At a Glance

Once you’ve explored the basics of generative AI—what it is, how it works, and what ethical considerations to keep in mind—you may be ready to start applying it in your teaching. This guide offers four research-based, classroom-ready strategies that help you make the most of generative AI tools while supporting student learning, critical thinking, and academic integrity.

If you’re just beginning to explore AI for teaching, please see our Getting Started Guide.

Teaching responsibly with generative AI means protecting your, students’, and MIT’s data when you’re using publicly available AI tools. To learn more, see Navigating Data Privacy.

AI-Powered Teaching Strategies

Want to help students engage more deeply with your course content using generative AI? The strategies below draw on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) principles and learning science insights. You can use them as-is or remix them to fit your own teaching style and course goals.

1. Use AI to Generate Concrete Examples

Teaching often involves explaining abstract concepts or theories. While these are essential for academic understanding, they can be challenging for students to grasp without real-world context. You can use generative AI tools to come up with concrete examples that make abstract ideas more relatable and understandable for students.

How to Implement This Strategy:

  1. Identify an abstract concept. Select one abstract concept or theory that you’ll be covering in your lesson.
  2. Choose a generative AI tool. Identify one or several AI Tools that you’ll use for this task.
  3. Prompt the AI. Ask your chosen chatbot for examples or applications of the chosen concept. You can use a prompt like this one created by Ethan Mollick and Lilach Mollick: “I would like you to act as an example generator for students. When confronted with new and complex concepts, adding many and varied examples helps students better understand those concepts. I would like you to ask what concept I would like examples of, and what level of students I am teaching. You will look up the concept, and then provide me with four different and varied accurate examples of the concept in action” (Mollick & Mollick, 2023).
  4. Review and select examples. From the generated examples, select the most relevant and clear examples that align with the lesson’s objectives. Always verify the accuracy of the examples and make sure to eliminate any harmful biases.
  5. Integrate the examples into lessons. Incorporate these examples into your lectures, discussions, or assignments.

What’s the research? Concrete examples help bridge the gap between abstract theories and real-world applications. Research shows that exploring tangible instances can help students better relate to and understand complex concepts, activating their background knowledge and making learning experiences more meaningful (Smith & Weinstein, n.d.-a; CAST, n.d.-b).

2. Use AI to Create Practice Quizzes

Frequent low-stakes quizzes are a great way to help students test their knowledge and reinforce their understanding. However, creating quizzes can be time-consuming. Generative AI tools can help streamline the quiz creation process. You can use AI to generate practice quizzes tailored to specific topics. Moreover, these AI-generated quizzes can be adapted to fit various teaching approaches and course requirements.

How to Implement This Strategy:

  1. Choose your topics. Identify the topics or concepts for which you want to create practice quizzes.
  2. Select a generative AI tool. Identify one or several AI Tools that you’ll use for this task.
  3. Prompt the AI. Ask the AI tool to generate quiz questions related to these topics. Use a quiz-question generating prompt like this one created by Ethan Mollick and Lilach Mollick: “You are a quiz creator of highly diagnostic quizzes. You will look up how to do good low-stakes tests and diagnostics. You will then ask me two questions. (1) First, what, specifically, should the quiz test. (2) Second, for which audience is the quiz. Once you have my answers you will look up the topic and construct several multiple choice questions to quiz the audience on that topic. The questions should be highly relevant and go beyond just facts. Multiple choice questions should include plausible, competitive alternate responses and should not include an ‘all of the above’ option. At the end of the quiz, you will provide an answer key and explain the right answer” (Mollick & Mollick, 2023).
  4. Review and refine the results. Examine the generated questions for relevance and accuracy. Remove any content that perpetuates harmful biases. Modify and refine as necessary.
  5. Distribute the quizzes to students. Share the practice quizzes with students. You may want to incorporate the questions into a Canvas quiz.

What’s the research? Retrieval practice, or the act of recalling information from memory, strengthens memory retention (Smith & Weinstein, n.d.-d). Practice quizzes offer students an opportunity to test their understanding and reinforce their learning, making the information more retrievable in the future.

3. Assign Students to Generate Visual Summaries

Visual aids have always been a cornerstone in effective teaching, aiding in comprehension and retention. With the rise of image-generating AI models, we now have new tools in hand to help create these visual aids. In this use case, you’ll ask students to craft visual summaries of specific topics, blending verbal descriptions and AI-generated imagery. This not only deepens their understanding but also fosters creativity and critical thinking as they evaluate and refine the visuals produced by AI tools.

How to Implement This Strategy:

  1. Assign topics. Provide students with specific topics for which they should create visual summaries.
  2. Guide students to explore image generation with AI Tools. Make sure they’re aware of generative AI’s limitations and privacy implications.
  3. Have students create visual summaries. Ask students to find or generate images that they can use to create visual aids for the assigned topics. Encourage students to combine text and visual information to summarize the main points.
  4. Review and discuss students’ work. Examine the visual summaries in class, discussing the concepts and clarifying any misconceptions. If this assignment is graded, make sure to grade based on conceptual understanding rather than image quality.

What’s the research? Dual coding is when learners interact with content through both verbal and visual information, enhancing memory and understanding (Smith & Weinstein, n.d.-b). This research-backed study strategy aligns with the Universal Design for Learning consideration 2.5: “Illustrate through multiple media” (CAST, n.d.-a). Visual summaries allow students to integrate two forms of information, deepening their comprehension and making the learning experience more engaging.

4. Ask Students to Teach the AI

Deep understanding often comes from the act of explaining. In the realm of education, having students articulate their understanding of a concept can solidify their grasp and highlight areas needing further clarification. AI tools like ChatGPT can serve as an interactive platform where students can practice this act of elaboration. Through detailed conversations with the AI, students can receive instant feedback, refine their understanding, and practice the art of explanation.

To see what this strategy can look like in action, check out our blog post: Harnessing AI in Finance: Eric So’s Innovative Take on Teaching Value Investing.

How to Implement This Strategy:

  1. Select a generative AI tool. Identify one or several AI Tools that students can use for this task.
  2. Introduce your chosen platform to students. Follow the tips in our article Practical Strategies for Teaching with AI to set your students up for success with their chosen AI tool. Make sure they are aware of generative AI’s limitations and privacy implications.
  3. Assign topics. Provide students with specific topics or concepts they should explain to the AI.
  4. Invite students to interact with the AI. Encourage students to have detailed conversations with the AI, explaining concepts and receiving feedback.
  5. Reflect and discuss. Ask students to reflect on their conversation with the AI and identify areas for improvement.

What’s the research? Elaborative interrogation is a research-backed study strategy in which students deepen their understanding by asking questions and explaining concepts (Smith & Weinstein, n.d.-c). By interacting with AI, students can practice this strategy, enhancing their comprehension and reinforcing their learning.

Get Support

As you consider how to best use generative AI in your course, questions will arise. Contact us for a personalized consultation. We’re here to be your thought partner during your development and implementation process.

References

CAST. (n.d.-a). Checkpoint 2.5: Illustrate through multiple media. UDL Guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/representation/language-symbols/illustrate-multimedia

CAST. (n.d.-b). Checkpoint 3.1: Activate or supply background knowledge. UDL Guidelines. https://udlguidelines.cast.org/representation/comprehension/background-knowledge

Mollick, E., & Mollick, L. (2023, March 17). Using AI to implement effective teaching strategies in classrooms: Five strategies, including prompts. Available at SSRN: http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4391243

–Smith, M., & Weinstein, Yana. (n.d.-a). Learn how to study using… concrete examples. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/8/25-1

Smith, M. ,& Weinstein, Yana. (n.d.-b). Learn how to study using… dual coding. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/9/1-1

Smith, M., & Weinstein, Yana. (n.d.-c). Learn how to study using… elaboration. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/7/7-1

Smith, M., & Weinstein, Yana. (n.d.-d). Learn how to study using… retrieval practice. The Learning Scientists. https://www.learningscientists.org/blog/2016/6/23-1