AI

Why am I doing this?

I was going to blog about using AI to reach academic goals. Then I thought, “Why would I blog about using AI when students can use AI to explore how to use AI to gain academic goals?”

Then I thought, “Hm. Is there any learning strategy I can blog on that students couldn’t use AI themselves?” 

So then I asked myself, “Why are students still working with me on gaining and maintaining their academic strategic approaches?”

And it’s about finding what works for them. It’s about keeping on keeping on—knowing when to fine-tune, when to try something new, or when to recognize that a particular tool or strategy is not for them. 

What I can share are the AI suggestions that have worked with my students.

If a blog about an AI tool prompts you to do your own exploration using AI, then it’s a benefit and bonus! We are all amateur prompt engineers in this field: I’m happy to share and happy to hear from you about what has worked well.

So AI: Shared Tip for the day

As you probably have found, AI can be great at summarizing or organizing text. You can go beyond this to use AI to prepare for essay questions that you might expect on an exam. You can prompt AI to generate essay questions based on topics, or better, on text that you provide. Next, you can ask for an outline of what should be covered in an essay response. You may wish to revise this outline. Then, you can use the revised AI outline to draft a practice essay and run it through Grammarly. What you need to remember for the exam is the key points of the outline.

Note: I am not recommending that you prompt AI to write the essay—during the exam, you will find it much easier to remember a point-form outline than to memorize a whole essay. And you won’t be flagged for AI-cheating on the exam. Play with this. How do different AI apps deal with this approach? Try different prompts and refinements?

Mandatory: Always, always, always stay up to date on what your campus allows, forbids, and encourages. Keep documentation that proves your virtue. 

Let me know how this worked for you and if you have any questions about fine-tuning your academic AI approach. 

Connect with me to further strategize to meet your academic goals: [email protected] 

The information in this blog cannot take the place of support from your own mental health professional or community health resources. Reach out to them. And IF YOU ARE IN CRISIS, PLEASE DIAL 911.