Excellence in Higher Ed | DISCOVER | EDUCATION ASIA | 105
A rtificial intelligence Students use it to research, revise and explore ideas, while lecturers grapple with questions about assessment, academic integrity and what meaningful learning looks like in an AI-driven world. has become a familiar presence in university life.
Rather than simply generating teaching materials, the technology guides academics through a structured course design process, encouraging them to consider how each element contributes to the overall learning experience. Could AI Take the Heavy Lifting Out of Course Design? Developing a university course involves far more than preparing lectures and choosing reading materials. Academics must establish learning objectives, decide how students will demonstrate their understanding, create assessments and ensure that teaching activities support the intended outcomes. Getting all these elements to work together can be challenging, particularly when lecturers are developing new modules or updating existing courses to reflect changing industry requirements. This is where HKUST believes AI could make a difference. AI Co-designer supports both individual and collaborative course development. Academics can use it to generate intended learning outcomes, consider different assessment approaches, develop marking rubrics and plan learning activities. One of its central features is the ability to examine constructive alignment, an educational principle that connects what students are expected to learn with how they are taught and assessed. For example, if a course aims to develop critical thinking,
But what if AI could help improve the courses themselves? At the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), the Center for Education Innovation (CEI) has developed AI Co-designer, an in-house platform designed to support academics with one of the most important, yet often time- consuming, parts of their work. From developing learning outcomes and assessments to creating grading criteria and classroom activities, the platform is intended to help lecturers design courses that are more coherent, engaging and aligned with what students need to learn.
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