teaching. Tips and practices for student assignments that can make it harder to use AI tools to complete assignments are:
Requiring students to use both primary and secondary sources (but be careful to check citations to ensure they haven’t been AI generated).
Asking students to only use sources available behind a database paywall, which ChatGPT and other bots do not have access to.
Assignments where students are writing about their own ideas in “conversation” with other scholars, which could be from a source they found themselves OR could be from a classroom reading.
Integrate and have students engage with ChatGPT as part of the intellectual process. Run through prompts to ChatGPT in class. Discuss with your students what their experiences are using the bot. Critically analyze passages and papers generated by a chatbot and gain student feedback.
Try and incorporate alternative ways for students to display their knowledge on an assigned topic.