Hi everyone. Welcome to AI as your learning partner. My name is Aly Jafferani and I work as a curriculum and instructional designer at Columbia College. One of the many hats that I wear at the college is of being a learning strategist, which means working with students like yourselves to help you solve your learning puzzles. These puzzles can be very much valued. They can range from time management issues to what are the best strategies to take multiple choice questions? Or how can I change my, study habits better? How can I improve my reading strategies? whatever the learning puzzles are, we work with them to make a plan and hopefully improve.

Over the past many months that I’ve been working with students, I’ve observed that many of the students
do not use AI as your learning partner. And this was the impetus behind putting this very short, asynchronous workshop together. And I’m very hopeful that by the end of this workshop, you will gather some practical tools to use AI safely, responsibly, effectively, as part of your learning toolkit.

So what is this workshop about? In this workshop, we will explore how I can assist your learning in practical,
meaningful ways. You’ll see how I can explain concepts clearly with you and check your understanding. Help you plan and organize your studying. We will also look at what I shouldn’t do for you and how to use it ethically and responsibly.

Now AI can play many different roles to support your learning. In one of the previous videos, that you may have seen that was exploring the AI policy of Columbia College. You will have noticed here playing different roles that I as a librarian, AI as a research assistant. And more on that. In that video we’ll be exploring for different roles.

Today it can be a practice partner. Which means that it can help you test what you know. It can be a classifier,
which means it breaks down difficult ideas into simple explanations.

It can act as a study coach, that it helps you organize your work. And it can be a feedback assist in helping
you refine your writing and communication. As you go through each role in the subsequent slides. Think about which one would be the most helpful for you in your courses.

AI as a clarifier, one of the most useful ways to use AI. Asked if something feels confusing in class or while studying, you can ask AI to explain it in simple terms or in a different way that makes sense. Very often a faculty member,
when they are teaching in a classroom because they are teaching a wide majority of students, it is difficult for a faculty member to always teach in a way that appeals to each individual student. At times many students, when I’ve met with them, I’ve asked, and the responses that I received are I feel not that confident to raise my hand
and ask a question, and that is very okay. If this is something that it is difficult for you to do, you can ask AI for that.

I remember a time when I was a student I did not always understand a concept in the first get go. But when I would ask my teacher, my teacher would explain the same thing again. Like, have explained in the previous way, but that doesn’t. That did not make sense to me.

So how can we use AI to help us explain things in different ways that may stick with us? And I will show you examples of it. So if you try prompts like explain this concept as if I’m new to it. Explain this concept as if you’re explaining to a five year old. And there are fun experiments that you can do explain quantum physics to a five year old. Give me an example so I can understand better. So try out different prompts to make your understanding, better.

The example screenshots that I will be showing in the subsequent slides are all from Chat GPT. You do not need a paid version of GPT. You can do all of this in the free version as well.

So let’s try out an example, so I asked GPT explain photosynthesis in simple terms, and it gave me a very strong
snapshot of what photosynthesis is. They take in sunlight, water and carbon dioxide and use them to create glucose,
a kind of sugar for energy and oxygen. It’s like plants having a tiny kitchen inside their leaves. The kitchen is called the chloroplast, and sunlight is the power source that makes the whole process work. And this is how it explained.

I asked for GPT. It doesn’t work for me. Explain it in a different way. So it gave me six different explanations; Everyday life analogy. Think of a plant as a solar powered kitchen, and it goes on from that super simple version.

Taking sunlight plus water plus CO2. Very math based. Step by step breakdown. Leaves take in sunlight, roots
bring in water, and so on and so forth. Scientific but clear explanation for someone who learns visually. Imagine a diagram with three arrows going into a leaf and what’s going outside? And then super beginner, child friendly version. So different versions. Same question.

It may be that none of those explanations work with me, but it is very possible that one of these six explanations
helped me understand the concept in a better way, whether it’s visually, whether it’s, scientifically, whether it’s math based, whatever works for you.

Another good thing about these AI tools is that you do not always have to write your responses. You can speak to them. So if you want to record yourself or even have a conversation, just click on the mic button, and then have a conversation
and they will explain it to you and then show you a transcript, of whatever the conversation was about. I asked you to create an example trigonometry question and explain it. And this is what it came of it. So a ladder leans against a wall. The ladder is ten meters long, and the angle between the ladder and the ground is 30 degrees. How high up the wall does that ladder? This is a math based question. And the reason I specifically took a math based, problem was that many students struggle with math related questions, trivia.

You can use it, ChatGPA to explain it, how to solve it. So it will say picture the triangle. When the ladder leads against the wall, it forms a right angle. The wall is a vertical side. The ground is the horizontal side. The ladder is slanted side. Identify what you have and what you need. So you have the hypotenuse. You have the angle. You want the height. And this is a simple sine angle formula. And it will place in, and solve it. You can ask it what is sine angle. How do you go about it. Why is it like this? And it will keep on explaining to you.

If you do not understand this in English, you can ask it. Can you explain this in Arabic? Can you explain this concept in Persian? Whatever. Language works for you. thinking of I as your personal tutor, as someone the tutor who can clarify something for you and help you enhance your understanding is one of the beautiful gifts I find, about using AI.

The second role that I can play is AI as a practice partner. I can become a study partner that quizzes you. This is great for strengthening your memory, checking in what you already understand. You can ask AI to generate practice question test you one at a time or explain why an answer is right or wrong. This is a very interesting way to help you practice for your daily test daily quizzes. Many students come in and are like, how can I increase my scores in my daily test? Using AI to do some practice. The only thing that you would need is some source material. So, if you have an e-book of the content
that you are studying right now in your courses, upload it and it will create questions. Or if you do not have an e-book, if you have a topic, get some information from the internet. If you think this is something relevant that you are already studying, give them the link and it will create questions for you. So this is what I did. I asked ChatGPT give me 20 questions. Practice Mcqs on the introduction to Dermatology. I did not give in content. I just said introduction to dermatology would have been better if I would have given in content.

I have just put a screenshot of three questions. I will solve it. Go back to I check my answers. Ask AI to generate answers. Check my answers. And if something feels confusing, I will ask GPT why is this answer correct? And it will explain and show me.

That the third rule of AI. As a study coach. So if you ever feel overwhelmed by the long chapters or big assignments,
I can help you break down. Sometimes It may be difficult to always understand the intention behind what the instructors have told you, so you can paste that. Copy that and paste it onto a whatever the assignment instructions were. Ask AI what is it trying to ask me? Or I think it’s asking me this. Am I correct to just to verify?

If you are also on the right track or not, you can ask AI to summarize your notes if you have long notes. Create a study plan. If you want help with time management, or divide a large task into small, manageable steps with checking pointers as well. So if something is due three weeks from now, ask AI to make a study plan with milestone. So by Thursday, I should have completed this in ten days time. This can help you keep you on track.

So this is what I did, which I said, help me make a study plan for the next week’s exam and childcare. I’m a single mom with two daughters, and they have their own schools. I also look after my elderly mom and have nights shift. Every alternative. You can be more specific as to your scenario to help it make it more personalized for you. The reason I did that was that I don’t have long time to study. So this is what I created.

What is the goal? How much time is needed? What are the study tasks? So read the summary notes. Write down three areas why this works. Day two what you do. Day three, day four.

Tell AI about your about your routine, about your realities of your lives. And ask it to generate a plan for you
and it will do that. And then you can tweak it and work with it.

The last one is AI as a feedback assistant, AI can help you improve your writing, but it should never write the assignment
for you. You can use AI to make your writing cleaner, strengthen your arguments, or to check grammar and structure.

So this is what I did. I copied a sample paragraph. How can I make this paragraph cleaner? Or clearer? And it gave me two different options. Option one clearer smoother version, same tone, better flow. Option two more concise and direct.

And if you want to do anything else, it can ask you. And you can also ask what did you change in it, how did you change it
and why did you change in it? And it will give you all those responses to make sure that you are also learning as to how AI is revising it. It’s not taking your voice away. That is important. Your voice should stay. But how can you improve your writing skills?

These are very important things that we do not become so much dependent on AI tools that we cannot do anything by ourselves. It is important because we are paying for our, education. Tomorrow, if everything all of the AI tools are all, paid versions, I do not want to feel handicapped. I would want to use my mind, my heart, to to create something that works for me. So how can you not be dependent only on the.

How can you use the strengths of it, to make you a better learner? So what should AI not do for you? And this is very important. AI is powerful, but there are important boundaries that we should know. It should not write essays or assignments for you. It should not answer graded questions or replace your own thinking. Using AI in those ways. Harm your learning and can also violate academic integrity policies, Columbia AI policies.

Think think of AI as a learning partner. Think of it as someone you can have a conversation with your friend, but not as a shortcut. So what is safe and responsible for you? It means protecting your privacy, verifying information, and understanding the limits of this tool. Please do not upload anything personal or sensitive information. Always double check explanations with your course materials and more importantly, follow the guidelines set by your instructors and the college.

What are the smart ways to check AI’s accuracy? AI sometimes can get things wrong, even when it sounds confident a good learner always checks AI’s answers. Compare the explanation with your textbook or notes, or ask a AI to show its steps. If something feels off, bring it to your instructor. Your critical thinking is more important here.

So how do you use your mind, your brain, to see the world that AI has produced? Here are a few ways you can use AI writer preview topic before class; Create flashcards or quick quizzes, Ask for examples to strengthen your
understanding or check your reasoning on a homework problem.

So how can you use AI to help you have a conversation? And once you become more frequent, more frequent user with it, it will help you, in making your learning habits strong.

These are some helpful prompts that you can use, as you dive into this word. Good prompts lead to helpful answers, explanations, and why AI is doing what it’s doing. You can ask me to explain quiz outline the feedback. You can customize it and you can have a conversation. It’s not just you typing a prompt. It gives you a response and that’s it. How can you continue a conversation with AI?

Now it’s your time to explore. I would invite you to choose one topic from your course and ask AI to explain it, or quiz you, and then reflect what part of the answer helped you learn. What part should you double check? This this activity will hopefully help you understand how I would fit in your study routine. Your role as a learner. No matter how powerful AI becomes, you are still the learner.

Your understanding, your effort, your curiosity, your thinking matter the most. I should challenge you to think more clearly, not think for you. Use it wisely. Stay reflective, critical and don’t hesitate to reach out for support when needed.

Before you finish this module, we want you to take a moment to reflect what is one positive ethical way you want to use AI this semester and what boundaries will help you stay responsible and in control of your learning? Write your responses somewhere you can revisit later. If you want to post on this website, please do it, it will be anonymous.

What are the next steps? Practice using AI as your learning pattern. Use some of the tools strategies that we have discussed. Check your course guidelines and Columbia College’s policy. And please reach out to Center of Excellence for support. We are here to help you in this learning journey. 

Thank you so much. Hope you had fun.