Assessment Ideas Using GenAI
Incorporating the use of an AI tool into assignments
Some faculty may wish to allow or promote the use of generative AI tools by students, to help them learn about such tools, understand their strengths and weaknesses, or to use them productively to improve critical thinking and writing skills. Similar to how researchers use other tools like NVIVO to code data and explain their methodology in research reports, students can use generative AI and explain its use as part of their method in writing assignments.
Please note the privacy and other ethical considerations discussed in this resource, if asking students to use such tools.
Have students analyze AI-generated text or other outputs
One way to include the use of generative AI in assignments, that may or may not involve students creating accounts and engaging with the tools themselves, is to guide students to critique responses provided by generative AI tools. For example, for written texts students could evaluate the accuracy and other strengths and weaknesses of the content created, identify gaps where more needs to be added, examine whether summaries appear to match the original texts, examine the credibility of cited sources, etc. It can be useful to provide a rubric to guide such review of AI outputs, to support students’ learning about how to improve their own writing.
Some faculty members are having their students analyze ChatGPT outputs, not just for written work, but for other outputs such as equations or chemical formulas. Even though generative AI tools may provide incorrect information at times, this presents an opportunity for students to assess the AI’s answers and learn in the process.
Through active discussion with faculty members and fellow students, students can fine-tune their analytical and critical thinking skills using AI-generated responses. More importantly, such active discussion amongst faculty and students fosters a scholarly learning environment in classrooms where students and faculty are communicating and developing ideas together.
Support students using generative AI in their own learning
Some educators are introducing the use of generative AI in written assignments as a new approach in specific academic domains. Students can use this technology and include a reference section to detail their usage. At UCLA, Professor John Villasenor is one of the advocates of this approach and even encourages first-year law students to employ ChatGPT. To create work that combines the strengths of both AI and traditional writing techniques, students must learn to seamlessly blend generative AI into their assignments in a logical and coherent manner.
You could suggest ways for your students to utilize generative AI tools like ChatGPT to enhance their learning experience. Students may use generative AI writing tools to support parts of their ideation, research, and writing processes, while doing other parts themselves grounded in disciplinary and course-specific topics and methods.
In connection with all of the suggestions below, you could require students to submit screenshots of the AI outputs and describe how they built on that. It’s important to remind students that AI can (and at this point often does) make mistakes and provide false information, and that they need to check the AI outputs and correct them as needed.
Ideation and brainstorming
Students could use AI to generate initial ideas for research topics and questions that they then refine and add to themselves. For example, AI could help them move from broad ideas to more specific questions that they then refine and address according to disciplinary and class context.
Initial research
Students could use AI platforms to do basic research to get an overview of a topic, and to help them focus later work based on concepts and keywords they have learned. For example, they can use perplexity.ai or other AI tools for research and analysis by inputting research questions or topics and finding sources and key terms to explore.
Improving grammar and other aspects of writing
Students can input parts of their writing into ChatGPT or other tools to receive feedback on common grammatical errors and tone. ChatGPT can not only edit writing, but explain what it changed and why, which could be a useful way for students to learn.
Adding creative elements to assignments
Students could use generative AI tools to add more creative elements to their work, such as using image generators like Stable Diffusion to create images that they add to slide presentations, games, apps, portfolios, blog posts, and more. There are also AI tools that can generate music or sound effects that could be used for student-created videos or games. Students could also use AI text generators to create draft scripts for videos that they can edit and refine to provide more details and information to better fit with the course context and learning objectives of assignments.
More examples
- Laurier University has created an excellent resource that allows you to explore ways to support academic integrity in assessments and course activities, as well as maximize productive engagement with generative AI in your assessments. : Assessment Strategies
- Assessment Ideas for an AI Enabled World
Attributions
- Assessments by the Centre for Teaching and Learning at Queen’s University is licensed under CC BY SA 4.0
- Assessment Strategies . This work is licensed under CC BY 4.0.
