Writing Scripts for Media

How this will help

Plan and practice key elements for an informative and impactful script

Engage your audience with a clear, conversational approach

Many online courses use some kind of prerecorded lecture or explanation video. However, it’s easy to get off topic without guidelines or guardrails. That can turn your five-minute video into a 20-minute video without even ensuring the content you want to cover is well explained. This is where a script can help you keep focus.

Should This be a Video?

Not everything should be a video. Media is most effective when used to:

Explain difficult or challenging concepts
Connect concepts that students might otherwise struggle to connect
Humanize you as an instructor

Once you’ve determined you have a topic that is a good selection for a video, the next step is to create an outline.

Outlining

Create an outline of the video clip. It may be helpful to structure the clip into three parts: introduction, body, and conclusion.

Introduction – Hook the audience, state the topic, and identify the topic’s importance or relevance. Take no more than two minutes to discuss.
Body – Present your key points. Begin identifying where examples and visuals will be most impactful. Spend four to five minutes on the topic.
Conclusion – Summarize or emphasize a key point or, if relevant, provide a call to action. Take only one minute to wrap up.

Writing

Now that you have your outline, let’s think about what to say in your script.

Take into consideration the following when writing your script:

Write in a tone that feels natural and approachable, as if speaking directly to the audience. Unlike academic writing, it is encouraged to keep the script conversational—use contractions, active voice, and clear, accessible language.
Avoid jargon when possible and break down complex concepts into smaller parts. Be concise and stick to the core ideas.
To make your script more natural, consider using a voice-to-text tool to speak your first draft, then refine it.
A good rule of thumb is that one page of double-spaced text is about two minutes of video.

Introduction

A good introduction draws someone into your video. Consider how you are going to “hook” your viewers. Maybe it’s a personal story or an interesting fact about the topic. Instead of jumping right into the overview, think about ways to connect with the viewers at the start.

Body

Remember the key points you outlined. The main part of your video should focus on those key points. As you write (or speak) your script, think about how everything you say can go back to those key points.

Conclusion

Keep the conclusion brief. Reinforce why the material is important.

Practical Tips

Creating media is time consuming. If you are spending time creating high-quality media, think about how to make your media last as long as possible. Remove references that might date the video (current events) or references to other parts of the class that may change. For example, saying something like “in our previous module” could be confusing if content is reorganized.
Ways to make media more engaging:
- Relate concepts to examples or real-life anecdotes, when appropriate
- Bring your personality into the media (humanization)
- Use gentle humor, if you feel comfortable
- Use questions to engage the audience and promote reflection
Indicate in the script where visuals will be the most impactful or meaningful.
Identify points where the speaker should have a natural pause. Indicate these points in the script—this will come in handy during filming.
Read the script aloud to ensure it sounds natural and fits the intended time frame. Adjust as necessary. We recommend using a timer while practicing.
Practice makes perfect. By practicing your script, you are ensuring that it flows smoothly and you will feel more prepared on the day of filming.

Resources

Script template – Guide with tips on creating your media script

How this will help

Learn a three-step process to develop multiple choice questions that accurately assess student progress

Choose the best multiple choice question format based on learning objectives, validity, reliability, and time

Identify and avoid frequently made mistakes in multiple choice question design

Creating multiple choice questions may seem simple, yet it is far more complex than asking a question and providing a few options. Wordy, ambiguous questions will leave students scratching their heads, trying to decipher the question instead of tapping into their understanding of the material.

Crafting a good multiple choice question takes more than knowledge — it requires clarity, fairness, and the empathy to anticipate missteps without setting traps.

Start With the Learning Objectives

An effective multiple choice question always begins with clarity on assessment goals, i.e. what should this question assess? In a student-centered classroom, learning objectives, activities, and assessments are tightly integrated. Revisiting the learning objectives helps narrow down the focus of your question – recalling facts, identifying misconceptions, or applying concepts- and ensures you are truly measuring what students have learned.

Choose an Effective Structure and Forma

The base of a multiple choice question consists of two parts – (1) the stem, in the form of a question or partial sentence, and (2) alternatives that include both the correct and incorrect answers. The incorrect answers are also known as distractors.

The example shows what a conventional multiple choice question looks like.

STEM: According to Keynesian economic theory, which of the following fiscal policies would be most effective in stimulating economic growth during a recession:

ALTERNATIVES:

A. increasing taxes

B. reducing government spending

C. lowering interest rates

D. increasing government spending on infrastructure projects?

Alternatives A through C are known as distractors; D is the correct answer.

However, with that basic structure, multiple choice questions can take on different formats such as alternate choice, true or false, or matching questions. You may also group several questions within a written context to create a question set, which is a particularly effective approach for assessing higher-order thinking and addressing more complex problems (Haladyna et al., 2002).

Below are examples of different multiple choice question formats.

Example: Alternate choice

Which of the following would most effectively slow down the process of respiration in plants?

A. Cold weather
B. Stormy weather

Example: Matching

Match each term on the top with its description on the bottom.

A. Cytoplasm
B. Nucleus
C. Mitochondria

1. The powerhouse of the cell
2. The control center of the cell
3. The jelly-like substance where cell activities occur

Example: True-False

The capital of Uruguay is Montevideo.

A. True
B. False

Example: Context-dependent question set

Imagine you are a delegate from Massachusetts to the Constitutional Convention. You have been authorized to act on behalf of your state.

You would most likely approve of the

A. New Jersey Plan
B. Virginia Plan

You would oppose the three-fifths compromise because

A. Your state, as a rule, is strongly abolitionist
B. You will be grossly overrepresented in Congress by northern states
C. You want only a single representative house

You support the suggestion that Congress tax

A. Imports
B. Exports

Because of your state’s experience with Shays’ Rebellion, you feel

A. Farmers should not have to carry the tax burden for townspeople
B. Native Americans must be pacified before there can be peace
C. Tories ought to pay reparations

One format to avoid is the complex multiple choice question format, which requires respondents to evaluate multiple items simultaneously, and identify which combination of these is correct. While this format increases the difficulty of the questions, it often shifts the focus away from solving the problem to navigating the complex format (Haladyna et al., 2002).

If you have one of these, consider converting it into a multiple true-false question.

Here are examples of a poorly constructed question, followed by an improved version.

Bad complex multiple choice question

Which of the following are animals?

1. Cat
2. Apple
3. Bird

A. 1&2
B. 1&3
C. 2&3

Better complex multiple choice question

Below is a list of things. Mark A if it is an animal. Mark B if it is not.

1. Cat
2. Apple
3. Bird

Factors determining best question format

Learning objectives and validity – Use context-dependent questions to assess application skills or single-answer multiple choice questions for factual recall.

Time constraints – Use conventional or true-false questions format for quick tests.

Reliability – Use conventional multiple choice questions instead of true-false format to prevent students from guessing.

Construct Effective Questions

After selecting one or more formats, the next step is to craft a multiple choice question with an effective stem and feasible yet discerning alternatives.

Construct an Effective Stem

The stem should be meaningful and provide a definite problem.
The stem should preferably be a focused question, or a partial sentence completed by the alternatives.
The stem should not contain irrelevant material.
The stem should be phrased positively in most cases. Negation should only be done when required by significant learning outcomes (e.g., recalling what to avoid).

Construct Effective Alternatives

Three alternatives are sufficient for most cases. While including more options isn’t inherently harmful, it makes the question more difficult.
All alternatives should be plausible and discriminating. Each option should appear to be a reasonable choice while being distinct enough. Common errors made by students are great sources for such alternatives.
Alternatives should be stated clearly and concisely, using as few words as possible.
Alternatives should be mutually exclusive.
Alternatives should be homogenous in content and grammatical structure. It helps students to focus on the main difference among the options and improve discrimination of the MCQ.
Alternatives should be free from clues about which response is correct.
The alternative “all of the above” should be avoided. It cues the students that more than one option is likely to be correct, increasing the chance of guessing.
Alternatives should be formatted vertically, rather than horizontally.
Alternatives should be placed in logical or numerical order.

While the many guidelines for multiple choice question writing might seem daunting, they are practical and highly applicable. Familiarizing yourself with these principles and applying them as a checklist to review can be a helpful strategy for test writers.

Practical Tips

When crafting multiple choice questions, you should:

Start with learning objectives
Choose the most suited format
Construct effective stems and alternatives

Writing effective multiple choice questions is both an art and a science. It requires clarity, fairness, and a deep understanding of how students think. Your first draft will rarely be perfect, but that’s the point. Distance and revision are your best allies, turning your questions into something sharper, more focused, and undeniably better.

Resources

Multiple choice question guidelines

References

Brame, C. (2013) Writing good multiple choice test questions. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved January 22, 2025.

Haladyna, T.M., & Rodriguez, M.C. (2013). Developing and Validating Test Items (1st ed.). Routledge.

Haladyna, T. M., Downing, S. M., & Rodriguez, M. C. (2002). A review of multiple-choice item-writing guidelines for classroom assessment. Applied Measurement In Education, 15(3), 309-333.

When teaching in an online and hybrid setting, there are two primary ways to engage and interact with your students. Synchronous activities, like live Zoom sessions, require that everyone is in the same virtual space at the same time. Asynchronous activities, like discussion boards, email, or annotation tools, allow students to engage in academic work with their peers at a time that fits within their schedule.

Synchronous and asynchronous are both useful modalities that exist along a continuum in online and hybrid classes. In some courses, every element is asynchronous (not at the same time, like email or discussion boards), while in others almost everything happens synchronously (where everyone gathers at the same time, like a Zoom session), and still other courses employ a combination of both. These key questions will help you determine where your intentions for this course fall along this continuum and help you decide when to use synchronous or asynchronous elements.

One note: both synchronous and asynchronous modalities are valuable options, with neither being inherently better. Both modalities can be used to develop connections between students and faculty, and facilitate group work, and critical thinking.

What skills are most important for students to develop in your course?

Through asynchronous course elements, students practice written communication in an online setting and can be more reflective in developing and sharing complex ideas. This allows students to build upon their time management and planning skills while completing the coursework.

Synchronous elements are useful when students are learning to develop an argument in real time, navigating time pressure, and constructing in-person interpersonal skills. Students will still build time management skills, albeit in a more structured and periodic cycle.

What type of feedback will be most useful for students in your course?

Asynchronous modalities provide opportunities for more thorough and reflective feedback. For more complex tasks, feedback will require intentionality, and will most likely be based on the product of a process that is not visible to the instructor.

Synchronous feedback strategies provide an opportunity for spontaneous, immediate feedback that allows students to make real-time adjustments to their processes.

What role will student perspectives play in your course?

Asynchronous settings work well for students who have unmovable demands on their time and availability and tend to set the expectation that every student shares their thoughts. This allows a greater diversity of students and ideas to be represented throughout the course.

Synchronous sessions can be designed to allow students to share their perspectives and relate course content to their experiences. This helps students connect with their peers and form a learning community within the synchronous session. Classroom management techniques become more relevant in synchronous sessions as vocal students may dominate discussions, creating a narrowed perspective. There is also a possibility that some students may take a back seat through the whole course if they are not engaged in the synchronous session.

What type of time can you give to this course?

Asynchronous elements are set up ahead of time, requiring a heavier investment up-front that allows you to focus on teaching during the semester. Everything you create can be “durable”, and can be used semester to semester. While they can be iterated, it is harder to make asynchronous elements responsive to students in real time.

Synchronous elements also require prep time, but a lot of the instructional lift happens as you attend to instructional design and facilitate student learning simultaneously. Classroom preparation is iterative and is informed by previous synchronous elements to take into account and address any knowledge gaps. When facilitating the synchronous element, you are able to adapt to changes on the fly and check understanding at the moment to determine your plans need to change. Every session must be constructed in the moment in a way that can be immediately responsive to student needs.

The Right Decision

There is no single “right” choice when it comes to deciding whether synchronous or asynchronous teaching modalities. You’ll need to consider the learning outcomes you are working towards, assessment needs, your strengths as an instructor, and your students’ needs as learners. Clarifying the factors driving your decision can serve as a basis for selecting the modalities that work best for your course.

Brad is a 38-year-old man who is thinking about the future after leaving the Canadian Army. He has hands-on job experience in logistics and transportation but only a few college credits and no degree. He enrolled in the open online course “People, Technology, and the Future of Mobility” to learn about new technologies and get an overview of their possible impacts. He feels confident in his ability to learn independently online but dislikes reading and might struggle to spend time on the course due to heavy job demands.

Lavonda enjoys her job in marketing but does not always feel comfortable meeting with clients. She hopes that taking the “Feedback Fundamentals” open online course will help improve her communication skills and put her in a better position for career advancement. Although she has a master’s degree in marketing, she has not taken formal classes in many years. She has never taken online classes before, and at 55, she worries she won’t be able to learn the technology needed to complete the course.

Mohamed is a third-year engineering student in Syria who enrolled in “Community Organizing for Social Justice” because of the increased violence and injustice he sees. He knows very little about organizing and motivating people. However, he wants to work toward giving others more peaceful and equitable lives. His studies keep him busy, though, so he wants to find ways to stay motivated and make a difference in his community.

An immensely wide variety of learners are attracted to the flexibility and low cost of massive open online courses. A single MOOC might contain learners from six continents with ages spanning teens in high school to retired adults. The range of learner demographics found in open online courses begs for an awareness of some key differences between learners’ levels of content knowledge, motivation, and engagement strategies learners bring to any given course.

Background Knowledge

Do your online learners learners share the same background and expertise? Not likely. The heterogeneity found in MOOCs means that people enter their courses with a wide range of content knowledge and background experience. These learners did not all attend schools with similar requirements and do not all live in the same regions, as reflected in the above examples of learner personas, so MOOC “learners cannot be assumed to possess a common body of expertise and thus may approach a task with varying levels of understanding and experience” (Quintana et al, 2020). Faculty creating open online courses should take this broad range of content knowledge into account to make it accessible for diverse learners.

Motivation

Open online course learners are driven by various motivations for taking courses. Building new skills for a career transition, professional development, and social activism are all typical motivations for learners enrolling in open online courses. Students also use them to supplement their formal training, casual interest in learning more about something (Milligan & Littlelohn, 2017), or a desire to connect with others (Zheng et al, 2015).

Engagement Strategies

Learners approach open online courses differently than traditional students might approach their residential courses. Some could have very little time to devote to the course each week and spend months rather than weeks to finish. Others may quickly and independently complete the required course readings, avoiding videos or optional material. Some will watch videos and only look at readings when necessary. Some learners will enjoy participating in discussions to request or offer help to peers, while others will not engage in forum discussions at all, so faculty should consider various possible activities and experiences their future learners might find engaging.

Meaningful Connections

The flexibility and open access options of open online courses attract a variety of learners from around the globe. Some may be graduate students, undergrads, or high school students, but many others may not be students at all but working professionals with full-time jobs and/or families. To engage and maintain the interest of these learners, online content should focus on learners making meaningful connections between the theories faculty teach and how learners will use that theory in their own lives.

References

Milligan, C. & Littlejohn, A. (2017). Why study on a MOOC? The motives of students and professionals. International review of research in open and distributed learning, 18(2)

Quintana, R.M., Halye, S.R., Magyar, N., & Tan, Y. (2020). Integrating learner and user experience design: A bidirectional approach. Learner and user experience research.

Zheng, S., Rosson, M.B., Shih, P.C., & Carroll, J.M. (2015). Understanding student motivation, behaviors, and perceptions in MOOCs. In Proceedings of the 18th ACM Conference on Computer Supported Cooperative Work & Social Computing (pp. 1882-1895). ACM.

Jenni Patterson is a Design Manager Senior at the Center for Academic Innovation. In this interview, Jenni speaks with us about her role at CAI, the GenAI short courses, and how to get started with a short course.

Tell us a little bit about your role at the Center for Academic Innovation

I’m a Design Manager Senior here at CAI, and in this role I oversee the project management of various online learning initiatives in our non-credit and MOOC space. My job is to keep each project team – the faculty member, Learning Experience Designer, and Media Designer – aligned and on track as we move toward the project’s launch date. I initially focused on developing Teach-Outs, but in Fall 2023 I shifted to focusing on the project management of our new short courses.

You mention the short courses – tell us a little bit about what a MOOC is, and how the short courses are different from a regular MOOC?

A MOOC, or Massive Open Online Course, is a free, online course that is open to unlimited learners from all around the world. Here at CAI, our MOOCs typically take a learner 3-8 weeks to complete, expecting around 4-6 hours of effort each week. Short courses, as you can imagine by their name, are much briefer learning experiences! We expect a short course to take a learner just 1-5 total hours to complete. The goal of a short course is to provide learners the opportunity to dive into a very focused, yet still high quality, course. Where a traditional MOOC may have several learning objectives, a short course may have only two or three, or in some cases just one. This focus lends to a shorter learning experience.

Why are you so excited about these short courses? Why should faculty want to consider working on a short course?

I’m excited about these short courses because they are a great opportunity for faculty to share their expertise with our community of learners in a short, digestible way. Whether faculty have created an online course before or are new to the process, I hope they’ll consider working on a short course because it’s a great opportunity to develop an online learning experience, start to finish, in just a few months.

The current round of short courses are all focused on Generative AI. Why do you think GenAI lends itself to this format? Who will be most interested in these courses?

I think GenAI lends itself really well to the short course format. During the ChatGPT and Generative AI Teach-Outs, we heard from our community of learners that they wanted to learn more about GenAI as it related to their specific industries and personal contexts. The GenAI short courses allow U-M to provide this specialized content to our learners.

We think learners will be interested in these courses because they offer GenAI content beyond the many foundational GenAI courses we’re seeing. We’ll be offering GenAI short courses from a variety of perspectives – from programming to business and law to social work – allowing learners from different backgrounds to learn about GenAI in a context specific to them.

If a faculty member was interested in creating a short course, what would they need to do?

Faculty who are interested in creating a short course (or any type of project with CAI!) should contact our Partnership Development team at [email protected]. When you connect with them, they’ll want to know a bit about your idea and who you believe may be most interested in taking the course. From there, they’ll work with you to help imagine the course and to discover which product type (short course, regular MOOC, etc.) is best suited to meet the goals for the learning experience.

What should people expect from working with the Center for Academic Innovation?

The staff here at CAI is eager to help bring your project idea to life! On a typical design team, you’ll be working with a Design Manager (project manager), Learning Experience Designer (who supports course development and design), and Media Designer (who manages filming, production, and media assets). We work together, both synchronously and asynchronously, meeting weekly to review course development progress while also completing individual tasks between meetings. We are committed to working collaboratively with our faculty partners to create exemplary online learning experiences!

COVID-19 caught everyone off guard in 2020. Suddenly, all classes had to be held online and instructors and students had to react quickly with minimal help. With time to reflect on these experiences, faculty ask themselves what methods are available to keep students engaged and motivated in an online or virtual environment.

At the Center for Academic Innovation, gameful pedagogy is one approach to increasing student engagement. This method of course design takes inspiration from how good games function and applies that to the design of learning environments.

One key goal of gameful pedagogy, as one might guess, is leveraging student motivation. To achieve that, course designers draw on elements of Self-Determination Theory, or SDT for short. This theory centers the power of intrinsic motivation as a driver of behavior. It sits on three primary pillars: autonomy (the power of choice a learner can have in their learning experience), competency (a feeling of accomplishment derived from completing a challenge), and belongingness (a feeling of being included and heard by the environment one is in or the people around them) (Deci & Ryan, 2000).

Yet, gameful pedagogy isn’t just about SDT. Practitioners also believe in an additive point-based grading system instead of traditional grading. In traditional deductive percentage-paced grading, learners start at 100% and have their points deducted as they learn, which does not align with what learning is about.

In a gameful course, learners are treated as novices when they first start a learning journey, so they start from zero and then work their way up to their goals. It also provides learners the freedom to fail. From a gameful point of view, it is unfair to expect learners to be “perfect” in learning environments because mistakes are common in learning, and they are great growth opportunities. Therefore, in gameful, learning environments that leave space for learners to explore and offer chances to make up for mistakes are preferred. It is important, however, to acknowledge that this freedom does not mean creating an out-of-control environment. Educators can still apply limitations by assigning different point values, requiring the completion of certain tasks to unlock others, etc. to ensure that students are working toward the learning goals. All of these approaches and more boil down to gameful pedagogy, and this course design method has been used in a wide range of classes, from higher education down to K-12. However, most use cases occurred in person before the 2020 COVID outbreak. Does gameful also work in online environments?

That turns out to be a great question for Pete Bodary, clinical associate professor of applied exercise science and movement science in the School of Kinesiology. He has taught gameful courses for several years, including MOVESCI 241. This course teaches body mass regulation assessments, principles, and strategies. It is constructed with an additive point-based grading scheme, all-optional assignments (a student has the autonomy to complete any combination of assignments to get to their desired grade/goal), a strong supportive network, and real-world relevant topics (diabetes, disordered eating, weight control, supplements and safety, etc.).

To maintain all assignments as optional while ensuring that students are on track to the learning objectives, Bodary assigns significantly more points to certain assignments to encourage completion. Some assignments include personal dietary intake and physical activity tracking, case studies, participation and reflections on dietary and physical challenges, and more.

In Winter 2023, he decided to give students more freedom to engage with the class lectures on top of the existing setup. Students could choose from three distinct sections: the in-person section, the synchronous virtual section, or the asynchronous virtual section. In the in-person section, students were required to attend lectures in person. In the synchronous virtual section, students could participate in lectures online while being live-streamed. The asynchronous virtual section allowed students the freedom to watch lecture recordings at their convenience without the obligation to attend lectures in real-time.

Did students in different sections perform differently in this course? The short answer is no, not significantly.

“Those who are remote do not have the ease of popping out a question, [meaning the ability to raise their hand and spontaneously ask questions], so that is one difference to consider. However, we maintain a pretty active [asynchronous] Q/A space. I don’t believe that they ‘performed’ differently,” Bodary said.

Students engage with the course content differently, but they are all motivated and learning in their own way.

In fact, to find out students’ motivations in this course, Bodary deployed a U-M Maizey project. U-M Maizey is a generative AI customization tool that allows faculty, staff and students to build their a U-M GPT chatbot trained on a custom dataset. Bodary set up Maizey in the Fall 2023 term for the same course with a similar structure and prompted Maizey: What is the primary motivation of students?

By evaluating students’ activity data, Maizey summarized that students are primarily motivated by finding course materials relatable and beneficial to improving their personal and loved ones’ health and well-being, connecting knowledge and issues they garnered in their daily lives to class content, and implementing course content in real-world problems.

Looking at this example, three key characteristics emerge: controlled freedom for students to choose how to engage with the course, opportunities for students to make personal connections with course content, and possibilities for students to apply course content in real-world situations.

Tying these characteristics back to gameful pedagogy, there is alignment between them and the three components of SDT – autonomy, belongingness, and competency. Furthermore, the additive grading system and all-optional assignment design support student exploration and agency to choose assignments and coursework. The course format, whether in-person or online, didn’t impact students’ motivation. Instead, the fact that students can choose their own way to participate in the class may motivate them even more.

What’s important here isn’t modality (online, in-person, or asynchronously) but rather the content and design of the course. The success of MOVESCI 241 hinges on a carefully designed course where students can successfully meet the learning goals regardless of how they engage. The design of MOVESCI 241 is gameful, but not all gameful courses are designed this way. If you want to use gameful pedagogy to increase engagement in your course, you can start with these steps. You can also check out GradeCraft, a learning management system (LMS) built at the center to support gameful courses. Some key features of GradeCraft that make it a perfect companion for gameful courses are the additive grading system, mechanisms for tracking tangible progress (points planner, levels, unlocks, and badges), and functions for flexibility (highly tailorable for both instructors and students). Finally, if you want to learn more about gameful pedagogy or GradeCraft, please email us at [email protected], and staff would be happy to set up a conversation with you.

References

Deci, E. L., & Ryan, R. M. (2000). The “what” and “why” of goal pursuits: Human needs and the self-determination of behavior. Psychological Inquiry, 11(4), 227-268.

Educators can use generative AI to transform dense, technical material into clear, easily understandable content. This improves students’ comprehension and makes the learning experience more inclusive to a wider audience. While students are growing in their knowledge of complex academic topics, sometimes academic terminology can be a barrier. Particularly early in the course, students may not yet be familiar with the jargon and language of your subject matter. In addition, you may have learners in your course with a wide range of educational and cultural backgrounds. Some of your students may be from countries outside of the United States, and English may not be their first language. By demystifying complex concepts, jargon, and metaphors with generative AI, educators are empowered to create more equitable and effective learning environments for our diverse array of learners.

For example, you can use the following example prompt to get started:

“Could you please rewrite the following text to an 8-10th-grade reading level (using Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level) and clarify any complex jargon: “[Your text]” Thank you!”

In this prompt, we are asking ChatGPT to rewrite text to an 8-10th-grade reading level on the Flesch-Kincaid Grade Scale. This is the reading level recommended for a general adult lay audience. Feel free to adjust this to fit your target audience.

Example: An Online Course on Neuroscience

Drafting

Now imagine that you are a renowned neuroscientist and a highly regarded faculty member at Michigan Medicine. You are interested in developing an online course that will bring neuroscience concepts to a lay audience. You are excited to get started, but as you begin to develop content, you quickly realize that your typical content is aimed at seasoned medical students and filled with jargon that may be daunting to those without prior knowledge. You realize that generative AI may be able to assist you in breaking down concepts into simpler terms.

You fill in the example prompt with some of the text from one of your old in-person presentations with key concepts that you would like to include in this online course:

“Could you please rewrite the following text to an 8-10th-grade reading level (using Flesch-Kincaid Grade Level) and clarify any complex jargon:

In our introductory exploration of neuroscience, we delve into the intricate workings of the central nervous system (CNS), focusing on the complex interplay between neurons and glial cells. We examine the fundamental principles of neuronal communication, emphasizing the role of neurotransmitters in synaptic transmission and the significance of action potentials in neural signaling. A detailed analysis of the brain’s functional anatomy is conducted, where we dissect the various lobes of the cerebral cortex, the limbic system, and the intricate circuitry of the basal ganglia, highlighting their contributions to cognitive and motor functions. Additionally, we explore the mechanisms underlying neuroplasticity, emphasizing the synaptic and non-synaptic changes that facilitate learning and memory. The course also delves into the pathophysiology of neurological disorders, exploring the etiology and progression of conditions like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis, and discusses the latest advancements in neuropharmacology and neuroimaging techniques.

Thank you!”

In response to your input, ChatGPT gives you the following output:

“In our first look at neuroscience, we study how the central nervous system (CNS) works. This includes understanding how neurons (brain cells) and glial cells (supporting cells) interact. We learn about how neurons talk to each other, focusing on neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that help send messages in the brain, and action potentials, which are electrical signals in neurons.

We also look closely at the brain’s structure. This includes studying the different parts of the brain, like the lobes of the cerebral cortex, the limbic system (which deals with emotions), and the basal ganglia (important for movement), and how they help us think and move.

The course also covers neuroplasticity, which is how the brain changes to help us learn and remember things. We look at both synaptic changes (changes at the connections between neurons) and non-synaptic changes (changes within the neurons themselves).

We also learn about neurological disorders like Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. We study what causes these diseases and how they progress. Finally, we discuss new developments in treating brain disorders and ways to look at the brain, like neuropharmacology (study of how drugs affect the brain) and neuroimaging (brain scanning techniques).”

In this example, ChatGPT keeps all of the main concepts intact while using simpler language, providing definitions of terminology used (rather than removing it entirely), and breaking the large paragraph into more digestible, smaller paragraphs or chunks.

Refining

As a content expert, it is important to read through the output and ensure that all key concepts remain intact. It is also up to you to determine whether the revisions are sufficient and appropriate for your audience. You may choose to ask for stylistic revisions as well. For example, ChatGPT wrote the text as though the course is currently happening. However, you plan on delivering this information at the beginning of the course to talk about what the learner will learn. This is your preference.

You can ask ChatGPT to revise with the following:

“The course hasn’t happened yet. Please rewrite this to account for that. For example, using the phrase “we will” throughout.”

ChatGPT will then go through and make the requested revisions to the text using the appropriate tense that you indicated in your input:

“In our upcoming exploration of neuroscience, we will delve into how the central nervous system (CNS) functions. This will involve understanding the interaction between neurons (brain cells) and glial cells (support cells). We will learn about neuronal communication, focusing on neurotransmitters, which are chemicals that help send messages in the brain, and action potentials, the electrical signals in neurons.

We will also closely examine the brain’s structure, studying different parts such as the lobes of the cerebral cortex, the limbic system (which deals with emotions), and the basal ganglia (important for movement), and understanding how they influence our thinking and movement.

The course will cover neuroplasticity, which is how the brain changes to facilitate learning and memory. We will observe both synaptic changes (alterations at the connections between neurons) and non-synaptic changes (alterations within the neurons themselves).

Additionally, we will explore neurological disorders, including Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, and multiple sclerosis. We will investigate the causes of these diseases and their progression. Finally, we will discuss the latest developments in treating brain disorders and methods for examining the brain, such as neuropharmacology (the study of how drugs affect the brain) and neuroimaging (brain scanning techniques).”

Continue to refine as needed. Consider feeding into the chat examples of your tone of voice so that the content is not only accessible for learners but also contains a human element. In addition, you can increase your expectation of language understanding as your students grow in their knowledge and your expectations of understanding increase.

Echoes of “Can we have a study guide?” still reverberate through the virtual classrooms, even as summer takes hold and the allure of relaxation sets in. Study guides offer a temporary solution to students’ hunger for knowledge, providing them with the fish they need to satisfy their immediate needs. This approach, however, creates a cycle of dependency, requiring another fix before the next test opens. This is not the way. Instead of spoon-feeding, students should be taught to fish.

Though study guides have their merits, their direct impact on learning is not always evident. Tests can be a significant source of stress for students, which in turn hampers their performance. Study guides can help alleviate this anxiety and improve exam scores (Dickson, Miller, & Devoley, 2005), but they don’t necessarily foster deep, long-term learning. If the goal is to guide students’ online study habits before a test, then they should receive guidance not only on what to study but also on how to study effectively.

Problem Roulette is the Way

Problem Roulette is an invaluable personalized online learning tool that directs students’ attention to the study skills that work best for them. It offers a collection of previous test items for students to practice with and, starting this Fall 2023, will begin providing tailored study tips based on proven theory and algorithms designed to enhance test performance. In essence, Problem Roulette will not only feed but also teach students to fish. It will give them the confidence boost they crave through exposure to test-like items, while teaching them personally relevant study skills that can be applied to new situations.

How will Problem Roulette work in online learning environments? In short, it will harness the power of gameful learning. As students engage with practice test items, the system will collect statistics on their performance, which will then be visualized and presented on a student-facing dashboard. This feedback will include information on the number of problems completed and the number of consecutive correct answers. These metrics will be compared with predefined volume and streak goals established through previous research (Black et al., 2023), known to maximize course performance. Consequently, the game for students becomes achieving their target volume and streak goals, which intrinsically incentivizes their study. To attain these goals, however, they must study effectively by consistently answering questions correctly in a row. As students strive to meet their volume and streak targets, they will simultaneously discover the study habits that yield the best results for them individually.

In the realm of online teaching, Problem Roulette emerges as an empowering force, equipping students with the skills they need to become self-sufficient learners. It shifts the focus from mere information consumption to active engagement, encouraging students to take charge of their own learning journey. By embracing Problem Roulette, educators can foster a generation of online students who not only excel academically but also possess the essential skills to adapt, learn, and thrive in the digital age.

Resources

Problem Roulette

Generative AI can be a valuable asset to instructors looking for assistance with creating various aspects of course design. For example, generative AI, such as ChatGPT, can be a valuable tool for educators in drafting learning objectives. Using GenAI in any setting is usually a process of drafting and then refining prompts until the desired result is achieved. In this article, we will outline some ways to generate and refine learning objectives for a course.

Learning objectives are concise statements that articulate what students are expected to learn or achieve in a course. They play a crucial role in guiding both teaching strategies and assessment methods, ensuring that educational experiences are focused and effective. Clear and well-defined learning objectives are essential for aligning educational activities with desired learning outcomes. By analyzing a vast array of educational content and pedagogical methods in its training data, AI can offer a wide range of learning objective recommendations, which educators can then build off of, using their knowledge as experts in the field.

Using your preferred GenAI tool, here is an example prompt that you can use to get started:

Please create learning objectives for a course on [topic], focusing on [big idea 1], [big idea 2], and [big idea 3]. The learning objectives are concise one word sentences beginning with an action verb. Please refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy if you get stuck. Thank you!

This example prompt can be modified to fit your needs. For example, you may choose to add more ideas and give additional context about the course. The more detail and context you provide in your input, the better the AI output will be. So please feel free to add in outlines, syllabi, or any other materials that may help your GenAI assistant better understand your vision.

Example: An Online Course on the Cold War

Drafting Objectives

Now that we have our example prompt, let’s see an example of it in action. Imagine you are an instructor for an introductory online course on the Cold War. You plan to use ChatGPT to generate some ideas on potential learning objectives to get you started and guide your curriculum creation. You already have some general ideas on what you want to cover: causes, major events, and overall impact. You fill in the prompt as so:

Please create learning objectives for an online introductory course on the Cold War, focusing on its causes, major events, and impact on international relations. The learning objectives are concise one word sentences beginning with an action verb. Please refer to Bloom’s Taxonomy if you get stuck. Thank you!

You press enter and ChatGPT provides you with the following learning objectives:

“Identify the primary causes of the Cold War.

Describe major events and turning points during the Cold War.

Explain the ideologies of the United States and the Soviet Union during the Cold War.

Analyze the impact of the Cold War on international relations.

Compare and contrast different perspectives on key Cold War incidents.

Evaluate the effectiveness of diplomatic strategies used during the Cold War.

Summarize the global consequences of the Cold War in the post-war era.

Discuss the role of nuclear weapons in Cold War policies and strategies.

Interpret historical documents and sources related to the Cold War.

Assess the influence of the Cold War on contemporary international politics.”

Refining

It is now up to you as the expert to determine which learning objectives are the most relevant and how you should go about revising them. For example, you may look at the list and notice that there are no learning objectives that ask the learners to create something with the knowledge they’ve acquired throughout the course (e.g., a final project). You return to ChatGPT and ask the following:

Please craft a learning objective that has learners create something relevant to the topic at hand.

In response, ChatGPT provides you with the following:

Design a multimedia presentation that illustrates the timeline of the Cold War, integrating key events, major political figures, and their impacts on international relations.

If you disagree with this suggestion, you can reply with “More?” to get additional ideas. ChatGPT will then provide you with a longer list:

“Develop a documentary script focusing on a specific aspect of the Cold War, such as the Cuban Missile Crisis or the Space Race, incorporating primary sources and historical analysis.

Construct a series of infographics that visually represent the economic, political, and social changes in different countries during the Cold War era.

Compose a series of fictional letters or diary entries from the perspective of individuals living in different countries during key moments of the Cold War, reflecting their experiences and viewpoints.

Create a podcast series that discusses the influence of the Cold War on modern international relations, including interviews with experts or simulations of discussions between historical figures.

Produce an interactive map or timeline that allows users to explore the progression of the Cold War, highlighting significant events, treaties, and shifts in alliances.

Formulate a role-playing game where players assume the roles of world leaders during the Cold War, making decisions that could change the course of history.

Design a virtual museum exhibit showcasing artifacts, propaganda, and media from the Cold War, with descriptive and analytical captions explaining their significance.”

You can repeat this process as often as you’d like – adjusting the prompt and adding additional context (e.g., outlines, key ideas, information about your teaching style) to get better responses. When formulating responses for you, ChatGPT looks at the entire chat log so it is recommended that you continue to add to the same chat for best results.

In our next article, we’ll explore how to use Generative AI to improve accessible language in your course.

Education is undergoing a significant transformation as generative artificial intelligence continues to develop at a rapid pace. It is now easier than ever for educators to experiment with generative AI in their practice and see for themselves how generative AI can be leveraged during the course development process to brainstorm, synthesize, and draft everything from communications to students to learning objectives.

Generative AI: The Basics

Before experimenting with Generative AI (GenAI), it is helpful to have some high level foundational knowledge of how GenAI works. Essentially, GenAI functions using advanced machine learning algorithms, specifically neural networks, which emulate human brain processing. These networks are trained with large datasets, enabling them to learn language patterns, nuances, and structures. As a result, GenAI can produce contextually relevant and coherent content, a capability exemplified in tools like ChatGPT.

To better understand how GenAI tools like ChatGPT work, let’s look at a breakdown of the acronym “GPT”:

GPT stands for “Generative Pre-trained Transformer.” It is a type of artificial intelligence model designed for natural language processing tasks. “Generative” refers to its ability to generate text based on a combination of the data it was trained on and your inputs. It can compose sentences, answer questions, and create coherent and contextually relevant paragraphs.

The term “Pre-trained” indicates that the model has undergone extensive training on a vast dataset of text before it is fine-tuned for specific tasks. This pre-training enables the model to understand and generate human-like text.

Finally, “Transformer” is the name of the underlying architecture used by GPT. Transformers are a type of neural network architecture that has proven especially effective for tasks involving understanding and generating human language due to their ability to handle sequences of data, such as sentences, and their capacity for parallel processing, which speeds up the learning process.

The GPT series, developed by OpenAI, has seen several iterations, with each new version showing significant improvements in language understanding and generation capabilities. Many of these improvements are due to the model continuously training on user inputs. OpenAI has made it transparent that your data is being used to improve model performance and you can choose to opt out by following the steps that will be outlined in the upcoming articles on how to use GenAI tools for course design, learning objectives and more.

Does It Matter Which GenAI Tool I Use?

Not really. Individuals may find preferences for one tool or another based on response speed or comfort with the interface. You may wish to use a tool that can opt out of using personal data for training purposes. Most of the GenAI tools are generally similar.

Next Steps and Considerations

In educational contexts, the incorporation of GenAI tools, such as ChatGPT, will potentially reshape our approach to content creation and improve efficiency for educators who often find themselves pressed for time. However, it is important to note the importance of acknowledging the technology’s limitations, such as potential biases, outdated information due to insufficient training data, and incorrect information – often referred to as “hallucinations.” It is vital that you always fact-check and revise GenAI outputs to maintain the integrity and high quality of your content.

In conclusion, by leveraging GenAI tools like ChatGPT, educators can navigate course design with greater ease and efficiency. From drafting learning objectives and engaging course titles to simplifying complex academic language and brainstorming assessments, GenAI has the potential to be an invaluable asset to your design work. However, it is critical to remember that these tools come with limitations, including potential biases and inaccuracies. By combining the strengths of GenAI with the expertise and critical oversight of educators, we can efficiently create new experiences for our learners.