AI case study: consistent MME projects with Anna Lidfors Lindqvist

Some projects in the School of Mechanical and Mechatronic Engineering are created by several team members resulting in varying degrees of complexity and task types among the projects.

In the past this has caused some projects to be misaligned with the intended learning level and others to not adequately reflect real-world scenarios.

As well as creating consistency across project assessments, Anna envisaged several benefits to using ChatGPT to generate projects.

• Relevance – projects can be tailored to meet the specific interests of the students
• Objectivity – AI-generated projects can help to eliminate bias and ensure that evaluations are fair and objective
• Diversity – ChatGPT can generate a wide range of project ideas, allowing students to explore new topics and ideas
• Customization – projects can be customized to specific time frames, difficulties and desired outcomes

Anna provided a complete guide on how academics can use ChatGPT to create project assessments that align with the subject learning outcomes. Anna used the LX.lab Media Space and services to create this video guide.

Anna played around with the wording inputs needed to generate project ideas based on various engineering concepts, specific topics or areas of interest and found that the first response from ChatGPT didn’t quite produce the desired outcome.

After a few tweaks and multiple chats with the bot, the output generated by ChatGPT got the job done. A little more exploring and Anna found that AI could guide students through the project development process, by answering questions and providing information on best practices and techniques.

Anna has documented the process of using ChatGPT for curriculum design and student support with the aim of providing professional development and learning opportunities for the teaching team and her students. Anna is also hoping to publish a paper on the work she has done with ChatGPT and curriculum design.