Latest news with #assignments
CNET
2 days ago
- Entertainment
- CNET
Back to School: How Teachers Can Use AI to Create Assignments Students Actually Want to Do
As a college professor, I know that getting students excited about the work I have to grade later can be one of the more frustrating things about teaching. But when an assignment hits the right chord, it has the potential to inspire students and affect your classroom, the whole school and beyond. Reconciling the curriculum and assignments with standards and learning objectives sometimes established out of a teacher's control can sap the creative side of your brain. Here's how artificial intelligence can help broaden your horizons when trying to create assignments that make a lasting impression and keep your classroom excited about learning. (And for more AI tips for the back-to-school season, check out CNET's guides on how students can use AI to manage their time, how to use AI to write an email to your teacher and more on how I use AI as a college professor.) Since there will need to be a fair bit of refinement to create an assignment that is both fun to complete for students and fun to review and grade for educators, I've used ChatGPT, the AI chatbot that uses machine learning and large language models to generate conversational style answers to search queries, so that I could go back and forth brainstorming ideas. (Disclosure: Ziff Davis, CNET's parent company, in April filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging it infringed Ziff Davis copyrights in training and operating its AI systems.) Maintaining student and teacher sanity My area of study is media and communications, so for this example I'm putting together an assignment on media literacy, or the ability to think and interact critically with everything from TikTok content to front-page news. The goal is to create an assignment that's fun, collaborative and impactful for college students who interact heavily with digital media but might not be questioning what they're consuming. The secondary goal was to create an assignment I won't hate myself for creating when it comes time to grade it. On my first attempt, ChatGPT gave me a fully built-out assignment according to specific learning objectives around media literacy for college-level students, but it was about as fun as you'd think writing a 500-word essay on media literacy might be -- not fun at all. Refine for fun, focus and collaboration Since this assignment is in part about getting students to actually interact with media online in a way that's more impactful than just lurking or liking from the digital shadows, I refined the prompt to include using the student body in the assignment somehow and requested less emphasis on written analysis that will ultimately only be seen and evaluated by the teacher. Here's what it came back with: I was actually impressed -- not only did ChatGPT have students interacting with and analyzing media, but it also created a multi-layered assignment that gave students the opportunity to see firsthand the impact media literacy can make on a community as well as an individual. This assignment would also be a darn sight more enjoyable to grade than 30 to 50 500-word analytical essays about whether the source of a Brat summer post on TikTok can be trusted. Finally, ChatGPT offered submission requirements (like linking to the social media content used in completing the assignment and screenshots of the online interactions) and grading criteria for the assignment and even some examples of how the assignment might be executed. Its example in particular about analyzing the role of political memes was timely and felt like a fresh take on an evolving reality of campaign media. I personally would love to see videos from students collaborating on a discussion with their peers about their perception of the presence of President Donald Trump across social media. And who knows -- maybe the students might actually enjoy it too.
CNA
04-07-2025
- CNA
Deep Dive - Students using AI: Cheating or smarter learning?
The Nanyang Technological University (NTU) recently accused three students of academic fraud, saying that they used generative AI tools in their assignments. What are the limitations around AI use, when does it cross the line and is it time to rethink the way assignments are designed and assessed? Steven Chia and Otelli Edwards speak with Associate Professor Ben Leong, director of the AI Centre for Educational Technologies at NUS, and Jeremy Soo, co-founder of Nex AI.
CNET
22-05-2025
- CNET
How to Use AI to Manage Your Time as a Student
Despite what you may believe, teachers and professors aren't twirling their mustaches and cackling over students not being able to hand in their papers on time. It's stressful for students because their grade is on the line, and it's unnerving for teachers who put in the time and effort to create assignments, only to have students not complete them. Kind of like planning a party only for the guest of honor to bail. Every semester, at least one student in my class inevitably falls prey to the foible of poor time management -- and it's painful for everyone involved. They wait until the last minute to turn something in, or forget the work was due or don't give themselves enough time to finish it. I hate turning down their deadline extension requests -- despite whatever creative excuses they come up with -- so, with input from my students, I've compiled a list of AI tools to help them stay on track. Here are some common pitfalls, according to real students, and how to remedy them as a busy learner trying to manage your time with AI. If your assignment takes longer than expected Pitfall: The work took way longer than you thought it would. AI solution: Ask Copilot to review your assignments and give you a time estimate to complete them. One senior told me they spent six hours on reading materials they assumed would take them about one hour to absorb. Sure, that 5-page excerpt might seem straightforward and easy to tackle, but students are often surprised their expectations don't line up with reality once they get into the trenches. Microsoft Copilot, billed as an AI assistant which uses large language model learning to help you with a host of conversational queries, is great for getting a handle on how long the work might really take. Copilot is built into Edge, Microsoft's browser, and can quickly and accurately review web pages as you're looking at them. You can ask Copilot to review your learning materials, assignments and deadlines and give you estimates on how much time it might take to complete and prepare for the work without having to copy and paste anything or have a long conversation with other text prompt chat bots. Screenshot by Rachel Kane/CNET If you're juggling school, work and life Pitfall: Personal and professional priorities outweigh school work. AI solution: Ask Gemini for reminders about assignments and due dates, and let it fill the calendar out for you. Another senior said they often find themselves trying to balance coursework with the work that pays the bills, creating a scenario in which assignments can sometimes fall into the "out of sight, out of mind" mental cavern. Google Gemini, the company's answer to OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, can help students remember to prioritize their school work by integrating alerts into the set of Google tools they frequently use, like Gmail and Google Calendar. This does require you to give Gemini permission to access your other Google tools, but that only takes a second. Once you've let Gemini know you'd like to receive reminders about assignments and due dates, you can drop a Copilot-designed timeline into the chat and it will do the heavy lifting of filling out the calendar for you. Screenshot by Rachel Kane/CNET When you're struggling with the coursework Pitfall: Something went wrong and you're just over it. AI solution: Use AI chatbot Abby as a sounding board to review your feelings and suggest areas of improvement. A graduate student brought up the mental impact of scholastic to-do's falling through the cracks as a major impediment to keeping their time management on point. The emotional domino effect of missing something when you're already overwhelmed can be deadly to your overall grade if you let IDGAF disease set in. Abby, an AI chatbot which aims to provide the comfort and guided introspection of a therapist, gives you a sounding board to review your feelings and find the silver lining in any poop-colored cloud. Early in conversation with the tool, Abby will give you an analysis on your situation as you've explained it and provide some positive traits it identifies in you, as well as suggestions for areas of improvement.
