Skip to Main Content

AI in the Classroom

Artificial Intelligence programs are here to stay. We need to find ways to use them effectively, while ensuring that students learn the skills to read, research, and write at the UPSem standard..

What's an Unessay?

At its most basic level, an Unessay is a creative research project that results in a "thing" rather than a written research paper. It should involve a strong bibliography where each citation is annotated to describe how it was useful in the design or execution of the finished product. Some examples might include:

  • A computer game based on bible lesson
  • A digital worship service
  • A prayer quilt with images reflecting strength and healing
  • A lesson plan
  • A collection of newly composed hymns
  • A website for a hypothetical church
  • A graphic novel of a particular story or lesson series
  • A YouTube video taken during a social justice rally
  • A letter written in the style of Paul to a congregation addressing a modern issue

How Can Artificial Intelligence Help?

Ways to incorporate AI into projects -- Art, Research, and Coding

  • Dream
  • ChatGPT

Other useful (but non-AI) digital tools that can be used for research and creation

  • Bitsy
  • PowerNotes
  • Moovly

Using AI Chat for Beginning Research

These projects still require the students to perform deep research as a foundation for their finished product.

Use AI to refine the topic and develop search terms

  1. Put several different questions into the AI search.
  2. Analyze the responses.
  3. Develop keywords for to use in research
  4. Recognize the confirmation bias that develops as the AI learns its researcher.

Use AI Chat to discover hidden diverse voices

  1. For example: the query "Name 10 scholars with diverse backgrounds who specialize in Public Theology"
  2. Use different, but related terms to find more voices
  3. Redo the search to get more names
  4. Chat AIs learn from the questions posed to it. This question can therefore be refined and tailored to each search

BEYOND AI Chat when searching for scholarly voices

  1. Ask for academic biographies for each name, then search for their research
  2. Look on their university websites
  3. Search their name on Google Scholar, ORCID, and the library databases
  4. Trace the researchers who are citing their work

Using a Chat AI For Coding

So far, the AI Chat engines don't write whole programs. However, if the student knows a little programming -- enough to get started -- then they can chunk things by creating specific code processes. The student will need to know, however, how the code is supposed to function so that they can write a reasonable query or instruction. AI could be used effectively in conjunction with other web-design programs, however, such as Bitsy (for simple game design), Wordpress (for website design), or other web platforms.

Editing Existing Code

Tweaking Templates

  1. Find a CSS template (for example).
  2. View the Source Code.
  3. Highlight and cut the code.
  4. Write a prompt to change something (such as the color of the main text) and paste in the code.
  5. Copy the response.
  6. Write another prompt to change something else (such as the font) and paste in the code.
  7. Repeat as often as necessary -- the result should be substantially different from the original.
    1. We are talking about CODE, not CONTENT here!
    2. Still, attribution to the original site should be given.
  8. Copy and paste the final result into your web program (such as Wordpress)

Using an art AI for illustration

AI can be a useful tool as a background generator for certain projects. HOWEVER, if the project relies on the artwork, then it should be created by the student themselves. AI artwork, on the other hand, could be used to illustrate a single specific point or to create a specific image, such as a logo for a hypothetical church site.

"Composing" on a Music AI