Teaching with AI: A Hands-On Workshop for Faculty Development 

Learn more about the Creative Commons licensed curriculum and professional development resources from the Teaching with AI Workshop.  

Download the D2L Brightspace .zip package from Opendora.

Description 

This hands-on introductory workshop gives you time and space to apply AI in your teaching. You will explore generative AI tools and (re-)design a learning activity or assessment that supports AI literacy, explores generative AI tools, and applies equitable teaching practices like Universal Design for Learning. At the end of the workshop, you will receive additional resources to explore topics further on your own. 

Audience 

Faculty (Full-time and part-time), Instructional Designers and Technologists, Faculty Developers/Trainers, and Concurrent Enrollment instructors.  

  • This interdisciplinary workshop offers a unique opportunity for colleagues to learn from and with each other about teaching with AI.  
  • This workshop is differentiated. Whether you want to implement or resist AI in your curriculum, you can explore and share your perspectives.  
  • The workshop focuses on AI tools that are already licensed and free for students and employees (Microsoft Copilot). 

Format and Facilitation 

  • This workshop is designed for in-person or synchronous online formats. 
  • This workshop is divided into four modules. 
  • Each module is approximately 75 minutes in duration. 
  • The modular approach allows it to be delivered in-person in a one-day workshop or online synchronously (Zoom) in a 4-part series. 
  • The workshop is co-facilitated by two Minnesota State colleagues, typically a faculty paired with an educational technology professional (technologist, designer, etc.) 

“I appreciated the dialogue among colleagues, the sharing of knowledge about AI, and how to use AI within the classroom.”

-Teaching with AI Workshop Participant

Outcomes 

After completing the workshop, you will be able to:   

  1. Create content, a learning activity, an assessment, or an instructional process that explores generative AI tools.
  2. Craft content, a learning activity, an assessment, or an instructional process that supports AI literacy. 
  3. Incorporate equitable teaching practices like Universal Design for Learning into content, a learning activity, an assessment, or an instructional process. 

Assessment Plan 

By the end of the workshop, you will complete an individualized Teaching with AI Workshop Project. In your plan, you will:  

  • Determine your project type: content, learning activity, assessment, or process. 
  • Identify the alignment of your project with a theme: AI literacy, engaging students with AI, or applied AI use.  
  • Incorporate at least one element of AI literacy into your project.  
  • Explain how your project applies equitable teaching practices like Universal Design for Learning.  
  • Describe your project and optionally share samples of materials, instructions, or products of your project.   
  • Identify one next step for continuing your exploration of teaching with AI. 

Download the Teaching with AI Workshop Project Instructions. 

“It [the workshop] got me started on the road to create an AI project for my courses that I am excited about.”

-Teaching with AI Workshop Participant

Workshop Curriculum and Resources 

Module 1: Designing and Redesigning with AI in Mind 

Module Objectives

  1. Distinguish between human ideation, AI use, and applying contextual knowledge.  
  2. Apply human ideation, AI use, and contextual knowledge to your project.  
  3. Model how to transparently disclose AI use.  

Workshop Outcome

  1. Create content, a learning activity, an assessment, or an instructional process that incorporates or resists generative AI tools.

Workshop Activities

  • Practice logging in and using licensed AI tools. 
  • Use AI to brainstorm your project type and theme.
  • Document AI use in the Backstage Document. 

Project

  • Determine your project type: content, learning activity, assessment, or process. 
  • Identify the alignment of your project with a theme: AI literacy, engaging students with AI, or applied AI use.     

Module 1 Overview

Explore AI tools and model disclosure of AI use. 

Module 1 Description 

In Module 1, you will explore prompt engineering strategies like COSTAR and learn how to use a Backstage Document to guide effective and transparent AI use. About the Backstage Document:  

  • It is called a Backstage Document because it seeks to capture a “behind the scenes” process for creating or working with content, the same way that a performance troupe might document their tasks for creating a show. 
  • Similarly, you can use this Backstage Document to identify the ‘behind the scenes’ process of using AI. Here are some ways to use this document:  
    • Share your own Backstage Document with students to model disclosure of AI use in your teaching.  
    • Ask students to use this document as a template for disclosing their use of AI in their learning. 

Download the Backstage Document Template. 

“The structures/templates for presenting information to students and/or thinking about AI. For example, the Backstage Document Template was extremely helpful for me in terms of designing future curriculum that incorporates AI.”

-Teaching with AI Workshop Participant

Module 2: Exploring AI Literacy

Module Objectives

  1. Examine AI tools for data privacy and security.  
  2. Identify three domains of AI Literacy.   
  3. Explain how your project models one of the three domains of AI literacy.

Workshop Outcome

  1. Craft content, a learning activity, an assessment, or an instructional process that supports AI literacy. 

Workshop Activities

  • Explore the AI Literacy Framework. 
  • Discuss your perspectives on AI literacy. 

Project

Incorporate at least one element of AI literacy into your project.   

Module 2 Overview

Engage with key concepts in AI Literacy.  

Module 2 Description

In Module 2, you will explore your institution’s licensed AI tools through a data privacy and security lens. You will consider the implications of AI for student records (FERPA) and intellectual property/copyright. You will also be introduced to an AI literacy framework. The framework details key competencies for both instructors and students in three areas:  

  • Application 
    • Experimentation: Experimenting with AI prompt engineering.  
    • Collaboration: Co-creating with AI on work, emphasizing appropriate usage as well as transparent citation and disclosure of AI use. 
  • Education 
    • Foundational skills first: Prioritizing the human skills and disciplinary competencies developed in your courses.  
    • Analyzing the output: Practicing the use of AI in your discipline to support human learning and critically assessing AI output.  
  • Ethics 
    • Bias checking: Analyzing AI outputs for bias.  
    • Awareness of harm: Discussing and analyzing the privacy, legal, social, economic, environmental, and moral impacts of AI use. Supporting informed and ethical decisions around AI use. 

Download the AI Literacy Framework.

“I was nervous about AI so had not tried it before this workshop. The suggestions for how to use it carefully and sharing ideas to help students use it sensibly was helpful.”

-Teaching with AI Workshop Participant

Module 3: Equitable Teaching and AI

Module Objectives

  1. Identify examples of equitable teaching.
  2. Review the Universal Design (UDL) for Learning framework.  
  3. Brainstorm at least one equitable teaching strategy for your project. 

Workshop Outcome

  1. Incorporate equitable teaching practices like Universal Design for Learning into content, a learning activity, an assessment, or an instructional process.

Workshop Activities

  • Explore a critical questions framework for equitable teaching.
  • Review UDL and AI examples.
  • Brainstorm ways to apply equitable teaching practices to your project.  

Project

Explain how your project applies equitable teaching practices like Universal Design for Learning. 

Module 3 Overview

Explore equitable teaching with AI.

Module 3 Description

In Module 3, you will be introduced to a critical questions framework for equitable teaching. You will explore ways to apply Universal Design for Learning considerations with AI for inclusive learning (CAST, 2024; Fritzgerald, 2020). And you will take time to workshop your own project, collaborating and sharing your ideas with colleagues. The framework of critical questions includes (Ultsch, et al., 2023): 

  • Academic Achievement: In what ways does this practice support high-level student learning? In what ways does this remove barriers to learning? (Ladson-Billings, 1995; Hammond, 2015) 
  • Humanizing: In what ways does this cultivate genuine caring and humanize the classroom? In what ways are students’ social identities (race, disability, gender, etc.) affirmed and represented in content, images, scholars/sources, perspectives? (Gay, 2002; Hammond, 2015) 
  • Critique/Challenge: In what ways are students engaged in critical analysis of the inaccurate messages found in dominant social narratives? In what ways are students empowered to challenge what and how they learn? (Gay, 2002; Hammond, 2015; Ladson-Billings, 1995)
View Project Examples

Engaging Students with AI

AI Literacy

Applied AI Use

“Was really nice to think about how AI [can be] an assist with UDL integration.”

-Teaching with AI Workshop Participant

Module 4: Workshop Project

Module Objectives

  1. Engage in a collaborative feedback process. 
  2. Incorporate feedback into your project.  

Workshop Outcome

Workshop outcomes 1, 2, and 3.

Workshop Activities

  • Share details about your project. 
  • Ask your colleagues for specific feedback on the elements you choose. 

Project

  • Describe your project and optionally share samples of materials, instructions, or products of your project.   
  • Identify one next step for continuing your exploration of teaching with AI. 

Module 4 Overview

Collaborate and obtain feedback on your project.  

Module 4 Description

In this module you will workshop your project with colleagues in a collaborative feedback process. You will also have time to finalize your project draft and incorporate peer feedback. The collaborative feedback process includes these steps:  

  • Describe: Briefly describe your project, including if it is resisting or incorporating AI, identify the type of project, and the aligned theme. Share some details you have in mind. 
  • Connect: Share how your project incorporates AI literacy and equitable teaching. 
  • Prompt: Ask your colleagues 1 or 2 questions to guide them in providing feedback – what would you like additional input on? 

Download the Teaching with AI Workshop Project Instructions. 

“There were some great tips on prompting. I also liked how it was built around designing a specific project, making the work practical and efficient.”

-Teaching with AI Workshop Participant

Acknowledgements 

This workshop was established in Fall 2024 by a cross-institutional team for the Network for Educational Development (NED) at Minnesota State. NED is a framework designed to share development opportunities, provide a collection of resources, facilitate networking and conversations, and connect to other Minnesota State initiatives and priorities in Student and Academic Affairs.

The Teaching with AI Workshop development team members included: 

  • Robin Anderson​, Instructional Technologist (Fond du Lac Tribal and Community College)  
  • Andrew Chen​, Computer Science Faculty (Minnesota State University Moorhead)  
  • Kathleen Coate, Instructional Designer (Normandale Community College)​  
  • Ken Graetz​, (Winona State University)  
  • Elizabeth Harsma, Program Director for Technology Integrated Learning (Minnesota State) 
  • Miranda Miskowiec​, Chinese Faculty (Normandale Community College)
  • Debi Whited​, English Faculty (Normandale Community College)  

Creative Commons License 

The Teaching with AI Workshop curriculum is shared with a Creative Commons license:  

Teaching with AI Workshop Curriculum © 2024 by Robin Anderson, Andrew Chen, Kathleen Coate, Ken Graetz, Elizabeth Harsma, Miranda Miskowiec, and Debi Whited is licensed under Creative Commons CC BY-NC SA Attribution-NonCommercial ShareAlike 4.0 International 

You are welcome to remix, adapt, or use this curriculum for non-commercial purposes as long as you apply the same license to your remix, and you attribute the source. 

Note. This curriculum was written by humans and co-edited by Microsoft Copilot for use of plain language for accessibility. Any mistakes or insights are entirely human. 

References 

CAST (2024). Universal Design for Learning Guidelines version 3.0. Retrieved from https://udlguidelines.cast.org 

Fritzgerald, A. (2020). Anti-racism and Universal Design for Learning: Building Expressways to Success. CAST. 

Gay, G. (2002). Preparing for Culturally Responsive Teaching. Journal of Teacher Education, 53(2), 106-116. doi: https://doi.org/10.1177/0022487102053002003  

Hammond, Z. (2015). Culturally responsive teaching and the brain: Promoting authentic engagement and rigor among culturally and linguistically diverse students. Corwin, a SAGE Company. 

Ladson-Billings, G. (1995). Toward a Theory of Culturally Relevant Pedagogy. American Educational Research Journal, 32(3), 465-491. https://doi.org/10.3102/00028312032003465  

Ultsch, S., Baier, S., Signorini, A., & Seeley, J. (2023). Re-Conceptualizing Course Design: A Critical Educational Development Praxis. Presentation at POD Network Conference 2023. Pittsburgh, PA  https://docs.google.com/file/d/13xjXcxBsi2mJFyaLR238BJ_p-OfANqQt/edit?usp=docslist_api&filetype=msexcel 

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