Using ChatGPT for Instructional Design
A free lesson from my course Generative AI in Education
Microsoft’s Will AI Fix Work survey indicated that 70% of the respondents “would delegate as much work as possible to AI to lessen their workloads.” I’ve found this to be true among educators who are interested in using generative AI in areas like instructional design.
It often takes me hours to find recent articles and essays to use with my students, then I need to align that reading with student learning outcomes, think up activities, discussions, homework, etc. The labor involved in all this mixed with meetings, grading, and student conferences often means that I reuse material within my course that may be out of date. I’m including a module below about one method to create assignments for students using ChatGPT’s GPT-4 powered plugins.
Using ChatGPT for Instructional Design Module
Since AI literacy is going to be foundational in education, I created a reading assignment for my students to introduce them to the concepts of large language models using Pamela Mishkin’s Nothing Breaks Like AI Heart. It’s an amazing interactive essay that uses GPT-3 to explore what it means to be human and the limits of the technology within the realm of emotional storytelling. I love the playful choose-your-own-adventure style scrolling of the story and my students did so as well. It helps engage readers in a way not afforded by static web text. For this example, I used a middle school audience.
Video Chapters
00:00 AI APTITUDE: THE FRONTIER 3.5 Instructional Design Using ChatGPT
01:19 Instructional Design Using ChatGPT
02:47 Some “Rules of the Road”
04:51 Prompting
07:09 Using GPT-4’s Plugins to Read Links
08:55 Perfection? Not Quite
10:22 Don’t Forget, You Matter!
Prompt Template:
You are a [Enter Role Here] for a [Class Level] about [Topic]. You are going to use the following essay to create an assignment for students: [Link to Article]. Include student learning outcomes, discussion questions, and questions that ask students to engage in metacognitive reflection
Prompt Example:
You are an instructional designer for a middle school class about AI literacy. You are going to use the following essay to create an assignment for students: https://pudding.cool/2021/03/love-and-ai/ Include student learning outcomes, discussion questions, and questions that ask students to engage in metacognitive reflection
Assignment Output:
Based on the content of the essay "Love and AI" from The Pudding, here is a proposed assignment for a middle school class about AI literacy:
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this assignment, students will be able to:
Understand the concept of AI and its potential influence on human activities, particularly in writing.
Analyze and discuss the ethical implications of using AI in creative processes.
Reflect on their own understanding and perception of AI.
Discussion Questions:
How does the author describe their experience of writing with GPT-3? What are some of the challenges and benefits they mention?
What does the author mean by "the story taking on the shape of the model"? How does this reflect the influence of AI on human activities?
The author mentions the concept of "internalized misogyny" in AI. What does this mean, and how might it affect the outputs of an AI model like GPT-3?
How does the author compare the experience of writing with GPT-3 to writing with an editor or putting content on a tech platform? What are the similarities and differences?
Metacognitive Reflection Questions:
How did your understanding of AI change after reading this essay? What surprised you the most?
How do you feel about the idea of AI influencing human activities, like writing? Do you see it as a tool, a collaborator, or something else?
If you were to use an AI like GPT-3 to help with a creative project, what would you use it for? How would you ensure that the final product still reflects your own ideas and voice?
Reflect on the ethical implications of using AI in creative processes. What are some potential issues, and how might they be addressed?
Completed Assignment (Human additions in italics)
Overview
Today, we’re going to read an interactive story called “Nothing Breaks like A.I. Heart” by Pamela Mishkin. Mishkin used an earlier version of the technology powering ChatGPT called GPT-3 to help write the essay. We’re going to read the assignment and consider the benefits, limitations, and potential issues using this technology poses for writing.
Directions:
Read the story carefully. Take your time and note the rhetorical choices the author uses to make her point, along with some of the technical features used throughout the essay to make it interactive. Many of these features use generative AI, so it’s important to pause and reflect on how these features help, hinder, or change the narrative of the story. Also, take note of the attitude Mishkin has toward the technology and what argument she is making about the technology’s impact on writing and reading
Learning Outcomes: By the end of this assignment, students will be able to:
Understand the concept of AI and its potential influence on human activities, particularly in writing.
Analyze and discuss the ethical implications of using AI in creative processes.
Reflect on their own understanding and perception of AI.
Discussion Questions:
How does the author describe their experience of writing with GPT-3? What are some of the challenges and benefits they mention?
What does the author mean by "the story taking on the shape of the model"? How does this reflect the influence of AI on human activities?
The author mentions the concept of "internalized misogyny" in AI. What does this mean, and how might it affect the outputs of an AI model like GPT-3?
How does the author compare the experience of writing with GPT-3 to writing with an editor or putting content on a tech platform? What are the similarities and differences?
Metacognitive Reflection Questions:
How did your understanding of AI change after reading this essay? What surprised you the most?
How do you feel about the idea of AI influencing human activities, like writing? Do you see it as a tool, a collaborator, or something else?
If you were to use an AI like GPT-3 to help with a creative project, what would you use it for? How would you ensure that the final product still reflects your own ideas and voice?
Reflect on the ethical implications of using AI in creative processes. What are some potential issues, and how might they be addressed?
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Generative AI in Education has over twenty sections and the first pathway is about AI literacy. Such understanding will be foundational in education as major tech companies continue to deploy and scale generative AI systems in public. I’ve released assignments from the course under free CC-By licensing and offer discounted group pricing, scholarships, and OER Fellowships for access to the course.