Early steps...

child climbing steps

It's exciting you're thinking about bringing AI tools into your college classroom! Here's a step-by-step guide to get started:

Explore and Experiment:

- Familiarize yourself with AI tools: Get hands-on experience with popular AI tools like ChatGPT, Grammarly, QuillBot, or others relevant to your field. Understand their capabilities and limitations.
- Identify potential uses: Consider how these tools could enhance your teaching and student learning. Could they help with research, writing, feedback, or creating more engaging learning materials?
- Start small: Choose one or two AI tools to begin with and gradually introduce them into your course.

Talk with administrators and colleagues in your department. Is there a department-wide stance on the use of these tools?

What are your professional networks saying about Artificial Intelligence tools in your discipline?

Revise your academic integrity policy statement in your syllabus. Consider including statements that connect your integrity policy to the ethical standards of a professional industry or network.

Begin planning design changes to your course assignments. Small, pointed changes can make a big, positive impact.

Additional Steps and Recommendations

Address Ethical Considerations:

- Review policies: Check your institution's policies on AI use in education and ensure your planned activities align with them.
- Transparency with students: Be open with your students about how you plan to use AI in the classroom. Discuss the ethical implications, potential biases, and the importance of responsible use.
- Set clear expectations: Establish guidelines for how students can use AI tools in your course, addressing issues like plagiarism, attribution, and appropriate use.

Ensure that students understand expectations:

- Describe the outcomes and/or behaviors that you’re comfortable having students develop using AI tools from those you are not. Include an expectations discussion or syllabus quiz to confirm student understanding aligns with yours.
- Clearly describe both what IS and what IS NOT allowed on every assignment and include a statement as to why.
- Provide specific instructions and/or prompts that will be helpful in appropriately using Artificial Intelligence tools, like ChatGPT.
- Require process documentation as part of an assignment submission.
- Revise assignments to encourage unique content from students. Ask students to weave in findings from previous assignments or details from prior discussion assignments. Encourage them to share interests and creative pursuits.

Start with Low-Stakes Activities:

- AI-assisted feedback: Use AI tools like Grammarly to provide feedback on student writing or to help them improve their grammar and style.
- Research assistance: Introduce students to AI research tools like Genei or Iris.ai to help them find relevant sources and summarize information.
- Interactive learning: Use AI-powered platforms like Khanmigo to provide personalized tutoring or create interactive exercises.

Gradually Increase Complexity:

- AI-powered presentations: Encourage students to use AI tools to create presentations or visual aids.
- Collaborative projects: Have students use AI for collaborative writing or research projects, emphasizing teamwork and critical evaluation of AI-generated content.
- AI for creative exploration: Explore the use of AI for creative writing, art, or music generation, encouraging students to experiment and push boundaries.

Assess and Adapt:

- Gather student feedback: Regularly collect feedback from students on their experiences using AI tools in the course.
- Evaluate effectiveness: Reflect on how the use of AI tools is impacting student learning and engagement.
- Make adjustments: Be prepared to adapt your approach based on student feedback and your own observations.

Example Activities:

- "Fact-check the AI": Have students evaluate the accuracy of information generated by an AI chatbot and identify any biases or limitations.
- "Improve the AI's writing": Ask students to use an AI writing assistant to generate a draft of an essay, then critique and improve the AI's output.
- "AI debate": Divide students into groups and have them use AI to research and argue different sides of a controversial issue.