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AI Design Assistant

Summary

AI Design Assistant (AI-DA) tools can help you generate content and ideas for your Ultra site, such as discussion prompts and quiz questions.

Ultra's AI tools are powered by Microsoft's Azure OpenAI Service, and underpinned by Anthology's Trustworthy AI approach. They are a core Ultra feature (so are therefore available for use at no additional cost) and have been approved for use in teaching at the University of York.

Use of data

Content within the site and descriptions provided are not shared back to the AI training model. In other words, your data does not leave the site and remains secure in our UoY environment.

In addition to the AI content generator tools in this guide, there is also a standalone AI conversation tool where students can directly interact with an AI persona.

See our general guide to Artificial Intelligence tools for more details on using AI responsibly and other AI tools available at UoY.

Getting started

AI-DA tools are available in many items within your course, shown by the 'magic'/stars AI icon. On a larger screen, you may also see Auto-generate [tool name].

Discussion showing the small magic icon and also on a larger screen with icon and text

We recommend exploring AI-DA tools in your personal Ultra sandpit site rather than a module site to avoid generating clutter make sure that students won't see any content until it's ready. You can then use the Copy Content tool to insert any materials that you want to use for teaching into your module site. (Contact us if you need a sandpit site.)

Tips for generating appropriate output

Using AI tools effectively

AI-generated content is a starting point for your own content development rather than a finished product. You must always carefully check that output is accurate and appropriate for your intended use and adapt as needed.

AI-DA tools generate content based on the site and/or item title, and any additional context that you provide. Generally, the more specific description and information you can provide, the more likely the content is to be relevant and appropriate to your needs.

Ways you can provide context:

  • Enter a title for the item before you use the AI-DA tools.
  • Enter a Description: key words, general task requirements, module information etc.
  • For most features, you can Select course items that contain relevant content, such as Documents or uploaded lecture slides.
    Click Select course items button, then click through site structure to choose the items to include
  • For most AI-DA tools, you can adjust the complexity level of generated content. Levels most relevant to University of York contexts are:
    • 7: Undergraduate (C/I level) [the default setting]
    • 8: Undergraduate (I/H level)
    • 9: Masters
    • 10: PhD
  • For some tools there are additional options such as Cognitive Level or Question Type to select the format of generated content.
  • Not happy with the output? You can further tweak the Description and other settings and generate again, and also edit and adapt content once added to the site.

Further tips on using specific tools effectively are given below.

AI-DA content generation tools

This section summarises key tool features and considerations for applying them in your teaching at UoY. For more detail and video demonstrations, see Blackboard Help's guide to AI-DA

Task prompts

AI-DA can generate prompts for Discussions, Assignments and Journals. The output is very similar for the three task types.

Using the task prompt generators effectively

Task prompts may be most useful for exploring ideas for assessments and project work, as tasks suggested are often more complex or time-consuming than appropriate for weekly or formative tasks.

Prompts can be aligned to cognitive levels based on Bloom's Taxonomy:

  • Apply
  • Analyse
  • Evaluate
  • Create

Steps to generate task prompts:

  1. Create a new Discussion, Journal or Assignment, or open an existing one.
  2. Click the magic AI icon in the top right. On a larger screen you'll also see Auto generate [item name].
  3. Define the task:
    • Enter a Description and/or Select course items to help generate more relevant content.
    • Select the Desired cognitive level, or choose Inspire me! for a mix of levels.
    • Adapt other settings to your needs.
  4. Click Generate.
  5. Review the generated content and select which prompt to keep. If you want to keep more than one prompt, copy/paste it into another document.
  6. Click Add to Course.
  7. Check content for appropriacy and edit or adapt as needed.

Discussion prompt interface: described below

Discussion prompts: interface and examples of generated content

Description: choosing and applying navigation techniques

Select course items: 1 selected

Desired cognitive level: Inspire me!

Complexity: level 7/10

Generate discussion title: Yes

Content generated:

  • Navigational Challenges in Fell Running. Reflect on a time when you faced a complex navigational challenge during a fell running expedition. Share your experience with your peers, detailing the techniques you used to overcome the challenge. Encourage responses that include a diagram or a work-related experience to illustrate your scenario and approach for solving it. Cognitive level: Apply
  • Innovative Navigation Approaches. Propose a new, innovative navigation technique that could benefit fell runners facing challenging terrains. Justify the effectiveness of your proposed technique based on your understanding of existing navigation methods. Involve a reference list in your response to support your argument with credible sources. Cognitive level: Evaluate
  • Navigation Decision-Making Process. Describe a scenario where you had to make a critical navigation decision during a fell running race. Discuss the factors that influenced your decision-making process and the outcome of your choice. Include a real-life experience or an interview from a fellow runner to provide diverse perspectives on navigating tough situations. Cognitive level: Create

Test questions

AI-DA can generate questions within a Test or Question Bank (a set of questions that can be used to draw a random subset from and/or in multiple Tests). This could be helpful to efficiently create informal knowledge checks and practice quizzes to supplement weekly module content.

Using the question generator effectively

All questions must be checked very carefully to ensure they are correct and appropriate for your intended use.

There are a range of question types available:

  • Essay (free text response of any length)
  • Fill in the Blank
  • Matching
  • Multiple Choice
  • True/False

See our Test Guide for details of how to auto-generate Test questions using AI-DA.

Learning Modules

Learning Modules are containers for organising site content. AI-DA can generate Learning Module titles, descriptions and images.

Using the Learning Module generator effectively

Your departmental template has a pre-built structure, so in most cases you will not need to generate further Learning Modules. Make sure to use your provided template structure.

See our Learning Modules & Folders guide for details of how to auto-generate Learning Modules using AI.

Images

AI-DA can generate images and automatically search for copyright-compliant photographs on Unsplash.

You can use this feature in the Documents Image block, for Learning Modules or wherever you can add an image via the text editor.

You can also generate images in Copilot and upload them to the site directly.

An Unsplash photograph added to a Document (showing a boy looking at a map)

Using the image generator effectively

AIDA uses the item title to generate or search for images. These may not fit the image you want, so enter your own description to return more relevant images.

See our Documents guide for details of how to add AI generated and Unsplash images. The same steps apply in other items where images can be added.

Marking rubrics

A marking rubric is a grid of criteria aligned to different performance levels. They can be attached to Ultra Assignments to promote consistency and streamline marking and feedback. You can create a marking rubric yourself, or AI-DA can generate one as a starting point or to speed up your rubric development.

Using the Marking Rubric generator effectively

This tool is best used to generate broadly the content you need, which you can tweak manually in the rubric editor. The more detailed the description provided, the less manual editing will be needed.

See our Marking Rubric guide for details of how to auto-generate rubrics using AI and ideas on how to apply this effectively.

Automating repetitive tasks

AI-DA doesn't automate repetitive tasks such as updating multiple due dates. However, there are other Ultra features that may be useful:

  • Batch Edit: change due dates, set release conditions and delete items in bulk
  • Copy Content: copy items from within the current site or from another site
  • Upload Test questions: upload existing Test questions from a .csv file