AI as Coach, Simulator, and Visualizer: Evidence-Based Practices for Online Learning

Jennifer E. Potter, Associate Director, Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation

Zach Runge, Assistant Professor, Harford Community College

Agenda

• Moving from AI Resistance to AI Engagement
• AI as a Coach
• AI as a Simulator
• AI as a Visualizer
• Building Your Next Steps

​

Moving from AI Resistance to AI Engagement

86% of students already use AI in their studies

1 in 2 students do not feel AI ready

Students expect universities to provide more training on AI

The real scandal of AI in education is not plagiarism, but pedagogy already too shallow to survive it

James Yoonil Auh, "The End of AI and the Future of Higher Education"

AI as Coach

AI as a Coach for Communication Skills

• Spent summer building a custom AI agent in ChatGPT
• The agent acts as a peer mentor for students in an introductory speaking course
• Students are able to use the agent to:
• help develop their topics
• receive feedback on their outlines
• assist with formatting/organization
• practice their speeches
• A Permitted Uses of AI and Important Guidelines document is shared for each assignment type in the course

​

Image pulled from https://powell-software.com/resources/blog/ai-in-internal-communications/ 

Creating & Refining the Coach

• Simply started with the prompt - "I want to build an AI agent to take on the role of a peer mentor for my speech fundamentals students. What information do you need from me to get started?"
• Provided course-related documents including syllabus, rubrics, assignment descriptions, etc. 
• A conversational process with ChatGPT, producing an agent in less than 30 minutes
• As always with AI, constantly testing and refining the agent to emphasize a student-driven process 
• Currently, the agent will always end its responses with a question to keep students leading the dialogue – it should not write or replace student work

Plan for Student Feedback

• Agent was officially launched and shared with students in four fully online sections of CMST 101 (Speech Fundamentals) at HCC  
• First few modules in course introduced the agent and explored AI's utility in public speaking, the ways I will and won't use AI as the instructors, and ethical considerations to keep in mind 
• Initial feedback from students about the agent included: 
• "I think the idea of a speech-focused agent is cool. I'm happy we have it available in the class" 
• "I am using AI a lot already to help with assignment guidelines, so I like having a dedicated tool for our course."
• "I find it interesting that we can use AI in the course. No one really allows that."
• "Terrible. Horrible. No good. Very bad. I don't trust AI."
• Near the end of the semester, a more robust survey will be shared via MS Teams to assess students' use and perceptions of the AI agent

Your Turn: Receive Some Coaching

AI as a Simulation Space

Using Chatbot of Choice (v.1) then BoodleBox (v.2)

Overview of Aristotle, AI & Ethics Council Group Chat Assignments

Aristotle, AI Chatbot

• Step 1: Start with the Initial Prompt

Initial Prompt: "You are Aristotle, the ancient Greek philosopher. You are having a conversation with a student in the 21st century who wants to understand your philosophy on persuasion, particularly the concept of ethos. Please respond to all questions as Aristotle, using the knowledge and language of your time while explaining ideas in a way that modern students can understand. Whenever possible, provide examples from ancient Greece and make comparisons to the modern world. Stay in character as Aristotle throughout the conversation."

• Step 2: Engage Using Sample Questions & Add Your Own
• Step 3: Reflect on Conversation

Ethics Council Group Chat

Student Feedback about Assignments

• It was definitely a little strange and new with the Aristotle activity but it at the very least was a good summary of what I could have read on my own.
• Tonight was the first time I've ever used ChatGPT and overall, it was a pleasant experience. I did not expect the answers to be so detailed. It helped me re-learn about some concepts from Aristotle that I had forgotten from previous classes. After tonight, I'm interested in learning more about different AI.
• The Dear Ethicist Assignment was a very good introduction to this course as you were exposed to multiple different ethical frameworks and got to apply them to different situations.
• The dear ethicist assignment was another bright spot in the course because it made me learn all of the different ways to handle a certain problem from different view points.

​

Your Turn: Join the Ethics Council Group Chat

• QR code to BoodleBox:
• We can also ask questions collaboratively:
• Ethics Council Group Chat

AI as Visualizer: Deliberation Map for Women Talking (2022)

Using Notebook LM, Napkin, and Venngage

Overview of the Deliberation Map Assignment

• Students analyze the complex deliberative process portrayed in the film, Women Talking, by creating a visual deliberation map.
• Students learn how to identify argumentative strategies and how to examine moral reasoning in communities.

• Students create a map that racks the film's ethical discussion and analyze how characters adjust to others in their decision-making.
• Deliberation maps can be created with no AI help, with Notebook LM, with Napkin AI, or using the chatbot of choice to generate a map.

Student Deliberation Map Example

• Students had the option to create their own or use AI
• Students needed more direction about creating deliberation maps and more technical advice about the potential tools

Student Feedback about Assignment

• For the deliberation map, I had both likes and dislikes. When I saw I had to watch an hour long movie and take notes on it, I really dreaded the assignment. I also did not think I was going to like the movie. Once I got started, I did not think it was a bad assignment. I liked the visual map we had to design. I thought that was fun. I also ended up liking the movie as well.
• I did not like the deliberation map assignment as I felt it was personally a little confusing and hard to follow. I liked the creativity of making a diagram to follow their thought process, though.
• In Module 2, I really enjoyed the deliberation map assignment. It offered a creative variation from the typical paper-writing format I’m used to. After watching the film, being able to map out characters’ thought processes gave me a new way to engage with the material. It was refreshing to express my understanding visually and analytically instead of just through writing.
• The map assignment was very time consuming I felt starting the assignment but once I got the hang of it I understood it. An it actually helped me break down the movie staying organized. Also helped me break down each character and why they felt the way they felt throughout the movie.

​

Your Turn: Visualize Your Data

• QR codes in order from left to right:
• Venngage
• Napkin, AI
• Notebook LM

​

​

​

​

Building Your Next Steps

• How might you incorporate Generative AI into your own courses to enhance student learning?
• We'd love to see your ideas and plans—use the QR code to add to our Padlet!
• Let's look at our responses!