Teaching with AI

• “Help me create a lesson plan for a 90-minute class on the principles of microeconomics. Please include an introduction and conclusion activity. The lesson should include a group activity. Give me suggested times for each part of the lesson.”
• “Create an outline for a set of PowerPoint slides about basic safety practices in a dental lab for my college class. Also suggest 3-5 prompts that I can ask you for pictures I could include, but only for pages where an image would be meaningful and beneficial.”
• “Locate a few readings or articles that highlight the contributions of underrepresented groups to environmental sustainability. They should be at a college reading level. Please cite and link the articles so I can use them directly.”
   

• “Create a rubric with 4 levels and 3 categories to evaluate first year college students on installing a basic drainage system using PVC.”
• “My student’s writing frequently ends in prepositions, like ‘who is this from? or ‘this is what we have waited for.’ I was taught that this grammar is incorrect. What advice can I give to this student?
• “I have attached a short article that will be used for a marked in-class assignment. It is too big to fit on one page, so please reduce it to approximately 200 words. Do not remove any names, dates, or statistics in your paraphrase.”

• “I am teaching an introductory college class on the concept of supply and demand. In the past, students understood the concepts of my lesson but had difficulty applying them. Create a 5-to-10-minute introductory activity for my class that is fun, but which will help my students understand how supply and demand are related in practice.”
• “Please suggest some interactive activities I can use to review with my college class about current trends in web design. Please make sure that they are appropriate for an online class.”
• “Based on the YouTube video I have linked to here, provide a short summary as well as 2-3 critical points that students should listen closely for as they watch. Additionally, give me several discussion questions that we can discuss as a class. One of those questions should require critical thought.”

• “I am teaching a lab that combines level 1 and level 3 students. I have uploaded a rubric that is for the level 3 group. Keeping the same categories, modify the expectations so it is appropriate for the level 1 group. In other words, I have the same assignment for both groups, but I want to evaluate the lower group to a lower but similar set of expectations.
• “I have attached an article about children and social media that I want my college Early Childhood Education class to read. I feel that the article is very one-sided, so produce a similar article that they can read as a counterpoint. We will discuss both perspectives in class.” 

• “Create an informal logo for my class homepage. Include some words or graphics that are relevant to interior design. The style should be modern, clear, and professional. As the main colours, use the same red and black as the Fanshawe College logo.”
• “For my final exam review PowerPoint title page, create a picture of a professor who teaches English for Academic Purposes. He is tired from doing a lot of marking, but he likes his class and wants his students to be successful.”

Note: Copilot will occasionally limit the number of images that can be generated via a token system. Once these daily “boosts” have been used up, images may take 10-20 times longer to generate.

Professor presence and expertise is a huge factor in student success. The following examples illustrate how a student might prompt AI for additional, personalized support in understanding complex topics in preparation for assessment:

• “Am I correct in thinking that Canada won the war of 1812?”
• “Help me study for my exam in Nursing. I am supposed to compare the medical model with the nursing model. I’m going to tell you some advantages and disadvantages of each, and you tell me if you think these ideas are correct.”
• “Can you look at my discussion post and tell me if I’ve answered the question fully?”
• “I am practicing the takeoff sequence, but I am really nervous. Can you act like an air traffic controller and help me to take off from London International Airport in my private plane?”
• “Act like my college filmmaking instructor and quiz me on the list of films I will attach below. Pick a film and make me explain why its technical production or theme is important in Canadian cinema. I have seen all of these films, but if I have a wrong answer, help me improve.”
   

You can also coach students on how to push their demonstrated learning to the next level. For assignments or applications where this is permitted, you may need students to document their process to show how they have used AI tools to improve (rather than circumvent) their learning. Here are some sample prompts where your students could use AI to improve their output:

• I have copied my one-page business plan for a small video games studio below. Critique my plan based on current industry trends. Tell me honestly if there are gaps in my plan that should be addressed before I present the plan to my professor.
• My group of construction technology students is supposed to make a common household system more energy efficient. We have six weeks to design and create a small, scale model or this system. Draft us a timeline that starts today so that we can complete the project on time.
• I have written the attached code in PHP, but it is long, and it runs slowly. Can you suggest where I can make improvements to make it more efficient?
• Act as the manager of an event planning company. I am a college student who wants to do my mandatory co-op for your company. I’ll share my resume here so you can ask me some common interview questions for this industry, and you can provide feedback on my responses and suggest improvements.”
   

Your students are pursuing excellence in your area of expertise, but they can often benefit from the application of the sort of broad, general knowledge that AI can provide. Here are some examples of prompts which demonstrate how GenAI tools can help students push the boundaries of their learning by extending their creative reach:

• I have created a design for pants as part of a school project that has a steampunk theme. I’ve used cotton jogging pants with leather scraps for material. Can you suggest a different material for the belt or perhaps the bottom hem that would accent this modern/antique look?
• I need to interview a ‘famous’ person for my business class. Can you act like Steve Jobs so I can ask you about your perspective on some basic business ideas? My teacher says it’s okay as long as you act alive.
• My project group has created a pretend non-profit company that allows charities to recruit volunteers to work virtually, from home, on a variety of tasks. Could you create a colourful banner for the top of our website? It should be 728 x 90 pixels, have a modern design, and include royal blue as the main colour. Don’t put any words on it.
• My group has designed a weekly menu for our culinary management class. Every day has a different set menu with an app, a main, a dessert, and an additional feature piece. Are there some clever or humorous acronyms that can describe this menu?

• “Copilot, draft an email to my electrical engineering students reminding them that their extended assignment deadline is coming up.”
• “I have a student with accommodations who needs to have a written summary of my point-form notes. Please convert the bullet points I have copied below into sentences and paragraphs. Use language and vocabulary appropriate for a second-year college student.”
• “Make an announcement that I can post to the learning management system reminding students that they may use AI to refine their assignment #3 work, but not to avoid doing their own brainstorming. Yes, I’m aware of the irony of this request.“

• “Please suggest ways that I can make my course readings more interactive or connected. I have one or two PDFs connected to each week, but they are orphaned from my lessons and evaluations.”
• “I’m having a problem with my online communications class. Students log into Zoom, immediately turn off their camera and microphone, and then become unavailable for the hour. They even do this in breakout rooms when they are supposed to be doing group work. Can you suggest some strategies to have them be more engaged?”
• “My course in project management is being changed from 3 weekly hours in person to having one of those hours online. The online hour won’t be live. Can you help me decide how to convert my course so that this is effective for student learning?”

• “Copilot, generate a bar chart showing the grade distribution for my Introduction to Psychology class. Also, if this is at the midterm point, and 50% is a pass, at what percentage score should I consider students to be at risk?” 
• “Copilot, find recent research articles on the impact of online learning on student engagement and summarize the key findings. Include citations and links.”
• “I need an Excel formula that averages all numbers in column B and puts the result into cell A2. Zeroes in column B should be ignored in the average.”

• “How can you help me with creating pre-recorded micro lectures?”
• “What tools do you have that can help with data analysis?”
• “What kind of images can you produce that would make my presentations more interesting?”
• “If I give you my course information, can you tell me how I can have students use AI responsibly in my class? I am looking for advice that is specific to my course and its outcomes.”