Lesson 4 Getting Started in Course Design

4-5 Artificial Intelligence in Learning Design

Prompt: Tell me why I should use AI in building e-learning and things AI can help me do

Computer-Generated Content

There are many reasons why you should use AI in building e-learning. Here are a few:

  • Personalize the learning experience. AI can help you to create e-learning courses that are tailored to the individual needs of each learner. This can be done by using AI to analyze student data, such as their learning style, interests, and progress. AI can then use this information to adapt the course content, difficulty, and pacing to each learner.
  • Provide real-time feedback and support. AI can be used to provide learners with real-time feedback on their work and answer their questions. This can be done through chatbots, virtual assistants, and other AI-powered tools. AI can also be used to identify learners who are struggling and provide them with additional support.
  • Make e-learning more engaging and interactive. AI can be used to create more engaging and interactive e-learning experiences. For example, AI can be used to create simulations, games, and other interactive activities. AI can also be used to create personalized learning paths that allow learners to explore different topics at their own pace.

Here are some specific things that AI can help you do when building e-learning:

  • Create personalized learning paths. AI can analyze student data to identify their strengths and weaknesses, and then create a personalized learning path for each student. This ensures that each student is learning at the right pace and level.
  • Develop interactive content. AI can be used to develop interactive content, such as simulations, games, and quizzes. This makes learning more engaging and helps students to better understand the material.
  • Provide real-time feedback. AI can provide students with real-time feedback on their work. This helps students to identify and learn from their mistakes.
  • Automate tasks. AI can be used to automate tasks such as grading assignments and providing feedback. This frees up instructors to focus on more important tasks, such as creating new content and interacting with students.

Overall, AI is a powerful tool that can be used to create more effective and engaging e-learning experiences. If you are looking to improve the quality of your e-learning courses, then you should consider using AI.

Here are some examples of how AI is being used in e-learning today:

  • Duolingo uses AI to personalize the learning experience for each user. The app tracks the user’s progress and adapts the difficulty level and content accordingly.
  • Khan Academy uses AI to provide students with personalized feedback on their work. The AI-powered feedback system can identify students’ strengths and weaknesses and provide them with targeted instruction.
  • Immerse uses AI to create immersive language learning experiences. The app uses AI to generate personalized stories and conversations that help users to learn a new language in a natural way.

These are just a few examples of how AI is being used in e-learning today. As AI technology continues to develop, we can expect to see even more innovative and effective ways to use AI to improve the e-learning experience.

Attribution: Created by Google Bard on September 20, 2023

Human-Generated Content

By now, you’re probably aware of the (in)famous artificial intelligence that is really good at “human speak”: ChatGPT. But maybe you’re not aware that there are lots of other use-cases for artificial intelligence (AI) or computer generated (CG) content in instructional design. Instead of going over an exhaustive list of AI tools, here’s a little teaser that you can get into later (like in course 2).

  • Devlin Peck, June 27, 2023. How to Use ChatGPT for Instructional Design. [Video] (46:11)
    Scrub through this video using the chapters feature or watch during a lunch hour. For a good example prompt go to around time stamp 12:30: “Can you please ask me questions to ensure that you have the necessary information to help me…”
  • Devlin Peck, Dec 6, 2022. Artificial Intelligence and the Future of Instructional Design. [Video] (22:43)
    Lots of really cool tools here, remember some of these for when you’re ready to start building your e-learning.

Helper-bot

The future is here, is now, and is very promising with AI poised to take over the routine tasks at a faster pace than we ourselves can do. AI has gotten really good at finding information, surfacing trends, summarizing and altogether communicating with humans with natural language processing. AI technology has (nearly) perfected the way we communicate with words; the technology has gone from automatic spelling and grammar checking to predictive text to full-on generating meaningful sentences (paragraphs, letters, essays, et cetera) from very little prompting.

Right now, here in this course, your best use of computer-aided design is in writing those learning objectives we mentioned earlier. You can think of these conversational processors as the end to writer’s block. Use the machine to get started, generate those ideas, and provide you something to critique and improve. But it does take practice to ask the right questions–all the librarians you ever knew were right all along; see Alec Carson’s 2023 4-minute article about Prompt Engineering versus Problem Formulation.

Before you take up the suggestion to try out an AI tool, get some background knowledge on what or who the main players are.

  • Torrey Trust. April 2023. ChatGPT & Education. [Slideshow]
    This slideshow first came out in January 2023 and gets to the heart of what instructors and learners need to understand about the tool. There are lots of other links in this slideshow to give you other examples for what Torrey is explaining in her slides.
  • Yusuf Mehdi. Feb 7, 2023. Reinventing search with a new AI-powered Microsoft Bing and Edge, your copilot for the web. [Blog]
    More specifically, the generative AI in Microsoft’s Edge browser is Bing’s feature called Compose. Compose will supposedly cite its sources and you can choose what tone, format, and length of text you generate.
  • Sundar Pichai, Feb 6, 2023. Google AI updates: Bard and a new AI features in Search. [Blog]
    Like most text generative AI, Bard is experimental but Bard is connected to the web; Bard can also connect to your own Google account services if you want that kind of digital assistant. Take a look at the Bard FAQ to get an understanding of what it can and cannot do, and why it’s experimental.

Hurtful-bot

You do not have to look very long and hard to find stories about malicious use of AI and dangers of chatGPT. Pick any article (without too many obtrusive ads) and you’ll quickly get the idea that the computer is indeed quite fallible. The harmful effects usually fall in the realm of bias, dis-information (hallucinations), privacy concerns, and security breaches.

There are ways to mitigate the dangers, but with any tool it requires the users to be either supervised or well-trained themselves.

As with any tool, there are advantages to the utility and it requires responsible use in order to achieve the best results. Using AI to help with instructional design tasks should be a given because we need to work smarter and not harder. By delegating some tasks to our AI assistant, we reserve our creative energies for making meaningful impact for the learner.

Attribution: Written by human instructional team, September 2023.

Learner-Generated Content

How do you plan on integrating AI to your instructional design? Select all that apply to you.

Attribution: Results from ELID certificate, Starting from October 2023.

⭐Shar’s Note: A while ago, I decided I prefer to use the term “computer-generated” because it’s only as intelligent as the question or prompt and the term artificial doesn’t give credit to the computer (like the distinction between homemade and store-bought cookies). Of course, I routinely say thank-you the house robot trapped in a speaker and I know she’s not just listening but paying attention to my politeness. 🤖

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