A Teacher’s Guide to Conversational AI: Enhancing Assessment, Instruction, and Curriculum with Chatbots

by David A. Joyner

The Teacher’s Guide to Conversational AI explores the practical role that language-based artificial intelligence tools play in classroom teaching, learning experiences, and student assessment. Today’s educators are well aware that conversational and generative AI—chatbots, intelligent tutoring systems, large language models, and more—represent a complex new factor in teaching and learning. This introductory primer offers comprehensive, novice-friendly guidance into the challenges and opportunities of incorporating AI into K-12 schools and college classes in ways that are appropriate, nourishing to students, and outcomes-driven.

Opening with an informative overview of the foundational properties, key terminology, and ethical considerations of these tools, the book offers a coherent and realistic vision of classrooms that are enhanced, rather than stymied, by AI systems. This includes strategies

·        designing assessments that are conducive to students’ beneficial use of AI while mitigating overreliance or dishonesty;

·        using AI to generate lesson examples for student critique or custom content that reinforces course principles;

·        leveraging chatbots as a co-instructor or a tutor, a guide during student-driven learning, a virtual debate or brainstorming partner, and a design project; and

·        creating course content, lesson plans and activities, expanded language and accessibility options, and beyond.

 Through the depth of understanding and applied approach provided in these chapters, teachers and leaders in training and in service, alongside private tutors, college instructors, and other educators, will be better prepared to future-proof their efforts to serve new generations of learners.

250 pages, Kindle Edition

Published May 27, 2024

About the author

David Joyner is Executive Director of Online Education & OMSCS in Georgia Tech's College of Computing. His research focuses on online education and learning at scale, especially as they intersect with for-credit offerings at the graduate and undergraduate levels. His emphasis is on designing learning experiences that leverage the opportunities of online learning to compensate for the loss of synchronous collocated class time. This includes leveraging artificial intelligence for student support and assignment evaluation, facilitating student communities in large online classes, and investigating strategies for maintainable and interactive presentation of online instructional material. As part of his work, Joyner teaches online versions of CS6460: Educational Technology, CS6750: Human-Computer Interaction, CS7637: Knowledge-Based AI, and CS1301: Introduction to Computing. Joyner has received several awards for his work in teaching online, including the 2019 USG Regents' Teaching Excellence Award for Online Teaching, 2018 Georgia Tech Center for Teaching & Learning Curriculum Innovation Award, and the 2016 Georgia Tech College of Computing Lockheed Excellence in Teaching Award.

Reviews

[Margaret B. · Rating 5 out of 5]

A must for every educator!

As an educator of many decades, I have always welcomed new technology which facilitated learning. If learning were made more efficient, my students could all take in more information. I must confess that AI seemed daunting. It sounded so all encompassing, and was not something I readily understood. However, after reading this book by Dr. Joyner, I may be more excited about this tool than I was when we went from a slide-rule to a calculator! Dr. Joyner explains AI in such a way that it is readily understandable, and you can’t help but get excited about the possibilities it offers. Students in the coming decade are in for a fabulous adventure, now that I better understand what AI is. Everyone who is dedicated to educating students to reach their given potentials should read this book. It will be worth your time and you will become a better educator.