AI can be used in a variety of ways to support teaching and learning. Teachers must guide and support students in using AI in pedagogically sustainable ways. AI can be an especially helpful resource in the design of teaching. For example, AI can assist teachers in organising course content into a coherent whole, refining learning outcomes and drafting assessment criteria.
AI can also help teachers vary their assignments and questions, so that they highlight different perspectives or accommodate different levels of prior knowledge. In addition, AI can generate examples and model responses. One of its particular strengths is the creation of summaries: AI can produce summaries and outlines that provide an overview of, or an introduction to, a given topic. Teachers can include these summaries in their course materials or use them as background material when planning their teaching.
AI applications are also helpful for translating text into different languages and for performing spelling and grammar checks. AI tools can also generate images and visualisations based on a teacher’s prompts in order to illustrate and clarify complex concepts.
The Digital Toolkit offers practical tips for using AI to support teaching.
How can AI support student assessment?
The advancement of AI tools presents new challenges for student assessment. Assessment practices must be planned carefully before a course begins. Teachers may only use secure AI tools approved by Tampere Universities to support student assessment. Student submissions may not be uploaded to any external AI applications. The final overall assessment must always be conducted by the teacher. Within these boundaries, teachers are encouraged to develop assessment practices and assignment types in which AI can support the grading process. Teachers are also advised to inform students openly whenever AI is used to support assessment.
The advancement of AI also makes it necessary to introduce new forms of coursework alongside, or in place of, traditional learning assignments. Demonstrations of learning that incorporate multiple forms of expression or include several feedback cycles can provide teachers with a more comprehensive understanding of students’ knowledge and skills and how they evolve during a course. However, grading these types of assignments may require a great deal of time. Assignments can also include AI‑generated elements and require students to critically evaluate content produced by AI. In addition, assignments can be designed to be applied or dialogic, or require students to act as reviewers or opponents, as AI offers limited assistance with these types of tasks.
How can AI support learning?
Students are required to acknowledge any use of AI in the completion of assignments or theses in accordance with the relevant teacher’s instructions. Teachers should make the instructions for AI use available on the course page in Moodle, along with all the other course completion guidelines. The AI traffic light model has been specifically developed by the Rectors’ Conference of Finnish Universities of Applied Sciences (Arene) to support teachers. The traffic light icons clearly indicate to students when the use of AI is required, allowed or prohibited.
Teachers decide whether the use of AI, for example, for the following purposes is allowed, encouraged or prohibited during courses:
- Using AI to find information, while critically evaluating and citing AI-provided sources.
- Using AI to correct spelling, format written work and improve coherence.
- Using AI to translate texts and review translations.
- Using AI to draft texts, generate ideas, find new perspectives and present them.
- Some assignments may require students to use AI. This enables students to develop and apply AI skills that they will need in working life.
- When encouraging the use of AI, it is important to remember that students always remain fully responsible for their submissions.
What restrictions can be imposed on the use of AI?
Teachers may need to restrict the use of AI in some cases, but they should consider the impact of such restrictions in advance. Would it be easy to bypass the restrictions without any risk of being detected? If so, how might students typically respond to these restrictions? Teachers can design assignments and their required methods of completion so that using AI offers no advantage, or so that they require students to demonstrate independent thinking that AI cannot replicate. The use of AI may erode students’ own cognitive effort and commitment to the learning process, especially in the early stage of studies when it is especially important for all students to develop their basic academic skills and acquire core concepts.
For example, the following types of assignments can be constructed to ensure AI offers only limited benefit:
- applied assignments that require students to become familiar with a given topic, gain an overall understanding and apply what they have read;
- reading circles, panel discussions, group work, Flipped Learning;
- presentations, acting as an opponent, video presentations, posters;
- assessing and reviewing responses generated by AI.
It is sometimes assumed that plagiarism detection software, such as Turnitin, can reliably identify AI-generated text. Turnitin does have a built-in AI detection tool for English-language submissions. However, Turnitin and other similar tools are not 100% accurate in detecting the use of AI, but they can help teachers identify passages of text that may warrant further discussion with students.
If students must take a supervised exam to demonstrate their learning, the exam can be completed in camera-monitored TUNI EXAM rooms, which are equipped with computers with no access to AI tools. Teachers decide whether completing their course requires a supervised exam.