The University released an artificial intelligence guide on Oct. 22 in collaboration with Grammarly to help faculty incorporate generative AI into their classrooms.
Created by the Office of Academic Technology, the guide includes 20 activities and nine lesson plans to teach faculty and students how to responsibly use AI in academic settings. The guide addresses topics like brainstorming presentation ideas, creating annotated bibliographies and writing a cover letter, all within the scope of responsible AI use.
In November 2023, the Office of Academic Technology started talking to Grammarly about testing its AI writing assistant across departments for the guide’s activities and lesson plans. Julie Schell, director of the Office of Academic Technology, said they used the tool because it doesn’t store any user data, complying with the University’s acceptable use policy.
Academic technology manager Evan Daniel, who created some of the activities, said the guide is meant to be “straightforward” and usable even for those completely new to generative AI tools.
According to a survey from Cengage, an education technology company, 70% of students want generative AI training in their coursework. Schell said teaching AI should go beyond the basics and train students and faculty in best practices for ethical use.
Two of those best practices are prompt engineering and output evaluation, Schell said. Prompt engineering consists of keeping “the human in the loop” by making the prompt as unique and specific as possible, and output evaluation is checking the results for accuracy.
“When you engage with AI in such a general way, it responds with generalities, and it takes you out of the equation,” Schell said. “One of the things I do with my students is teach them how to prepare a prompt that will help the output have more of (their) signature on it.”
