The MacPherson Institute and McMaster University have worked with students, educators and administrators across campus to develop opportunities for educators to learn more about AI, understand how to apply it in the classroom, and consider new and innovative ways to create learning experiences for students.
Generative AI is an incredibly powerful tool across many fields and disciplines. McMaster University has taken steps to understand this technology and consider the impact it may have on students, instructors, and staff. Generative AI is a rapidly evolving technology that has implications for everyday life – including the ways we learn and teach.
Discover the potential of generative AI by accessing resources that provide overviews about AI and information about how it can be used in various contexts.
Generative AI is a type of artificial intelligence that uses machine learning to generate new content by analyzing and processing vast amounts of data from diverse sources. Generative AI tools can generate text, images, video, sound, and code.
Different tools are trained on different datasets and with different training methods. TDiscover the potential of generative AI by accessing resources that provide overviews about AI and information about how it can be used in various contexts. he generated responses of these tools are probabilistic, which can result in errors in responses.
For more information, check out some of our AI resources or recent case study examples.
The MacPherson Institute and campus partners have developed a variety of resources to support instructors on the responsible use of artificial intelligence in teaching and learning.
This Guidebook provides helpful information for educators to better understand the various aspects of how Generative AI may apply to the teaching and learning space. Educators will learn about the general limitations and risks, contexts for McMaster University, using AI as an instructor, student perceptions, opportunities for student usage, and guidance on redesigning assessments and other approaches.
This online module aims to provide an understanding of generative AI to help educators think through how these technologies intersect with teaching practices. Whether you have reservations or enthusiasm about AI in education, this learning module offers a space for exploration and thoughtful consideration.
This resource aims to be your companion in making informed, strategic decisions about using AI to enhance higher education. It begins with a foundational approach to assist readers in aligning AI with their educational curiosities and goals, followed by an exploration of AI tools that can be applied in teaching and research contexts. Additionally, readers will learn strategies for monitoring, evaluating, and reflecting on the use of AI.
This list of helpful AI resources has been curated by Dr. Stephanie Verkoeyen, educational developer with the MacPherson Institute. Resources include articles, blogs, chapters, chatbot builders, courses, directories/libraries, discussion groups, guidebooks, infographics, podcasts, reports, slide decks, tools and websites. Each resource is tagged and annotated to provide further learning.
Educational developers from the MacPherson Institute can design and deliver program and department specific workshops and training related to generative AI. Reach out here to mi@mcmaster.ca to discuss.
Learn from others working in the generative AI space in this McMaster Community of Practice.
MI Postdoctoral Fellow Ben Lee Taylor is conducting a study on generative AI and assessment in higher education. Results are forthcoming, but one output includes an open access repository (CC licensed for free use) of sample assessments that address or respond to generative AI.
Copilot is a generative AI chat assistant. McMaster faculty and staff can leverage Copilot for various tasks including searching for relevant information on the web, generating content, rewriting/improving/optimizing existing content, and creating images based on your descriptions.
Scite is a feature-rich AI-powered assistant that can help you investigate research questions by finding and evaluating relevant literature. McMaster students, faculty, and staff have full access to scite with a valid MacID.
This podcast delves into the ethical and practical questions of generative AI for the McMaster campus community, bridging the gap between knowledgeable educators, students, and practitioners and those less familiar with AI technology. Each episode explores the complexities of AI, its potential for innovation, and the challenges it poses.
Dr. Kevin Browne and Dr. Seshasai Srinivasan Software Engineering Technology Faculty of Engineering
This example shows how a scalable asynchronous interview format for oral examinations was used to solve challenges with traditional written assessments and online quizzes as a result of AI.
Dr. Mike Welland Engineering Physics Program in the Faculty of Engineering
This example shows how unrestricted AI use and oral interviews were used instead of a written assignment to assess students actual understanding of assignment material.
This example shows how Google’s Gemini Notebook was used to create an AI chatbot trained on instructor-selected sources to build structured overviews of course content and answer student queries.