How does generative AI impact teaching and learning?
Generative AI has caused not only concern and anxiety but also excitement and curiosity among many as they consider what it means for teaching and learning. This technology might let students “offload” their thinking and learning, but it could also help them explore possibilities, gain inspiration and access more feedback and perspectives, fueling active learning. While there are valid and important worries about academic honesty and integrity, there are also opportunities for innovation and experimentation.
Ultimately, well-designed instruction and assessments can help us navigate and move forward during this time. Some of the best practices and principles for teaching and learning we have known for some time will serve us well in meeting this moment! We have already built a toolkit for teaching that can empower us at this time. In responding to generative AI, we have the opportunity to reinvigorate our teaching and learning and to ensure students still develop and demonstrate 21st century skills. Flower Darby from the Mizzou Teaching for Learning Center has shared five steps we can use to ensure our assessments remain effective in this new age.
Below you will find some ideas and strategies for teaching in the age of AI.
What are some best practices for instruction in the age of AI?
Below, you will learn more about some of the strategies and frameworks that could equip and assist us in ensuring effective instruction.
Focus on the process
For many students across their classes, they might receive instructions for a major assessment, like an essay or project, and then they do not engage with the instructor again until they receive feedback on their final submission. While this is a common and traditional way we have experienced learning, this does not necessarily serve and support students the most. In addition, having a single, high-stakes assessment might cause stress among students and tempt them to turn to AI tools.
Instead, please consider accompanying students more on “the journey” to that destination. You can use formative assessments to check in on students. By breaking the assignment into “chunks” and scaffolding the work of students more, you will lower the stakes and mitigate the risk of using generative AI inappropriately. You will also demonstrate more care and presence among your students.
Offer choices and practice Universal Design for Learning (UDL)
Let’s face it: Some students might struggle with and hesitate with writing a long essay, but they might hold a lot of passion about the topic and maybe could present on it well and meaningfully in another format. One of the best ways to encourage and motivate students to “do the work” is to give them choices. Universal Design for Learning offers students flexibility and choices in how they learn and how they demonstrate their learning. For example, instead of writing an essay, students might produce an infographic or video to demonstrate their learning. Offering students this freedom and agency can instill more intrinsic motivation and lead to more compliance with your AI policy! A great example of UDL in action is the multigenre research paper, where students use a cornucopia of genres outside the essay to present their research and findings on a topic of their choice.
Please consult the resources below to learn more about Universal Design for Learning, or UDL.
AI might give us the opportunity to transition to, and realize the benefits of, more multimedia in learning. Please watch the video below to learn more about multimedia and AI.
Challenge students to engage in higher-order thinking
Some students might find their assessments unengaging and uninspiring, especially if these assessments involve rote memorization. Bloom’s Taxonomy emphasizes the various levels of critical thinking in which students can engage as they grapple with course material. Mere understanding is at the lower levels of Bloom’s, while analyzing, the acts of evaluating and creating with what they have learned take place at the higher levels. While a foundational understanding of the concepts at hand is critical to develop, students might enjoy engaging in deeper and richer thinking about the material.
Traditional assessments might only challenge students to the lower levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. In addition, AI can more than easily play a role in achieving and practicing at these lower levels. AI might give us the time and space to invite and challenge students to the higher levels of Bloom’s Taxonomy. Students now might have more time to analyze, evaluate and create with what they have learned. It is also important to note that students can analyze, evaluate and create with AI as they dive into the topic. In other words, they can engage in higher-order thinking about AI as they work with it, examining and assessing the quality, relevance and accuracy of the output from various tools. As they do so, students can synthesize and curate material from generative AI while still maintaining responsibility and agency over their learning and work.
AI has upended and transformed Bloom’s Taxonomy. How could you update and transform your assessments accordingly?
Offer more space for reflection and metacognition
Whether you allow students to use AI or not, they will come to take ownership of their learning when you invite them to reflect. As they reflect, they will look back, considering what went well or what could have gone better; look around, considering the importance and impact of what they have learned and done; and look ahead, considering what they could do differently or better in the future.
Giving students the time and space for reflection will help them analyze and ponder their own learning and, if allowed, their use of AI. Students will become more deliberate and conscientious in using this technology as they think about how it has helped or hindered their learning and growth. Something to note is that, given the personal and subjective nature of reflections, students might like and need to refrain from using generative AI beyond potentially organizing and editing their thoughts.
Emphasize relevance and value with authentic pedagogy
Authentic pedagogy takes what students are learning and asks them to apply and use it in ways they would “in the real world.” In other words, students step beyond the abstract and academic to engage with the material in a more hands-on, relevant and concrete way, one similar to what they might do while in the workforce.
When we embrace and use authentic pedagogy, the material becomes more meaningful and valuable for students. Authentic pedagogy might also summon them to engage in real-world activities that AI cannot do, such as doing interviews with public figures (for journalism) or conducting UX research for a mobile app (for computer science and software engineering).
Below you will find two webinar recordings. In each of these webinars, an instructor within the University of Missouri System discusses how they have implemented authentic pedagogy in their courses.
To learn more about strategies to sustain and promote academic integrity, please consider enrolling in and completing the “Authentic pedagogy in the age of AI” sprint, available from your campus.
What should I do if I teach a writing or writing-intensive course?
Generative AI tools have caused considerable trepidation and worry among those of us who teach writing or writing-intensive courses. After all, these tools quickly produce an abundance of text that students could use for an essay or another assessment! It is impossible to ensure students do not use generative AI as part of their writing unless we direct them to do it in person by hand in a blue book or something along those lines! Needless to say, that is not feasible for many of us, especially if we teach online courses.
Best practices in teaching writing
Nevertheless, we can take comfort: Some of the best practices in writing instruction that we have known for decades, such as “writing as a process” pedagogy, will support us in meeting this moment. Please watch the video below to learn more.
Using file history to see the writing process in action
To learn more about and see a student’s process of writing, please consider asking them to complete their writing in a Google Doc they share with you. They should do so under the university Google account they have. Students can submit their work via a link to that Google Doc rather than as an uploaded file. In the Google Doc, you can view the “Version History” to see how the work has evolved over time. Microsoft Word documents composed in OneDrive offer similar functionality.