Artificial Intelligence: Teaching Strategies

Assignment Strategies That Minimize Reliance on GAI

• Scaffold Assignments - assignments should build on previous work
• Assign Group Projects - group accountability 
• Database Evidence is Required - students are required to use library materials

What would you add?

Focus on Process

Focusing on process—e.g., the steps you take to solve a problem or write an essay—may become more important as generative AI can quickly produce fluent, albeit generic and possibly inaccurate, text. Demystifying how academic “products” are made—e.g., identifying the recursive processes involved in writing an essay, or common steps in deriving an equation—and engaging students in reflection on their own processes, may help students avoid the temptation of solely and uncritically relying on AI tools.  

Scaffold Writing Assignments

Break up large writing assignments into smaller constituent parts. For instance, for a research paper due at the end of the quarter:

1. Incorporate time for in-class, exploratory thinking and writing; you may wish to collect samples of students’ writing to get a sense for how they write. 

2. Assign students to submit a topic and draft thesis for your feedback. 

3. Have students develop and submit a literature review and outline. 

4. Meet with students briefly to discuss their progress.

5. Ask students to provide feedback to one another before submitting final drafts, if possible. 

6. Allow students the opportunity to revise and resubmit following your final round of feedback.

You may also ask students to complete these tasks using Google Docs or Microsoft 365, so you can refer to the version history if desired. 

To learn how an instructor in the Social Sciences Core in the College implements this kind of approach, read Sarah Johnson’s “Scaffolding the Writing Process: An Approach to Assignment Design in the SOSC Core.”

Require Student Reflection

Require students to reflect on their own thinking, processes, and approaches in their work. This kind of reflection can help promote metacognition, which can help students become better regulated learners who are able to identify gaps in knowledge and opportunities for continued learning. For example, you might ask students to:

• Explain why they chose the references and other source materials for their projects.

• Describe their approach to solving a problem or completing a project, including identifying barriers or false starts along the way.

• Identify any lessons learned that can be applied to future contexts.   

• Discuss how a concept relates to their own experience, if applicable, and how understanding the concept may influence their interpretation of the experience.

From UChicago, https://genai.uchicago.edu/en/resources/faculty-and-instructors/strategies-for-designing-ai-resistant-assignments