Chatbots for Instruction

Conversational AI tools like ChatGPT have taken the world by storm, and education is one of the biggest areas for potential impact.

In this course, educators will learn about how to leverage these new technologies in instruction as partners to both teachers and students. To start, this course will focus on AI for instruction and how tools like ChatGPT can be phenomenal tools to guide students through informal learning experiences, to give individualized feedback and assistance, and to tutor metacognitive strategies.

From there, the course will move on to discussing strategies for having chatbots play a role more as a partner to students. Whether as a brainstorming partner, a debate opponent, a lab assistant, or something else entirely, chatbots have enormous potential to take some of the benefits of social, collaborative learning and make them available 24/7 to learners everywhere.

Finally, the course will conclude with strategies for using AI to teach students about artificial intelligence itself to equip them for a world in which familiarity and comfort with AI assistance is a defining feature of the workforce. We will discuss how to teach students to test new tools, find their limitations, and evaluate their boundaries.

At the end, you will come away with a comfort using artificial intelligence in your classroom and navigating the pitfalls—practical, ethical, and pedagogical—that come with it.

Week 1: Fundamentals of Conversational AI Learn the fundamental components of conversational AI tools like ChatGPT, including how they work, what their strengths and weaknesses are, and how to prompt them for the best results.

Week 2: AI as Teacher Learn strategies for using AI as a surrogate teacher, such as guiding students through informal learning experiences and giving personalized feedback.

Week 3: AI as Partner Learn strategies for using AI as a surrogate classmate, such as having students debate against AI agents as they would with classmates or partner with conversational AI to brainstorm their own ideas.

Week 4: AI as Goal Learn strategies for teaching students about AI itself, such as activities to explore how to best interact with these tools and approaches to testing the limits of emerging AI tools to understand their strengths and weaknesses.