On the surface it appears that the proliferation of AI in higher education presents itself as a unique challenge for the academy. However, if we look at past innovations in technology, we may find that the old saying, “The more things change, the more they stay the same” provides helpful insights.
We may not remember the invention of the printing press but can agree it profoundly impacted the way we learned. Fast forward a few hundred years later, and some of you may remember how the graphing calculator made math more user-friendly. Almost all of us remember how Google and Wikipedia transformed the way we think just a few decades later. If we don’t take a moment and reflect on these technological advancements, we might miss an important insight that can help us leverage AI. All these technological advancements, big or small, have one very important thread in common. Can you guess what it is? They were all tools that helped educators and learners level up, at least after some initial resistance.
Overcoming a learning curve
Feeling skeptical? Let’s unpack this. These technological innovations brought information closer to our fingertips. As educators, we no longer based our success on what a student could memorize, but rather on whether a student could leverage a tool to do more, better and faster. Of course, these tools also presented a learning curve for us.
Instructors had to learn what a tech tool‘s strengths and weaknesses were, so they could implement it appropriately and ethically into their teaching methods. Students, with the guidance of educators, had to learn how and when to use a tool appropriately and effectively. Before educators could ultimately see the benefits of these tools, they first had to get over the initial learning curve. With AI, it’s no different.
What do the numbers tell us?
In Cengage’s recent report, 90% of instructors surveyed agreed that GenAI will play an increasing role in education. However, a research brief from ACUE (2024) found that only 17 percent of educators feel they have sufficient guidance on using AI. In the same study, 40 percent of educators reported not using AI in their courses. On the flip side of this coin, the Digital Education Council (2024) reported that 58 percent of students feel they do not have sufficient AI knowledge and skills. As a result, 80 percent of students report that AI integration (at their university) does not fully meet their expectations.
Applying the B.A.S.I.C.S acronym
How can we as educators take advantage of AI so we can level up our learners? We need to go back to the B.A.S.I.C.S. Remember, the more things change, the more they stay the same. This applies to more than just technology. Research on teaching and learning throughout the decades has helped us draw similar conclusions which are exemplified in the B.A.S.I.C.S. acronym. Let’s get into why AI can be utilized to support these time-tested, evidence-based research practices and how you can use generative AI tools, like Chat GPT, to level up learning in your courses.
B. Bringing learning to life
Bringing learning to life means that we connect content to real-world applications. Oftentimes, students overlook the big picture. They may worry more about what they’ll need to know to pass an upcoming exam, rather than how they’ll use that information in their future careers. Bringing learning to life can manifest itself in many ways. Thankfully AI makes this much easier than ever before.
Prompt suggestion: Can you help me come up with a pop-culture reference that can explain (insert concept here)?
This simple prompt is a great way to help learners recognize that what they are learning in the classroom also takes place in the real world. As cynical as it may sound, we forget that students can easily assume information is “merely academic” and not applied. If we can help learners see how learning transcends the “four walls” of the classroom, they are more likely to remember and are more motivated to dig deeper into the concepts (Smith, 2016).
If you don’t feel comfortable using a prompt, you can also take advantage of Khanmigo. Khanmigo is a free open-AI platform for teachers and students that provides multiple tools you can use without having to rely on prompt engineering. Try the “Lesson Hook” tool which simply asks you for the grade level (for example, college-level), topic and any additional context. Within seconds, you’ll have an enjoyable introduction that sets the stage for whatever you want your learners to understand.
A. Active learning
It should come as no surprise that active learning is a time-tested, evidence-based approach. Even in the 1980’s, Chickering and Gamson (1987) knew this was important in undergraduate education. While many educators know this is important, engaging learners with content offers many challenges, regardless of the modality.
Prompt suggestion: Can you please create a relevant case study that examines (insert topic here). Please offer sample questions for learners to diagnose in this case study.
Providing a relevant case study for learners to engage in ticks off many different letters in this acronym. It brings learning to life and gives students an opportunity to test their current understanding, all the while, actively engaging them in the content. The best part? You can adapt the case study to your learning environment. In a face-to-face modality, you could turn this into a think-pair-share activity. In an online-learning environment, this type of activity turns into a great group discussion board post. A case study can easily turn into a practice problem where the correct answers appear after they submit their answers.
Another resource you could take advantage of is Google Notebook LM. Like Khanmigo, this tool helps those who aren’t yet comfortable with entering prompts. You can upload scholarly articles and/or your own resources (for example, your slide deck) and see what prompts are available. Believe it or not, you can even have it develop an AI generated podcast that students can listen to and reflect on.
S. Scaffolding
I define scaffolding as creating temporary bridges that help learners address their knowledge gaps. This definition assumes that to get students to level up in our courses, we must provide support along the way. Scaffolding can manifest itself in many ways, whether you’re situating students’ learning in previous experiences or putting them in small groups to collaborate with each other. The most common way I use scaffolding is to create milestones for large projects. This decreases the chance of procrastination and allows me to provide feedback along the way.
Prompt suggestion: I’m creating a large project/assignment that asks students to (insert project details here). Can you help me break this up into multiple milestones throughout (insert period of time here)?
Using generative AI to help you break up your project into stepping stones is a great way to help students work through a large project or assignment. In my experience, scaffolding large assignments decreases their ability to procrastinate. I get better submissions and can see their learning progress over time.
I. Inclusive practices
I define inclusive practices as the ways we work together to make all students feel welcome, loved and appreciated. By this definition, both the instructor and the students are responsible. Let’s examine two different prompts that help both students and educators do their part.
Prompt suggestion: Can you please help me to create a warm-up activity that helps students build rapport using (insert your content here) as context?
AI-generated warm-up activities engage students in active participation with peers.
Prompt suggestion: Provide your PPT or lecture notes in an Open AI platform and ask the following questions: Can you look at my content and find inclusive activities that all students would appreciate and identify with?
One of the most flexible aspects of AI is that you can narrow its focus by providing your own information or resources to focus on. This ensures that AI is relevant in the activities it provides. Open AI is pulling from many different sources and is known for “hallucinating” (making up information). Therefore, asking it to focus on your content limits it from making errors.
C. Consistent assessment
Consistently assessing students throughout the semester is a great way to understand how they are progressing. While it is difficult to complete this at scale, there are plenty of ways to assess where students are without having to hand-grade everything. One of the most influential ways AI has helped me is by generating practice quizzes. I believe in providing students opportunities to test their knowledge by giving them multiple attempts on quizzes. These are low-stakes assessments that allow students to make mistakes without getting penalized for wrong answers. In my experience, students will take more time to engage in the concepts they struggle with even if it takes them four or more times to pass the quiz.
Prompt suggestion: Can you please create a ten question, multiple choice quiz where the correct answers are marked with an asterisk, using the content I’ve attached? (Insert educational content).
This prompt has been a game changer for me because I’m no longer worried about questions going out into the world for everyone to see and memorize. I can change them every semester in a matter of a few minutes. More importantly, this reduces students’ motivation to cheat because they have multiple attempts. As a result, they are more likely to remember the concepts, especially if they keep answering the questions over and over. This is a win-win in my book. If you don’t feel comfortable using AI to create quiz questions, you can ask it to create distractors for you. As you get more comfortable using AI, ask it to create different types of questions including short answers, matching and true and false.
S. Strategic feedback
As previously mentioned, assessing students at scale and providing constructive feedback is no easy task. While I wouldn’t suggest that you ask AI to provide feedback, I think AI is great at creating rubrics. Rubrics are one way to provide feedback at scale. While it’s not necessarily personalized, rubrics help students understand the expectations for your assignments. Creating rubrics is no easy task and it requires focus and dedication. In my experience, asking AI to start a rubric saves me a lot of time. While I never use an AI-generated rubric without making edits, it gets me over the initial hump of where to start.
Prompt suggestion: Can you please look over this assignment I’ve attached and create a rubric that focuses on the following items, on a (insert your expectations here point scale?
If you’re not keen on using rubrics, but still want to use AI, another choice is to take advantage of a free tool like character.ai. You can create a character that students can chat with to get feedback. While the feedback will be extremely positive, this AI replicates what it might be like to get feedback from an outside stakeholder. You could have them share how they incorporated this feedback from AI and what changes they made.
Like Google and the graphing calculator, AI will likely remain an influential force. More importantly, by learning how to use these tools, we can level up our learners, even if that means we must level up first. I hope you feel comfortable trying at least one of the prompts or tools shared with you, regardless of what your overall outlook has been. If history has taught us anything, it’s that nothing really changes or stays the same. It just evolves. As educators, one of our jobs is to model for students the need to continue learning even in the face of adversity. If we can show our students that we are learning how to implement new tools in our practices, they likely will too. Together, we can learn with them and redefine education in hopes of leveling up our teaching and learning.
Written by Adam Barragato, Senior Instructional Designer at Purdue University.
To learn more about using generative AI tools to implement B.A.S.I.C.S practices in the classroom, watch Adam Barragato’s recorded panel discussion, Level Up B.A.S.I.C.S of Teaching & Learning with AI, part of the 2024 Empowered Educator webinar series.