This table of active learning strategies shows corresponding ways to conduct the same strategies by incorporating AI. The ideas are part of a book that I (Traci) am writing about AI and active learning. Portions were shared during the September 2024 Global Society of Literacy Educators (GSOLE) Webinar, “AI-Powered Active Learning: Ten Strategies for Engaging Writers Online.” I am also working on a collection of active learning strategies that focus on generative AI role-playing scenarios and another collection that focuses on use of generative AI images.
Adapting Strategies with AI for Online Courses
While these strategies can be used in any classroom context, they can be particularly useful for asynchronous fully online courses. One of the biggest challenges for such asynchronous classes is pairing students when everyone is in a different place and may be working at very different times. As a result, students have a difficult time finding an available partner to pair with in this activity.
The solution? Ask AI to serve as the second voice in conversations with students, either working in the role of another student in the course, a specified persona (e.g., a historical figure, a specific politician), or as a tutor/teacher.
Example Strategies with AI Customizations
This table provides ten basic active learning strategies that focus primarily on working with ideas, drafts, and other documents, adapting them so that they can be used in concert with generative AI. In the left column, you’ll find a sampling of active learning strategies and a brief description of how the strategy works with in-person classes. In the right column, I’ve proposed a way to accomplish a similar activity by having a student work with an AI chatbot. The suggestions are written for one student; however, they could easily be customized for two or three students to sit together and interact with the chatbot. I am currently developing longer explanations with sample AI prompts, and I will update this table as I finish those materials.
| If you want to try this active learning strategy… | Try this with students… |
|---|---|
| Concept Mapping Make visual connections among ideas by drawing a map showing their relationships. |
Upload or provide a link to the text that you want to map. Ask the AI chatbot to help structure categories of ideas from a reading or draft. Revise the categories and their content as necessary and, finally, use the generated categories to create visual maps. See pp. 116–117 of Kosslyn for examples. |
| Directed Paraphrasing Rephrase a text for a different context, audience, and/or purpose. |
Have students paraphrase a given text, just as they would without AI. Have them upload both the original and the paraphrased text to the AI chatbot. Students can then ask the bot to evaluate how well they did at adapting the original to a new audience, for a new purpose, or for a different context. A specific prompt can ask the chatbot to offer suggestions to improve the paraphrased text.
Alternately, students can simply present their paraphrased version of the text and ask the chatbot to identify the audience, purpose, and context. Once they have the bot’s feedback, students can consider how well the bot’s analysis aligns with their intentions and use the feedback to improve their paraphrased version. |
| Empty or Partial Outlining Fill in a blank or partial outline based on a reading, notes, or unit of study. |
Share a course reading, class notes, or other content related to the class by uploading documents or providing a link to the material. Ask the AI chatbot to create a blank or partial outline for the uploaded content, providing any additional criteria you like. Fill in the outline and ask the chatbot to analyze the results and provide feedback. This activity can be a comprehension test or, if a student’s own essay is uploaded, a way to help the student consider the structure and organization of their writing. |
| Minute Papers Summarize key points or reflect on key lessons during a class session in short, one-minute informal writing. |
Upload the reading for the class session, class notes, or other resources for the chatbot to use for reference. Use a prompt that instructs the chatbot to ask the student to write a minute paper. Depending upon your goals, the chatbot can compare the uploaded resources to the minute paper that the student has submitted and then make comments on related ideas, encouraging the student to strengthen connections to the class.
Another option has the chatbot respond directly to the student’s minute paper, asking the student to expand on ideas, explain more, or respond to alternative positions. |
| Muddiest Point Describe the point of the class session, reading, or unit that is most unclear, explaining why or how it is confusing. |
Tell the AI chatbot to ask the student to explain the muddiest point, outlining whatever is confusing or unclear. Ask the AI Chatbot to take on the role of the instructor by analyzing student comments and then provide targeted explanations. As a result (and depending upon the topic you’re discussing), students can get immediate, on-demand help with their muddiest point. Supplement this activity by uploading the reading, session notes, or other resources for the chatbot to draw on while explaining the muddy concept. |
| Prior Knowledge Probe Think of previous encounters with the concept or skills that the class will explore in an upcoming session. |
Set up an AI chatbot as an inquisitive tutor or classmate. Provide a list of questions that the bot can choose among to probe student knowledge and encourage the student to remember details and hypothesize their impact, focusing specifically on the concepts that the course will cover in the upcoming session. Students can share the transcript of this conversation with the whole class in a discussion post or share directly with the teacher in an homework assignment. |
| Reading Rating Sheets Read and then rate a document like a student essay or a class reading. Write a short review that indicates key qualities of the document. For instance, you might rate how clear, realistic, and entertaining it was. |
Assign the AI chatbot the role of a classmate who will respond to a document. Have the student upload a draft of an essay along with specific ratings that will help improve the document. The chatbot replies with ratings and explanations for the results. |
| Rubric Analysis Compare a draft to the characteristics on a rubric to determine how to improve the document. |
Have the AI chatbot take on the role of a classmate who will compare a document to the criteria listed in a rubric or checklist for a student project. Have the student upload a draft of the document, and ask the chatbot to compare the document to each of the criteria, indicating True if the criteria is met, and False if it is not. Have the chatbot summarize how closely the draft meets the criteria and offer general feedback. |
| Think-Pair-Share Think about a topic, problem, or scenario, jotting down notes. Pair with someone to discuss the ideas you both gathered. Share your conclusions with the whole group. |
Complete the same series of steps, but pair with an AI chatbot rather than another student. Use a prompt that tells the chatbot to wait for student responses and to ask the student to take the lead in synthesizing ideas. The bot responds with ideas and questions. Students can share the chatbot transcript in a discussion post or upload it to an assignment. |
| Word Cloud Create a word cloud for a text and then make observations related to the most-frequently used words. |
Ask an AI chatbot make a word cloud from a text uploaded by the student, following a prompt that indicates words to ignore and the number of words to focus on (e.g., the 24 most-frequently used words). Ask the student questions that analyze the words that appear in the cloud, considering issues such as whether the words reflect the purpose of the uploaded text and how the words communicate voice and tone. |
Resources
Bonwell, C. C., and Eison, J. A. (1991). Active learning: Creating excitement in the classroom (ASHE–ERIC Higher Education Rep. No. 1).Washington, DC: The George Washington University, School of Education and Human Development. Retrieved from http://eric.ed.gov/?id=ED336049.
Conrad, Rita-Marie, and J. Ana Donaldson. 2011. Engaging the Online Learner: Activities and Resources for Creative Instruction. 2nd edition. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Freeman, S., Eddy, S. L., McDonough, M., Smith, M. K., Okoroafor, N., Jordt, H., &; Wenderoth, M. P. (2014). Active learning increases student performance in science, engineering, and mathematics. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 111(23), 8410–8415. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1319030111.
Hake, Richard R. 1998. “Interactive-Engagement versus Traditional Methods: A Six-Thousand-Student Survey of Mechanics Test Data for Introductory Physics Courses.” American Journal of Physics 66 (1): 64–74. https://doi.org/10.1119/1.18809.
Kosslyn, Stephen M. 2024. Active Learning with AI: A Practical Guide. Boston: Alinea.
Linton, Debra L., Wiline M. Pangle, Kevin H. Wyatt, Karli N. Powell, and Rachel E. Sherwood. 2014. “Identifying Key Features of Effective Active Learning: The Effects of Writing and Peer Discussion.” CBE Life Sciences Education 13 (3): 469–77. https://doi.org/10.1187/cbe.13-12-0242.
Prince, Michael. 2004. “Does Active Learning Work? A Review of the Research.” Journal of Engineering Education 93 (3): 223–31. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.2168-9830.2004.tb00809.x.
Saunders, Laura, and Melissa A. Wong. 2020. “Active Learning: Engaging People in the Learning Process.” In Instruction in Libraries and Information Centers. Urbana, Illinois: Windsor and Downs Press. https://doi.org/10.21900/wd.12.