Wrap-up—Learning in the Context of Generative AI
Instructors and students are now teaching and learning in an ecosystem full of technology, including generative AI. Each instructor can decide how much they want to explore directly interacting with generative AI tools in their coursework, but we recommend all instructors review and implement teaching practices that address the shifts in the learning ecosystem this technology has brought.
The good news is that a variety of high-impact and established teaching techniques remain relevant and helpful in this new context. Specifically, active learning, metacognition activities, and authentic assessments are established techniques that can add value to class time, motivate students to take their own learning path, and help instructors assess student knowledge.
What Are These Techniques?
Active Learning
Active Learning is an approach to teaching where students are asked to engage in the process of learning, often through activities like group discussion, reflective writing, and problem-solving with peers. The body of research on active learning covers wide ground, but the overall conclusions show that this approach can help improve critical thinking skills, increase retention and transfer of new information, increase motivation and interpersonal skills, and decrease course failure.
In response to the introduction of generative AI, many instructors have said they want to:
- Make the most of class time
- Move beyond “googleable” or “ChatGPT-ified” answers or knowledge
- Help students make the choice to take the hard journey of learning for themselves
Active learning techniques can address these concerns through:
- Providing libraries or examples of interactive classroom activities for instructors to use when planning classes
- Asking students to practice and demonstrate a range of skills, from synthesis of knowledge, application to new problems, communication with peers, and more
Resources
- Find examples of Active Learning Activities from Teaching and Learning Technologies, and check our schedule for upcoming Active Learning workshops.
- Read about doing active learning in large classes on the Teach/Tech blog.
Metacognition
Metacognition is the ability to reflect on and regulate one’s thinking. Practically speaking, that means that a learner is aware when they have a learning gap and have awareness of effective learning strategies that will help them bridge that gap. Some ways instructors can support and increase student metacognition skills include:
- Using exam wrappers that ask students to articulate study preparation and reflect on the results
- Asking students to evaluate and revise their own work
- Requesting students to identify what they already know at the start of a new lecture or class and map new concepts onto current knowledge
- Ending class sessions or modules with reflective questions that ask students to identify remaining areas of confusion
Many active learning activities can serve to promote metacognition.
Resources
- Read the Searle Center’s guide on metacognition and ethical generative AI use in course assessment.
- Check out the book Teach Students How to Learn: Strategies You Can Incorporate into any Course to Improve Student Metacognition, Study Skills, and Motivation from the Searle Library or Northwestern Libraries.
Authentic Assessment
Authentic assessments require students to apply what they’ve learned to a new situation, usually to a real-world scenario, situation, or problem. Authentic assessments can utilize “traditional” assessment practices like writing, presentations, and other types of student work. However, elements like accuracy to a real-world equivalent, requiring collaboration similar to a workplace, allowing for student choice and interest, and more, can make assessments more authentic. Some examples of authentic assessment include:
- Students in an education class prepare a parent-facing email informing them of the rationale behind a curriculum change
- Students in a management class create a flowchart of a business process and needed job aids for employees to execute the steps of the process
- Students in an engineering class build a cardboard prototype to demonstrate an engineering principle from the class
Resource
- Read this detailed guide on authentic assessments from the University of Illinois Chicago.
Classic Techniques, Modern Impact
Active learning, metacognition strategies, and authentic assessments are only some of the established teaching practices that remain relevant and impactful in our current AI-entangled teaching ecosystem. Both Teaching and Learning Technologies and the Searle Center for Advancing Learning and Teaching provide resources and regularly offer events, workshops, and programming for instructors exploring their teaching practice.