Embedding AI within your teaching can be beneficial for both staff and students and enables them to use tools to work and generate content to support their learning. However, before embedding generative AI within your sessions, there are several considerations for design that need to be considered. Please make sure you have read the ethical guidance (web) and strength and limitations (web) of Generative AI tools before designing learning and teaching activities. We have also highlighted key elements below that need to be considered when developing activities that use generative AI.

• How does adding AI to an activity help students reach the needed learning objectives?
• How does adding AI help support and develop the students’ knowledge and skills towards their assessment?
• How will this activity impact on the wider sessions within your module?

When adding an AI activity into your sessions, it can be useful to think of the significance of the activity and the skills/value that can be added. This conforms to the idea of creating activities which are authentic and have a sense of realism.

When designing, consider the following question:

• How is AI going to be useful and what value will it add to the requirements of the students learning?

It can be useful to think about the output of the activity and how it links to graduate outcomes, employability, skills development and how it fits within the wider programme goals of your module.

Transparency with students about the value added when using these activities can be useful to help students understand the impact this will have on their further learning and development and provide extrinsic motivation.

It is important to know how suitable each tool is to the activity you have chosen. With the variety of tools available, all with different functionality, it’s important to choose the correct one to meet the requirements of the activity.

Be aware that some tools are free whilst others require payment. Only free tools that can be accessed by a multitude of devices, should be used to ensure equity and fairness within the session.

If this is the first time that students are using the activity, it may be necessary to provide support and guidance through clear instructional language around the tool and its use. When using AI, it is important to have set, clear parameters and expectations for usage as well as highlighting any restrictions that are in place. By setting clear parameters, you can help students gain a clear understanding of what is required for the task as well as a wider grasp of what they can and can’t do with the tool. Using sample materials within your guidance can be a useful way of highlighting what is needed to complete the task.

When using any new tool, it is recommended that you test your activity before using it with students. This will enable you to highlight any issues/challenges that students may encounter, but also enables you to have a clear insight into the steps that students will need to follow in order to complete the task.