Designing Assignments and Activities with ChatGPT and Generative AI in Mind

Generative AI, such as ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity, and Gemini, can help engage students in learning and creativity. Essentially, generative AI tools create content on their own without human intervention. They can be useful for writing text, generating ideas, creating images, writing and editing code, and more.

By designing assignments that incorporate generative AI technology, instructors can provide students with opportunities to explore, create, and problem-solve. However, as an instructor, you may also want to create assignments that challenge students to demonstrate their own knowledge and skills without relying heavily on AI-generated content. In this article, we will review different assignment ideas and strategies to create prompts and assignment ideas in different disciplines.

If you are interested in more general information about AI Tools and using them in your academic work, visit the Using ChatGPT and AI for Efficient Teaching and Work article. These AI tools will be shared in the Designing Assignments workshop to create awareness of the tools commonly used at universities, businesses, libraries, and other places worldwide. If you plan to use AI tools at NC State University, please review the OIT compliance process.

Table of Contents

Workshops

Syllabus Statements and Student Input

Intelligent.com conducted a poll of more than 1,000 current college students in May 2023 regarding their use of ChatGPT for coursework. 30% of students used ChatGPT for coursework during the 2022/2023 academic year, and of that group, 46% utilized it frequently. The Digital Education Council just did a survey finding that 86% of students state they use AI in their studies and 54% use it at least weekly. Generative AI is rapidly advancing and becoming more prevalent in education, work, and our daily lives. As an educator, it’s a good idea to help students be aware of the ethical considerations surrounding the use of generative AI.

  • Consider adding an acceptable use statement in your syllabus. Here are some guidelines and examples.
  • Consider having a discussion with students at the beginning of your course and before major assignments to discuss the ethical use of AI tools. Possible discussion questions:
    • How do you think generative AI can be applied to the course assignments in this class?
    • Can you share any specific examples of generative AI being used in educational settings?
    • How can we ensure that AI tools are used in a way that promotes skill development in our course?
    • After reviewing the assignment directions and grading information, what would be some helpful uses of AI tools that will still allow you to learn the content and demonstrate your learning?
  • Based on various surveys and instructor experiences, not all students believe it is ethical to use AI on assignments. Be sure to include a discussion/policy about how AI can or cannot be used in group work.

Is AI Use Cheating?

There is no standard for determining if AI use by students qualifies as plagiarism or cheating. There is also no consistent standard for citing or crediting work using an AI tool. It may be useful to check with your professional organizations and journals and share any of their policies with students. Currently, AI is part of retail and other business careers, education in personalized learning, systems that make recommendations, human resources decisions, healthcare, agriculture, gaming, marketing, finance, and more.

Organization and publication examples:

Citation Style Guidance:

It may be useful to reflect on how you define plagiarism and cheating and then help guide students to think about it. Review this image from Matt Miller @DitchThatTextbook to help guide your thinking.

Plagiarism and cheating graphic with a spectrum showing "Bot-Created" to "Student-Created" to help guide teachers in thinking about what counts as plagiarism and what does not.
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No True Detection of AI is Possible

There is no “fool-proof” way to detect AI use in student projects, and there have been many stories published about false positives and negatives using various AI detectors.

At NC State University, we provide access to Turnitin, but we do not pay for access to the AI detector due to false positives being reported at universities across the country. Please review the academic integrity guidance and policies from the Office of Student Conduct.

AI detection and workaround programs are regularly created and released. Here are some common tools and videos that guide students and content creators on how to avoid AI detection. NOTE: If you plan to use AI tools at NC State University, please review the OIT compliance process.

There are also some red flags you can look for in reviewing student work. It’s helpful (albeit difficult in large classes) if you know your students writing and can determine if an assignment does not fit their typical way or level of writing. What to look for:

  • A factual error or made-up citation
  • Missing required assignment data sources or article text
  • “Too perfect” in terms of grammar and usage
  • Overly formal, detached, or impersonal style/tone
  • Predictable formations – -like a five-paragraph essay from middle school language arts
  • The writing too directly and repetitively parallels the assignment directions

Note: Students who are good at prompt writing and provide context, follow-up questions, a voice for the AI, etc., may not produce writing that exhibits these flaws. You may also want to consider having a conversation with a student about their work and topic if you have concerns. ChatGPT-4o (a paid option) is significantly better at avoiding these style issues.

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Designing Assignments to Limit AI Usage

There are ways to design assignments that can make generative AI use more difficult for students. However, as tools become more sophisticated, assignment revisions may not be enough to truly prevent students from using AI; however, these strategies are a good start.

Ask ChatGPT

Ask ChatGPT or another AI generator to provide assignment examples in your field that would be difficult for it to complete. Include context, specific learning outcomes, and more to get a more specific list of suggestions. Here are examples from ChatGPT, Perplexity and Google Gemini. Prompt Example:

  • You are a professor for an introductory course in {subject area} at the college level. You are trying to design assignments that would be tricky for students to use AI to complete. What are some assignment ideas and topics within the field that would be difficult for you or another Generative AI tool to complete successfully?
  • You are a professor for a college statistics course. Students are expected to recognize and be able to explain the central role of variability in the field of statistics. They also must be able to find variability when interpreting data. What are some course assignments that students can complete to show they have met these objectives and that are difficult for ChatGPT to complete? Explain how the assignment will help students demonstrate their understanding and what makes it complicated for a generative AI tool like ChatGPT. See the results here!

You can also copy work into an AI Generator and ask it “Did you write this?” to get some interesting responses.

Google Version History

Require that students submit written work using Google Docs, Slides, Sheets, etc., and use version history to validate that the writing and input occurred over time vs. in large chunks suggesting that students may have copied and pasted from another source like ChatGPT. Students have also used time stamps in Google Docs version history to exonerate themselves from false positives picked up by AI detectors.

Incorporate Student Discussion and Collaboration

In-person student discussions referencing past class activities, readings done outside of class, previous lectures, and so on can be integrated into your course. Examples:

  • Ask students in a chemistry course to compare and contrast two models they read about for homework or that you shared in a recorded lecture. Ask students to come up with examples in class (or on a discussion board) with a partner based on the reading assignment.
  • Use Perusall and set the auto-grading (ai-assisted) feature to highly weight active engagement time and getting responses. Manually grade and let students know that credit comes from their in-text conversations with each other.

Reflective Assignments

AI tools are not truly reflective and aren’t likely (even fictionally) to make good connections between course content and personal experience or learnings. Examples:

  • Write a reflection on a time when you struggled with a {subject area} concept. What was the concept? How did you eventually understand it? What advice would you give to other students who are struggling with the same concept?
  • Compare and contrast two different ways of solving a problem {in your content area}. What are the advantages and disadvantages of each method? When would you use one method over the other?

Real-World & Localized Connections in Assignments

Some AI tools are not connected to the internet and will not have an understanding of local references or the most recent sources. Others may not be able to draw connections that make sense to humans who understand those “smaller” contexts. For example, we asked ChatGPT 4o to write a story for a blog about Raleigh restaurants and include favorites of NC State Students and how social media marketing campaigns have influenced the success of these restaurants. In the response, ChatGPT included only one restaurant on Hillsborough Street and one within walking distance of campus.

A Localized Prompt example:

  • Analyze the impact of a recent policy change {content-specific} or ask students to choose a policy change that has been implemented in the last year. Research the policy change and its implications for the economy. Write a report that includes the expected impact, strengths and weaknesses of the change, and recommendations for how the policy change could be improved.

Take Assignments through a Process

Asking students to complete an assignment with a process including steps like brainstorming, mapping, drafting, peer review, an interview, and a final product can make it difficult for them to find successful ways to use AI. It may be able to help students with sections of the assignment but not the entire product or process. You can also ask students process-oriented questions along the way. You can also include ambiguous questions or those that require positions on controversial topics. Examples:

  • Compare your answers to your team’s answers. Discuss any differences.
  • Explain the process you followed to arrive at your conclusion.
  • Analyze the ethical implications of each step in the process and propose alternatives if necessary.
  • Explain the long-term consequences of implementing this process and how they might evolve over time.
  • Discuss the role of creativity and innovation in…
  • Identify potential biases, assumptions, and problems that could arise and suggest methods to mitigate them.

Retrieval Practice Activities

Retrieval practice activities allow students to practice recalling information from class activities, lectures, readings, and so on. If specific to course content, AI would not be helpful in these activities (particularly if completed in person). More on retrieval practice.

Multi-Step with a Creative Component

Create projects in which students demonstrate their learning. Essentially find ways to ask them to take what they’ve learned, organize it, and make something with it. Video is also still difficult for AI tools to create (or at least for free or inexpensive AI tools) Examples:

  • Short story writing in which students must use content information, specific vocabulary, and maybe even primary sources to craft a story.
  • Ask students to create a comic strip based on a concept, vocabulary, a reading, etc.
  • Students creating a public service announcement video to demonstrate learning

Use Visuals in Assessments or Questions Starters

It is more difficult to use a generative AI tool to analyze and respond to images and videos. Consider adding these modalities into your questioning strategies.

Hybrid/Blended Instruction or Flipping

You may also want to consider using hybrid/blended or flipped formats for your course to limit AI use. In this model, students would learn content outside of class time and then use class time to apply or be assessed on what they learned.

Outside of Class ActivitiesIn-Class Activities
Interactive lectures and readings
Quizzes for learning
Practice activities
Preparation for class discussions
Preparation for class presentations		Class discussions, Think-Pair-Share
Retrieval activities
Group project work
Presentations
Case study work
Reflection
Assessment – including oral exams

Assessment Hack/Trick

Instructors have shared the “Trojan Horse” method to “catch” students who copy-paste assignment directions into AI generators and then copy/paste responses into their essays or other assignment submissions. To the authors of this article, working to be the “AI Police” and catch students feels outside of the role of an instructor, but this article explains the method.

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Designing Assignments to Work with AI

AI tools are likely to be used by students in future careers and likely in their coursework, so one approach is to incorporate the tools directly and intentionally into assignments and activities.

“Am I going to teach students to write or to write with AI tools like ChatGPT?

Derek Bruff

Consider these assignment reflection questions from Derek Bruff’s article “Assignment Makeovers in the AI Age.”

  1. Why does this assignment make sense for this course?
  2. What are the specific learning objectives for this assignment?
  3. How might students use AI tools while working on this assignment?
  4. How might AI undercut the goals of this assignment? How could you mitigate this?
  5. How might AI enhance the assignment? Where would students need help figuring that out?
  6. Focus on the process. How could you make the assignment more meaningful for students or support them more in the work?

Consider these ideas for assignments that can work with AI tools:

  • Create a Process Assignment in which students must use AI. Use this template and other great ideas from the book Teaching with AI by Bowen and Watson
    • Ask an AI to write an essay/write code/draw an image/create a script/design an experiment/draft a press release/propose a new business/analyze data
    • Evaluate the results. Make a list of errors or how this result could have been better.
    • Adjust your prompt to improve the output.
    • Which result is best and why? What was your strategy to improve the prompt?
    • Take the best output and make it even better with human editing. (Track changes)
    • Describe for an employer what value you added to this process.
  • Use AI to generate multiple explanations for a concept and ask students to critique the AI-generated explanations. Ask them to cite/use specific course readings, notes from lectures, etc., in their critiques.
  • Save time in reviewing student writing by asking them or requiring them first to get an AI review of their work, then reflect on the review, make edits, and then submit their final work.
  • Include an AI tool in a “Think-Pair-Share” activity in class. Students pair with another person in class and then with an AI tool.
  • Ask students to predict what responses they will get from AI to specific course content questions, problem sets, etc.
  • Provide several responses from AI and ask students to make a better or different product using those drafts/responses. They might make a mind map from a narrative created by AI and then find three additional sources to support or expand on different sections of the mind map.
  • Assign a peer teaching project in which students will teach a concept or review a concept for their peers. Encourage students to get help from AI with the content and in designing a short activity that can be done as part of the peer teaching. Make students responsible for answering questions from peers and instructors. Use any gaps to adjust your own teaching.
  • Ask students to debate an AI tool — students on one side and ChatGPT on the other.
  • Ask students to find evidence for an AI-created “main points” of an article. First, copy and paste an article into ChatGPT (or a link to an article into Bing or Bard) and ask the tool to summarize the key points of the article. Then provide that to students and ask them to find quotes or details that expand on each point.

Resources

NC State Office of Faculty Excellence: Navigating the Landscape of Higher Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence

Join the NC State AI in Teaching and Learning Community

Background Articles and Popularity/Use of Generative AI

Education AI Tool Articles/Lists

NOTE: If you plan to use AI tools at NC State University, please review the OIT compliance process.

Practical Teaching Tips and Ideas! Key Educators to Follow, Read and Watch

Citation, Ethics and Detectors

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