During the summer break, educators might use this time to refine their course designs and explore innovative technologies. One such technology is ChatGPT, a powerful language model developed by OpenAI that can assist in creating engaging and effective learning experiences. As early as the 1960s, researchers have recognized the potential of AI to transform education (Carbonell, 1960; Suppes, 1966), and with the advancements in machine learning and natural language processing, AI's impact on the educational landscape has only grown more profound.

Let's explore seven strategies for using ChatGPT to enhance your course design over the summer break.

1. Align course and unit-level learning objectives:

Ensuring alignment between course and unit-level objectives is an essential part of effective course design. Use ChatGPT to perform consistency checks, identifying areas where unit-level objectives might be better aligned with broader course objectives (Abd-alrazaq et al., 2023; Alqahtani et al., 2023). ChatGPT can also suggest refinements or revisions to make objectives more specific, measurable, achievable, relevant, and time-bound (SMART). However, instructors should review learning objectives for clarity and alignment to ensure these foundational components of course design are effective and provide clear direction for students.

2. Develop engaging course materials with ChatGPT's content generation capabilities:

ChatGPT can help you generate course materials tailored to your learning objectives (Atlas, 2023). By providing the AI with elements from your course syllabus, desired learning outcomes, and course topics, ChatGPT might suggest outlines for your lectures or assist in creating discussion prompts that are aligned to your educational goals and help save time (Kasneci, et al., 2023; Jeon & Lee, 2023). Always crosscheck references provided by the AI since its language model can be limited to a particular scope and timeframe.

3. Create personalized feedback using ChatGPT:

Providing students with timely, personalized feedback is essential. ChatGPT can help you generate two types of feedback: templated feedback applicable to common errors and customized feedback based on submitted work, performance metrics, and learning preferences. By integrating ChatGPT into your assessment process, you can offer students detailed and tailored feedback on their assignments, promoting reflection and improvement (Atlas, 2023; Gimpel, et al., 2023). You should always review, edit, and customize the feedback to each student and assignment.

4. Generate test questions aligned to learning objectives:

By using ChatGPT, faculty can generate a large pool of relevant test questions quickly, freeing up time to focus on other aspects of course design and instruction (Atlas, 2023; Sok & Heng, 2023; Trust, Whalen, & Mouza, 2023). The AI can formulate a variety of question types (multiple-choice, true/false, short answer, and essay questions) all designed to assess the objectives and reflective of Bloom's taxonomy. While AI can be a valuable tool for generating test questions, it's essential for educators to review and refine these questions to ensure they are appropriately challenging, fair, and properly aligned with the course's learning objectives. 

5. Foster collaboration and communication with ChatGPT-powered chatbots:

Effective communication and collaboration are critical components of a successful learning experience. Chatbots can answer students' questions, provide style guidance on assignments, and offer support outside of regular class hours (Atlas, 2023; Kasneci, et al., 2023). Some AI chatbots are packaged with platforms from licensed tools such as writing practice and language learning (Jeon & Lee, 2023).

6. Utilize ChatGPT for brainstorming and idea generation:

Encouraging students to think creatively and critically is a key aspect of the learning process. ChatGPT can help students generate ideas for projects, essays, and other assignments by providing them with relevant suggestions, perspectives, and examples (Atlas, 2023; Sok & Heng, 2023). By integrating ChatGPT into your course design and teaching practice, you can support students in their brainstorming efforts and spark their creativity. Students can share the link to the ChatGPT conversation to show their work as part of their assignment submission workflow.

7. Design inclusive course materials with ChatGPT's language capabilities:

Creating inclusive and accessible course materials is essential for ensuring that all students have an equal opportunity to succeed. ChatGPT can help you develop course materials that cater to diverse learning needs and preferences (Kasneci, et al., 2023). By providing the model with specific guidelines, such as using simple language or incorporating visual aids, ChatGPT can help generate content that is more accessible and inclusive to a wide range of learners. 

What's Next?

Incorporating ChatGPT into your course design over the summer break can transform the way you teach and create more engaging, personalized, and effective learning experiences for your students. These tools and resources can help students actively reflect on their learning processes and strategies, fostering metacognition and promoting deeper understanding of the course material (Gimpel, et al., 2023). By leveraging ChatGPT's content generation capabilities, personalized feedback, chatbot communication, brainstorming assistance, and inclusive language features, you can harness the power of this AI technology to enhance your educational practice and optimize student success.

Follow the Instructional Technology group to get updates about our exclusive webinar series, Empowering Educators: AI Tools for Teaching and Productivity, designed to help faculty harness the power of artificial intelligence to enhance their course preparation and teaching productivity. Coming in Fall 2023, this comprehensive five-part series will explore cutting-edge AI tools and technologies that can revolutionize the way you approach course development, student success and engagement, assessment and grading, course management, and personal productivity.

References

Abd-alrazaq, A., AlSaad, R., Alhuwail, D., Ahmed, A., Healy, P.M., Latifi, S., Aziz, S., Damseh, R., Alabed Alrazak, S., & Sheikh, J. (2023). Large language models in medical education: Opportunities, challenges, and future directions. JMIR Medical Education, 9(1). https://doi.org/10.2196/48291

Alqahtani, T., Badreldin, H. A., Alrashed, M., Alshaya, A. I., Alghamdi, S. S., bin Saleh, K., Alowais, S. A., Alshaya, O. A., Rahman, I., Al Yami, M. S., Albekairy, A. M. (2023). The emergent role of artificial intelligence, natural language processing, and large language models in higher education and research. Research in Social and Administrative Pharmacy [pre-print]. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.sapharm.2023.05.016

Atlas, Stephen. "ChatGPT for higher education and professional development: A guide to conversational AI." (2023). https://digitalcommons.uri.edu/cba_facpubs/548

Carbonell, J. R. (1960). AI in CAI: An artificial intelligence approach to computer-assisted instruction. IEEE Transactions on Man-Machine Systems, 11(4), 190-202.

Gimpel, H., Hall, K., Decker, S., Eymann, T., Lammermann, L., Madche, A., Roglinger, M., Ruiner, C., Schoch, M., Schoop, M., Urback, N., & Vandirk, S. (2023). Unlocking the power of generative AI models and systems such as GPT-4 and ChatGPT for higher education: A guide for students and lecturers. Hohenheim Discussion Papers in Business, Economics and Social Sciences, No. 02-2023, Universitat Hohenheim, Fakultat Wirtschafts- und Sozialwissenschaften, Stuttgart. Retrieved from http://hdl.handle.net/10419/270970

Jeon, J., & Lee, S. (2023). Large language models in education: A focus on the complementary relationship between human teachers and ChatGPT. Education and Information Technologies. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10639-023-11834-1

Kasneci, E., Sessler, K., Kuchemann, S., Bannert, M., Dementieva, D., Fischer, F., ... Kasneci, G. (2023). ChatGPT for good? On opportunities and challenges of large language models for education. https://doi.org/10.35542/osf.io/5er8f

OpenAI. (2023). ChatGPT-4 (Apr 18 version) [Large language model]. https://chat.openai.com/chat

Sok, S., & Heng, K. (2023). ChatGPT for education and research: A review of benefits and risks. Social Science Research Network. https://doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4378735

Suppes, P. (1966). The uses of computers in education. Scientific American, 215(3), 207-220.

Trust, T., Whalen, J., & Mouza, C. (2023). ChatGPT: Challenges, opportunities, and implications for teacher education [editorial]. Contemporary Issues in Technology and Teacher Education, 23(1).

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The text of this article was outlined and seeded by ChatGPT 4.0 and extensively revised by the Instructional Technology staff. Research cited in this article was identified and vetted by humans.

DoIT and Student Disability Services hosted a "Candid Conversation on Enhancing Accessibility" on March 15th. The session highlighted ways that course accessibility benefits all students and results in inclusive learning and working environments. Student Disability Services and DoIT's Instructional Technology team collaborate to provide resources and support to enhance course accessibility. Proactively designing and teaching a course with accessibility in mind not only supports students with documented accommodations, but also supports Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and best practices in course design. In the session panelists shared several key recommendations and resources that are available:

Key recommendations for course design and delivery

• Use Blackboard Ally to check the accessibility of course content, get guidance on remediating content, and to access alternative formats of course materials.

• Videos about Ally

• Alternative Formats in Bb Ally 

• Which Alternative Format is Best to Use? 

• Student FAQ - How do I download an alt format file generated by Ally? 

• Use live captioning in online course meetings, either with Webex or Google Chrome browser live captioning enabled.
• Caption video recordings with automatic captions in Panopto or VoiceThread.
• Upload a Video to Panopto
• Add time limit and due date accommodations in Blackboard.

Accessibility Resources

In addition to the tools noted above, the following resources also support accessibility:

• Create accessible documents with Office 365.
• Review the Google Workspace guide to accessibility.
• Explore SDS assistive technology resources.
• Review assistive technology resources available at the AOK Library.
• Review SDS Information for Faculty.

Technology Highlight: Class

UMBC will be piloting Class, a synchronous web conferencing platform built on Zoom's infrastructure. Class provides support for the following:

• Live transcription. All students in a Class session can view captions.
• Multiple video displays while sharing content, including support for sign language interpreters with a dedicated Sign Language Camera.
• Notes, an upcoming Class feature, will allow students to highlight text from the meeting transcript and add notes.
• Screen reader compatibility and keyboard navigation.

Shifting to teaching in online and hybrid formats has created opportunities to identify how students can share multimedia projects and receive feedback through peer critique. While various tools support multimedia, faculty often wonder what tools can enhance asynchronous peer engagement for multimedia projects and how to use these tools with Blackboard.

UMBC community members have used asynchronous tools like VoiceThread for multimedia engagement. VoiceThread is a learning tool for enhancing student engagement and online presence. With VoiceThread, instructors and students can create, share, and comment on images, Microsoft PowerPoint presentations, videos, audio files, documents, and PDFs, using text, a microphone, webcam, phone, and audio-file upload. 

The VoiceThread platform supported communication between presenters and visitors at conferences like URCAD, USM LSAMP, and SURF. In addition, faculty incorporate VoiceThread in Blackboard to share lectures, presentations, and student work. The most recent feature for VoiceThread in Blackboard, VoiceThread Assignments, creates a new level of integration between student work, collaboration, and Blackboard.

Kristen Anchor, Lecturer, Media and Communication Studies (MCS), uses VoiceThread Assignments in her MCS courses. She devised several innovative approaches to manage and facilitate media project assignments, peer learning, and peer critique. For Anchor, peer critique is an integral part of the learning and creative process. She explains to students, "Critique is helpful for two reasons: (1) Getting feedback on your work, and (2) practicing your visual and communication skills about media (as the critic)." How can instructors design online courses with asynchronous components to support this essential student interaction? Anchor finds VoiceThread helps students achieve course goals and meets the instructional need to support multimedia projects and peer engagement.

Anchor thoughtfully delivers VoiceThread assignments by providing students with assignment instructions and reference guides for using VoiceThread. She presents students with assignment instructions within Blackboard and again after they launch the VoiceThread Assignment. Students receive project examples as references with their assignment instructions. Anchor uses the VoiceThread Student Gallery for each project, an optional feature that faculty can select when creating a VoiceThread Assignment, to support peer critique.

The Student Gallery feature makes peer critique in VoiceThread possible; it allows students to see submissions from their peers and add audio, video, and text-based comments, allowing for asynchronous peer feedback sessions.

Kristen Anchor will share her excellent ideas about using VoiceThread to support student projects and engagement, along with tips, tricks, and thoughts for faculty considering adopting VoiceThread for their instruction moving forward. Please register and join us Thursday, October 21st, at Noon to learn more.

~ By Josh Abrams