It’s a new thing for teachers in all classrooms – beginning a session by talking to students about AI and setting up clear expectations and boundaries for engaging with AI in their subjects. Discussing the rules and pointing your students to helpful resources is important, but there’s nothing like learning by doing. Research from Stanford on generative AI shows that the primary way to avoid academic misconduct is to be transparent about how you would like your students to use AI in your course. A great way to do that is to design an activity that you can do with your students in class.
To get the ball rolling, here are 4 activities you can use in class to support your students in building their AI skills.
1. Show students how to log into Microsoft Bing Copilot
What to do: in front of the class, demonstrate what it looks like when students are logged into Microsoft Bing Copilot. Encourage students to follow along with their own devices if they have them, and point out the green shield symbol that indicates the user is logged in. Full details for this process are available in our Using Microsoft Bing Copilot Generative AI resource.
Microsoft Copilot is the only UTS-supported GenAI platform for students, so it’s the best one to use in any class activities. There are two ‘versions’ of Copilot that students can access. When using Copilot while not logged in, students are accessing the public version – and any data they input is not protected, so may be used for machine learning. By logging in, students can ensure their work remains protected.
Follow this activity up by encouraging students to start a conversation with the chatbot – they could ask Copilot how GenAI is affecting their discipline, or to define a term, and then discuss in groups or with the rest of the class.
2. Try using AI for assessments
What to do: create a simple assessment brief similar to one your students might encounter in your subject. The brief should require a written response. Share this with your students, ask them to put it through an AI chatbot, and share their responses. Students can discuss the results in groups or share with the rest of class.
This activity offers a chance for students to be guided in their use of AI, and also to critically consider the (often lacklustre) results that AI produces for assessments. Lead a discussion and invite students to share their opinions on the disadvantages of using AI to create work.
3. Build a session timetable or study plan with AI
What to do: ask students to prepare and map out their Spring session with AI as an assistant. Using the subject outline, allow 10-15 minutes in class for students to input the important dates for the session into a chatbot and request a study plan.
This activity allows you to take care of a few different things at the same time: discuss the subject outline with students, note upcoming assessment due dates and introduce them to GenAI.
4. Ask AI to help summarise long texts or define complex concepts
What to do: create a short writing task for students that can be completed in class. Ask students to ‘co-write’ their response with AI. The task could focus on explaining an important concept students need to understand for their discipline. Students can use AI to assist in writing their answer, but must provide references that show how they have used AI.
This task gives you an opportunity to get students thinking about your subject content, while also learning how to use AI in alignment with academic integrity principles. Share the UTS Library Referencing and Acknowledging AI guide with your students and set out expectations for preferred referencing styles in your subject.
How do you talk about AI with your students?
There are so many different ways to approach learning and teaching with AI. Share your suggestions in the comments, or reach out to us at lx.lab@uts.edu.au if you’d like to write a blog post about AI use in your class.