INFORMATION FOR
Generative AI offers exciting possibilities to transform teaching and learning but raises challenges around academic integrity, privacy, and bias. Here, you'll find resources on what generative AI is, how it works, and how to write effective prompts to unleash the power of AI tools. You can also find insights on how to leverage AI tools to create personalized learning experiences, enhance student engagement, and support faculty development. Explore practical applications, discover best practices, find training information, and join us in shaping the future of teaching and learning with generative AI at WPU.For further information about the use of Generative AI in teaching and learning, please visit the Center for Teaching Excellence Artificial Intelligence: Instructional Recommendations page.
Introducing the Generative AI Guides for students! It includes resources for students to provide ways in using generative AI productively and responsibly.
Generative AI Guide for Students Blackboard Support Assistant
There are many definitions available. Here is one that is generated by ChatGPT 4-o:
Generative AI refers to artificial intelligence technologies that create new content, such as text, images, audio, and video, by learning patterns from existing data. These systems utilize advanced machine learning models, including deep learning techniques like neural networks, to generate outputs that are often indistinguishable from those created by humans. Generative AI can be applied in various fields.
Introduction to AI for Teachers and Students by Ethan Mollick and Lilach Mollick of Wharton School. This video is Part 1 of a five-part Practical AI for Instructors and Students course. The course explores how the Large Language models work, how to use generative AI to make teaching easier and more effective, and how students can use GenAI to improve their learning. Part 1 provides a short overview of how Large Language models (LLMs) work.
Large Language Models (LLMs) like OpenAI’s GPT-4 are designed to be user-friendly and accessible to people without technical expertise. While it’s not necessary to understand the technical details of using LLMs, having some basic knowledge brings several benefits:
The core of Generative AI is the Large Language Model, and the Transformer is the architecture that enables the efficient training and functioning of these models. Below are a few excellent introductions to LLM and the Transformer for people without technical expertise:
The following generative AI tools are accessible to all WPU employees and are licensed under WPU’s enterprise agreements with Microsoft, Zoom, Adobe, and Anthology. Ensuring privacy and data security is crucial for the responsible use of AI tools. One significant benefit of these licensed AI tools is their provision of commercial data protection, which helps safeguard privacy and maintain data security while using Generative AI. Despite this protection, it's still important to be cautious when sharing personal or organizational information.
Microsoft uses the term "Copilot" to refer to AI-based assistance that appears in different forms throughout Microsoft's products and services. Copilot’s AI-powered features include text, voice, and image capabilities in online AI chatbot, document and web page summarization, image creation using Dall-E 3, web grounding/connection to the Internet, etc. WPU is currently only licensed for Microsoft Copilot which can be accessed at copilot.miscrosoft.com, via Edge sidebar (click the Copilot logo ), and through the Copilot mobile app. Currently, Copilot+PCs are not yet available on WPU-owned computers, and WPU doesn’t have a license for Copilot for Microsoft 365. Make sure you sign in using your WPU credentials. You will know you are successfully signed in with your WPU account when you see tag next to your credentials in the top right corner of your screen.
Zoom AI Companion is a generative AI digital assistant integrated into the Zoom platform to enhance productivity and collaboration. Here are the key features and aspects of Zoom AI Companion:
Firefly is accessible as a standalone web app at firefly.adobe.com and is also integrated into Adobe's flagship apps like Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premiere Pro. Adobe Firefly is a family of generative AI models that power generative AI features across Adobe’s creative apps, including text to image, generative fill, text to vector graphic, generative remove, generative recolor, and video editing.
Blackboard AI Assistant is available within the Blackboard Learning Management System. Blackboard’s AI Assistant uses advanced AI to help faculty design the course, create learning models, and generate discussion, assignment prompts, rubrics, question banks, and tests.
* The term “web-grounded” refers to an AI tool that can access and retrieve real-time information from the web to generate up-to-date responses based on current events and available online data.
Avatar-based AI platforms use artificial intelligence to create digital representations of people, often for use in virtual environments, videos, or customer interactions. Avatar-based AI platforms can transform education by making learning more personalized, interactive, and accessible.
Prompt engineering involves crafting specific instructions or questions to guide a computer program in generating desired content effectively. Within the world of generative artificial intelligence (AI), prompt engineering allows users to leverage AI models – often referred to as large language models (LLMs) and the natural language processing (NLP, or the instructions that allow computers to interact with humans) capabilities of those models to generate customized content that is designed according to the specifics of the prompt.
Key AI Prompt Elements
The quality of the AI's response and output is largely determined by the prompt. Creating effective AI prompts involves some key elements. An effective AI prompt can contain any or all of the following elements (examples are taken from the full prompt attached below):
Here is a full Spanish language instructor prompt that incorporates the elements listed above. And I asked Claude to help me generate this prompt:
Act as a Spanish language instructor for an intermediate-level adult learner preparing for a trip to Spain. Create a lesson plan focusing on practical conversation skills for travel situations. Include the following elements:
Present this information in a clear, organized manner using headings, bullet points, and numbered lists where appropriate. Assume the learner has a solid grasp of basic Spanish grammar and vocabulary but needs practice with real-world applications.
Prompt Engineering Methods
Listed below are a few notable prompt engineering methods for effective prompts:
This section aims to equip faculty with the knowledge and tools necessary to navigate the evolving landscape of AI in higher education and leverage its potential to enhance teaching and learning outcomes. It focuses on the practical and pedagogical aspects of using AI tools in teaching.
These key points emphasize responsible and ethical use of AI tools, aiming to maximize the benefits of AI technology while minimizing potential risks and negative impacts on teaching and learning practices.
National, international, and state policies, regulations, guidance, and recommendations provide regulatory frameworks for proper use of AI tolls in education.
Generative AI holds significant potential to transform education, but it also necessitates a proactive and thoughtful approach. By embracing a policy framework that prioritizes ethics, transparency, and equitable access, we can harness the power of AI while mitigating potential risks and ensuring a responsible and inclusive future for all learners. WPU is in the process of developing our own AI teaching guidance. Here are a few external examples for your reference.
Data Privacy and Security
When utilizing AI tools, it's crucial to safeguard privacy by not sharing non-public data. This includes sensitive information like social security numbers, credit card information, or confidential hiring documents. Additionally, personal identification must be protected in accordance with state regulations, institutional policies at WPU, and the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) of 1974. Adhering to these guidelines ensures compliance and maintains the integrity of private information.
Bias in AI
Bias in GenAI is a critical issue and a significant concern in using AI in teaching as its unfair outcomes can perpetuate existing societal inequalities. The biases often arise from the data used to train AI systems, reflecting historical and current social biases. Following resources cover the key aspects of AI bias - what it is, where it originates, different types, examples, and potential mitigation strategies.
To address AI bias, it’s essential to consider various types of biases such as:
How to Mitigate AI Bias in Teaching?
To mitigate AI bias when using AI tools in teaching, consider the following strategies:
Intellectual Property Rights
The intersection of intellectual property rights and the use of generative AI is a complex and evolving area of law. The legal implications of using generative AI are still unclear, especially about copyright infringement, ownership of AI-generated works, and unlicensed content in training data. The following resources might shed some light on these issues.
AI Tools for Teaching
AI Tools for Research
While Generative AI can be an excellent tool to help students learn and improve their work, its core capabilities and wide availability make it easier than ever before for students to use it to submit work that is not their own. In the AI era, it is critical for faculty to balance the importance of mitigating inappropriate AI usage and AI’s potential benefits in teaching and learning.
Our goal is to promote learning and academic integrity, not just to catch cheating and punish students. For this purpose, we suggest a holistic approach that emphasizes education, prevention, and fair assessment, while introducing methods and tools to help faculty mitigate possible inappropriate AI usage.
WPU Suggested Syllabi LanguageAll assignments submitted in this course must be your own and the ideas and contributions of others must be appropriately acknowledged (cited). The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) programs and tools (e.g., ChatGPT) in this course are at the discretion of the instructor to ensure that they are being used to support your learning. Any use of AI programs or tools outside of what is permitted by the instructor and without proper attribution (citation) is a form of academic dishonesty which may result in grade penalties and/or subject to disciplinary action per the Academic Integrity Policy.Given differences in how AI might be considered or integrated into a course, here is some additional language that might be included/adapted:
The best way to protect academic integrity is to implement proactive measures to address the root causes and opportunities for misuse of generative AI.
The root causes of student cheating include:
The opportunities for misuse of generative AI:
To address the above root causes, we may consider the following measures:
Other measures to limit students' chances to misuse generative AI and make it harder for them to engage in dishonest practices:
Detecting AI-generated text can be challenging and will become even more difficult with generative AI evolving rapidly. However there are methods and tools to help faculty identify inappropriate AI use.
Our objective should be to educate students about the ethical considerations surrounding AI utilization, not to reprimand them. By cultivating an environment of scholarly honesty and maintaining transparent dialogue and defined standards, we can significantly advance the understanding and management of AI applications in teaching and learning.
CTT team can assist you on adopting these feature on your teaching area. Please use one of the followig options to get connected.
Webinars Workshops Consultations Walk-in
ChatGPT Claude Gemini CoPilot
Dall-e-2 CoPilo Designer Freepik Leonardo Bria Openart Pebblely Playground Lasco Stable Diffusion
Supercreator Runway Lumiere 3D Shuffll Fliki Synthesia Video Reemix
Altered Voicemod Krisp
Autoregex Lightning AI Consultations
Notion AI Albus SlidesAI
Paperpal Scholarcy Scispace
CoPilot Lesson Plans Decktopus