How can I start using AI in my teaching?

Dear Aggie:

 

ChatGPT and other AI models are all the rage lately. I’d like to use AI to lighten my workload a bit and help my students study more effectively, but I don’t know where to begin. Are there any simple ways to get started with AI?

 

~ AI Curious

 

Dear Curious,

 

Fortunately, there are many simple ways to incorporate AI into your teaching. First, of course, you’ll need to select an AI. Dr. Cynthia Alby, professor of education at Georgia College & State University, recommends ChatGPT, but Claude, Gemini, and other alternatives abound. 

 

Next, you’ll need to think of some directions, or prompts, to give your AI. Professor Alby has shared a handy list of cut-and-paste prompts for educational purposes.

 

One easy—and time-saving—way to use AI is producing wrong answers for multiple-choice questions you have written. Alby says ChatGPT “is much better at writing distractors/wrong answers than I am. Because I know the right answer, I can’t think of incorrect ones!” Her suggested prompt: “Here are a series of quiz questions. Please provide one correct answer and 3 distractor answers for each. Make sure the distractors are plausible. Please also provide an answer key.”

 

With a little guidance from you, students can use AI in a similar manner to create their own study aids. Sharing their notes or assigned texts with an AI, students can prompt it to generate quizzes that greatly improve their test preparation.

 

If you’d like to learn more ways to employ AI in your teaching, please join Professor Alby at her workshop, “Enhance Engagement with AI,” on Monday, February 24. Click here to register.

 

~ Aggie