Events

Inserting Images into Bruin Learn Pages and Assignments

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April 30 @ 10:00 am – 10:20 am

Spring 2024 10+10 Pop-up Series

In spring quarter 2024, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) instructional designers are offering a series of seven pop-up sessions – each just 10 minutes in length – on focused, specific topics related to online/hybrid course design.

Each of these 10 + 10 sessions will take place at 10am every Tuesday in spring quarter 2024, from Week 2 thru Week 7.  While the sessions are not recorded, session slides and resources will be made available in this 10+10 Pop-ups Series Bruin Learn site. Individuals can self-enroll in this site using this URL: https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/enroll/C6KRL6

Zoom link for all sessions: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/98654413254?pwd=SXAzcUFsS1VpM0doU0tQUy9hKzdodz09

Meeting ID: 986 5441 3254         Passcode: 196561

Design a Grading Rubric using Generative AI (ChatGPT)

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May 14 @ 10:00 am – 10:20 am

Spring 2024 10+10 Pop-up Series

In spring quarter 2024, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) instructional designers are offering a series of seven pop-up sessions – each just 10 minutes in length – on focused, specific topics related to online/hybrid course design.

Each of these 10 + 10 sessions will take place at 10am every Tuesday in spring quarter 2024, from Week 2 thru Week 7.  While the sessions are not recorded, session slides and resources will be made available in this 10+10 Pop-ups Series Bruin Learn site. Individuals can self-enroll in this site using this URL: https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/enroll/C6KRL6

Zoom link for all sessions: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/98654413254?pwd=SXAzcUFsS1VpM0doU0tQUy9hKzdodz09

Meeting ID: 986 5441 3254         Passcode: 196561

Pages

ID Showcase – Introduction to Public Health

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Public Health 50A – Introduction to Public Health

Screenshot of Public Health 50A website

This showcase highlights how a Bruin Learn course site and its integrated tools have been selected and adopted in this newly designed Introduction to Public Health course. By utilizing the Bruin Learn course site, the instructor builds an efficient online learning space that helps students easily navigate course lectures and other materials and resources. Adopting Jones & Bartlett e-Textbook and its interactive lectures and quizzes provides rich opportunities that foster student interaction and collaboration. Zoom has been selected and creatively designed by the instructor and instructional designers as a solution for simultaneous screen-sharing and front-of-classroom camera views

What to Expect in the Showcase

The PH 50A Introduction to Public Health course is a newly designed course by Dr. Kim-Farley in collaboration with UCLA Instructional Designers. It is for the new Undergraduate Public Health Major at the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health. The following pedagogical strategies and design approaches will be shared during the presentation.

  • Utilization of Bruin Learn course site to showcase highlighting such features as a lecture-by-lecture home page with links to modules;
  • Adoption of LTI Integration with the Jones & Bartlett eTextbook, interactive lectures, and quizzes;
  • Implementation of an upload site for the Opinion Editorial written assignments with “Turnitin” and grading rubric; and
  • Use “dual-feed” Zoom as a solution for simultaneously screen-sharing and “front of classroom” camera views.

Presenter Bio

Dr. Kim-Farley currently serves as a Professor with joint appointments in the Departments of Epidemiology and Community Health Sciences at the Fielding School of Public Health at the University of California at Los Angeles (UCLA). From 2004 to 2018, he served as the Director of the Division of Communicable Disease Control and Prevention at the Los Angeles County Department of Public Health. His responsibilities included supervision of the Acute Communicable Disease Control Program, the Vaccine Preventable Disease Control Program (Immunization Program), the Tuberculosis Control Program, the Veterinary Public Health and Rabies Control Program, and the Public Health Laboratory.

Dr. Kim-Farley holds degrees in Electronic Engineering, Public Health, and Medicine from the University of California. He is Board Certified in Preventive Medicine and Public Health. He is the author of numerous articles and publications in the field of public health.

Spring 2024 10+10 Pop-up Series

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Spring 2024 10+10 Pop-up Series

In spring quarter 2024, the Teaching and Learning Center (TLC) instructional designers are offering a series of seven pop-up sessions – each just 10 minutes in length – on focused, specific topics related to online/hybrid course design.

Each of these 10 + 10 sessions will take place at 10am every Tuesday in spring quarter 2024, from Week 2 thru Week 7.  While the sessions are not recorded, session slides and resources will be made available in this 10+10 Pop-ups Series Bruin Learn site. Individuals can self-enroll in this site using this URL: https://bruinlearn.ucla.edu/enroll/C6KRL6

Zoom link for all sessions: https://ucla.zoom.us/j/98654413254?pwd=SXAzcUFsS1VpM0doU0tQUy9hKzdodz09

Meeting ID: 986 5441 3254         Passcode: 196561

Schedule of Topics

Note: Because of the 10 minute duration, sessions will start promptly at 10:00 am.

Add a Template to Your New Bruin Learn Course Site
04/09 10:00-10:20 am
 #coursedesign #savetime
Facilitator: Kate Schaller

Giving Feedback in Bruin Learn Speedgrader
04/16 10:00-10:20 am
#tips #workload #morewithless #saveyourfeedback #justclickit #rubrics
Facilitator: Mark Kayser

Handling Large Classes with Fewer TAs: Some Strategies
04/23 10:00-10:20 am
#workload #student interaction #morewithless
Facilitator: Brittany Goodwell

Inserting Images into Bruin Learn Pages and Assignments
04/30 10:00-10:20
#alttext #designtools #pixels #sizing
Facilitator: Agustin Rios

Sequencing Learning Material in a Module
05/07 10:00- 10:20 am
#learnerpathway #studentperspective #whatsnext
Facilitator: Sirui Wang

Design a Grading Rubric using Generative AI (ChatGPT)
05/14 10:00-10:20 am
#prompt #input #checkit #refineit
Facilitator:  Kim DeBacco

Spring 2024 10+10 Workshop Series Flyer

ID Showcase: Honors 136

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Scaffolding the Online Seminar: Honors 136—Art, Entertainment, & Social Change

Screenshot from Honors 136 course

What to Expect in the Showcase

In this showcase, Lecturer Terri Anderson will explain and illustrate the genesis and process of scaffolding a seminar aiming for student success in a student-led online hybrid Honors seminar. Student performance is extraordinarily engaged and advanced; student response is overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Topics to be covered include:

  • How to scaffold student engagement in a seminar
  • The unique value of an entirely online hybrid seminar
  • How to effectively use the online format—including working with Zoom, using the chat bar, effectively using discussion forums, and so on
  • How to develop an original and challenging, yet level-appropriate and doable, set of materials
  • How to coach students through creating an effective presentation

Presenter Bio

Terri Anderson is a Continuing Lecturer with Sociology and the Honors Program. She teaches a wide variety of Sociology courses, including Introductory Sociology, Research Methods, Environmental Sociology, Sociology of Emotions, Self & Society, Social Psychology, Sociology of the Body, Sociology of Mental Illness, Sociology of Gender, Sociology of Family, Sociology of Education, Sociology of Mass Communication, Food & Society, and Hip & Cool: A Study of Distinction & Exclusion. She has developed three online hybrid seminars for the Honors Program: Art, Entertainment, & Social Change; Between the Species: The Human/Non-Human Animal Relationship; and Living Consciously: Philosophy in Everyday Life.

Following a 20+ year career of in-person teaching, Dr. Anderson has been teaching online since 2017, and is currently redeveloping her Sociology of Mental Illness course (cross-listed with Disability Studies) for delivery throughout the entire UC system via UC Online.

ID Showcase – Care Work – Disability Justice and Health Care

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Nursing M172 & M172XP – Care Work: Disability Justice and Health Care

NURS172XP course site

This showcase highlights accessibility and engaged learning through the instructor’s experience designing a multidisciplinary two-course package. Community-engaged learning personalized disability care policy and caregiving practice through reflective relationship building. For instance, the course integrated Perusall to center disabled voices, deepen student preparation, and provide flexible engagement. It authorizes students to become creators of accessible information. By creating small groups called bird flocks, the course simulates carewebs that accomplish class activities. In addition, it structures community engagement through reflective relational logs, a field trip to the Momentum partner agency, attendance at the Ability Expo, and movies supported by the library mini-grant program, which creates a highly engaged learning environment for students. 


What to Expect in this Showcase

In this session, the instructor will share her experience designing a multidisciplinary two-course package that showcases accessibility and engaged learning. Course topics of accessibility and carework were mirrored in course design. Community-engaged learning personalized disability care policy and caregiving practice through reflective relationship building. Topics to be covered include:

  • Using Perusall to center disabled voices, deepen student preparation, and provide flexible engagement.
  • Authorizing students to become creators of accessible information.
  • Creating small groups called bird flocks to simulate carewebs that accomplish class activities.
  • Structuring community engagement through reflective relational logs, a field trip to the Momentum partner agency, attendance at the Ability Expo, and movies supported by the library mini-grant program.

Presenter Bios
Lauren Clark is a public health nurse and the Shapiro Family Endowed Chair in Developmental Disability Studies in the School of Nursing. She teaches health professions students to advocate for health equity and quality of life for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She works with the UCLA Tarjan Center and is on the Board of Directors of Disability Rights California.

Yuri Matsuo is a psychiatric-mental health nurse practitioner and a PhD student studying Down syndrome, aging, and family care. She is a Teaching Assistant in the Care Work community-engaged learning course.

ID Showcase – ENGCOMP 403

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ENGCOMP 403 – Language Pedagogy: Form, Meaning, and Function

What to Expect in this Showcase

This Instructional Design Showcase will explore several online-synchronous course design elements that were developed during the pandemic and have been continually refined in the years after based on student feedback. Through the course demonstration, the instructor explained how the homepage and modules had been setup, discussed several student engagement solutions such as flipped course design, audio-video content packages, and interactive class sessions, and also explored a few effective feedback practices through audio-video feedback packages and extended zoom conferences.The specific items that will be covered are as follows:

  • Course Organization (Homepage Design & Module Setup)
  • Student Engagement (Flipped Course Design, Audio-Video Content Packages, and interactive Class Sessions)
  • Feedback Practice (Audio-Video Feedback Packages and extended Zoom Conferences)

Presenter Bio

Jeremy Kelley serves as the Associate Director of UCLA’s Writing Programs, UCLA’s academic home for both English composition and English as a Second Language. In addition to teaching both undergraduate and graduate language and writing courses, he teaches the language teacher training seminar for graduate student ESL instructors and mentors new graduate instructors through their initial teaching appointment. He also teaches the core language pedagogy seminar for the language-learner emphasis of Writing Programs’ Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy.

ID Showcase – Honors 37W and ChatGPT

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A ChatGPT Experiment in Honors 37W

This showcase is an extension of an earlier talk Laurel Westrup gave as part of the Spring 2023 “AI in Action” event. It will focus on a specific use of ChatGPT in a Spring 2023 Honors Collegium Writing II course, “Sampling and Remix: The Aesthetics and Politics of Cultural Appropriation.”

Honors 37W, which focuses on cultural borrowing of many kinds, was an apt forum for discussion of generative artificial intelligence (Gen-AI) and large language models (LLMs) that draw on borrowed sources in order to create text. The instructor re-designed a staple course assignment to provide students an opportunity to try out and reflect on co-writing with a chatbot. The showcase will:

  • Provide context and a rationale for this particular use of ChatGPT
  • Discuss the assignment design
  • Review student responses to the assignment
  • Offer some thoughts on integrating ChatGPT into our courses based on this experiment 

Presenter Bio

Laurel Westrup is a Continuing Lecturer with Writing Programs and the Honors Program and the Coordinator of the Graduate Certificate in Writing Pedagogy (GCWP). She teaches courses across Writing Programs’ curriculum, from first-year composition and Writing II to upper division courses in the Professional Writing Minor, and she also teaches graduate pedagogy courses with the GCWP. She received a UCLA Distinguished Teaching Award in 2023.

ID Showcase – English Composition 2

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English Composition 2 – Approaches to University Writing | Meta-Narrative and the Narrative Self

In this course showcase session, Shane Crosby will share his experiences, the pros and cons, of using a variety of Bruin Learn tools to actively engage undergraduate students in the content of a first-year composition course.

This showcase demonstrates how the instructor uses Bruin Learn to actively engage undergraduate students in a first-year composition course. Several essential Bruin Learn tools and features, such as homepage, modules, assignments, and gradebook, are discussed. The exploration of different tool settings throughout the course design process with the support of the Bruin Learn Center of Excellence is shared.

The tools reviewed include:

  • Home Page
    • Attendance, ebook integration, syllabi, course notification settings
    • eBook integration: They Say, I Say: The Moves That Matter in Academic Writing
  • Modules
    • Organization
    • The “getting started” / Course Resource module
    • Lock Until | prerequisites | requirements
    • New feature: dropdown arrow options
    • Creating all assignments from within the Modules(?)
  • Assignments
    • Creating grading rules
  • Grades / Gradebook Settings
    • When to make it available, pros and cons, likes and dislikes
    • Late submission policy considerations
    • Grade posting considerations
    • Advanced feature settings

Presenter Bio

Shane Crosby is a Continuing Lecturer in Writing Programs at UCLA. He completed his BA at UCLA, MA in Special Education at Clark Atlanta University, PhD in Special Education at Georgia State University, and his MFA degree at UC Irvine.

This ID Showcase is a collaboration between the UCLA Teaching and Learning Center and the Bruin Learn Center of Excellence.

About OTL

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About UCLA Online Teaching and Learning

UCLA launched its Online Teaching and Learning Initiative in 2016 as a response to the growing awareness and need to leverage educational technologies into instruction. Beginning in 2018, the Online Teaching and Learning unit added instructional design and production teams.

OTL’s instructional design team provides campus faculty and academic leaders with the experience, knowledge, and support to incorporate educational technologies into courses. This can take the form of individual consultations, public workshops, and other sessions in promoting and advising on the use of existing, experimental, and new technologies. The instructional designers are available for appointment! Please reach out to a Team Member.

In coordination with the designers, the production team utilizes the OTL production studio in Slichter Hall to help faculty record, edit, and produce content ranging from short introductory material to full lecture content.  For faculty looking to self-produce content, the production team can also provide consultative support.

Meet the OTL Team

We are a team of dedicated professionals, ready to support UCLA faculty and departments

Ava Arndt

Ava Arndt

Interim Director

Before joining the OTL team at UCLA, Ava Arndt taught at UCI where she started using technology in her own classes and experimenting with online learning tools and practices with her students. Following this she worked for UCOP’s Innovative Learning Technology Initiative (ILTI) where she designed and built online and hybrid courses across all campuses within the UC system. When not teaching or designing or playing with technology she enjoys being outside, traveling the world, reading books, walking her dog and playing with her daughter.

Kim Ballard

Kim Ballard

Instructional Designer

Kim Ballard has worked as an instructional designer in higher ed for over 22 years. She joined UCLA in 2022 to assist with the LMS transition to Bruin Learn. Her passion for designing clear, usable, and accessible courses is fueled by her belief in providing high quality educational opportunities for all learners. Kim believes in the value of teaching disciplinary thinking by situating learning experiences in authentic activities and environments. Outside of work Kim enjoys reading, drawing, gardening, traveling, and cooking.

Barry Bishop

Barry Bishop

Producer/Director

Barry Bishop is a Producer/Director in the Online Teaching and Learning team. While his passion is in cinematography he has a deep technical knowledge within the areas of live and post production. Barry’s expertise with technology is instrumental in keeping the OTL studio and post-production workflows as functional and up-to-date as possible. Prior to joining UCLA, Barry worked in the San Francisco Bay area, producing media content for over a decade for multiple tech companies that include Cisco, Facebook and Dolby. In his spare time Barry enjoys programming and 3D modeling in Cinema 4D.

Serge Chenkerian

Serge Chenkerian

Unit Coordinator

Serge Chenkerian is the primary administrative contact for the unit and coordinates Online Teaching and Learning‘s activities and events. His responsibilities include HR functionality, fund management, strategic planning and implementation, event coordination, procurement, and budgeting, just to name a few. Having obtained an MBA in Management and Marketing from the University of Houston, Bauer College of Business, his early career at UCLA led him to a position as the MSO for UCLA’s Academic Senate.

Kim DeBacco

Kim DeBacco

Senior Instructional Designer

Kim DeBacco was a tenured faculty in the Institute for Teaching & Learning at The University of Sydney, and worked in Academic Development at La Trobe University, Melbourne. In the UC, Kim was an Instructional Consultant (UCSB), an Academic Program Director (UCSB Extension), an Instructional Design Analyst (Riverside), and a Senior Instructional Designer at UCLA since 2019. Kim is interested in educational technologies and language learning, with research interests around blended teaching and learning, ethics, and reciprocity in university relationships.

Brittany Goodwell

Brittany Goodwell

Instructional Designer

Brittany Goodwell joined the OTL team as an Instructional Designer in 2023. Before coming to UCLA, she was a Curriculum Developer and Trainer at the City University of New York, developing courses for employees working with those experiencing homelessness in New York City. She has also led instructional design projects for the School of Pharmacy at USC. Brittany has extensive experience working in higher education and a commitment to ensuring student success. In her free time, she enjoys traveling, trying new restaurants around the Los Angeles area, and listening to podcasts.

Mark Kayser

Mark Kayser

Instructional Designer

Mark Kayser joined Online Teaching and Learning in 2020 as an Instructional Designer. At UCLA he has worked to improve both the student experience and the Accessibility of UCLA courses. He also enthusiastically supports the use of Open Educational Resources and Authentic Assessments. Before joining the OTL team Mark was at the University of Minnesota where he designed online and blended courses with a primary focus on STEM courses and the unique challenge these domains pose to online learners. For the last 14 years he has also taught Mathematics courses at the collegiate level.

Paul Kimball

Paul Kimball

Managing Producer/Director

Paul Kimball is the Managing Producer/Director for UCLA OTL. He oversees the department’s studio in Slichter Hall as well as all aspects of production for the studio’s creations. He also coordinates regularly with other production units on campus that create video content for UCLA classes. As a key member of the TFT Online team, he shot, edited, and/or oversaw the video production for that program and for the other campus courses built with them. Before starting work at UCLA in instructional media in 2013, he worked in broadcast television and feature film. In his free time, Paul is also a professional screenwriter.

Kate Schaller

Kate Schaller

Instructional Designer

Kate Schaller joined UCLA in 2021 as an instructional designer on the LMS Transformation team. Before this, she was a graduate student, instructor, and teaching assistant at Vanderbilt University, teaching German language and film studies courses in-person, hybrid, and remotely.

During graduate school she also worked in language teaching centers on projects exploring innovative uses of technology in the foreign language classroom, and served as a teaching assistant on study abroad programs.

Agustín Rios

Agustín Rios

Instructional Designer

Agustín Rios has been an Instructional Designer with OTL since August, 2022, where he has presented "Teaching with Technology" seminars for faculty workshops. Prior to OTL, he worked on the LMS Transformation project and was an Instructional Designer at the School of Dentistry. Agustín also served on the Special Practices Group, a committee charged with deciding the budgetary spending of the legacy LMS, and Chaired the Educational Media Group comprised of students interested in creating clinical instructional videos. He developed his skills through seven years as a visual effects artist in the movie industry.

Sirui Wang

Sirui Wang

Instructional Designer

Sirui Wang collaborates with faculty and departments on course design, instructional design, pedagogy, student engagement, assessment, evaluation, and more. In addition to her instructional design services at OTL, Sirui coordinates the Instructional Design Showcases and consults on several campus-wide committees. In 2022, she supported the LMS transformation to Bruin Learn. Prior to UCLA, Sirui provided her instructional design services at Colorado State University for online education. She earned her Ph.D. in Instructional Technology and Design from The University of Southern Mississippi in 2015.

Jim Williamson

Jim Williamson

Director, Educational Technology Systems & Administration

With over 25 years of educational and technology experience, Jim Williamson’s prior roles include Director of eLearning (CSULA), Manager of the UCLA Film and Television’s Archive Research and Study Center, System Engineer (Boeing Satellite), and Manager of the Teaching Enhancement Center (UCLA). His professional experience includes teaching college English composition and literature both in-person and online, digital archiving, copyright, faculty development, educational software, data analytics, database and web design, and e-learning research.

Our Office

In collaboration with the UCLA Library, OTL’s Instructional Design Studio is located in the Charles E. Young Research Library, room 21570. The administrative offices and conference room are located in room 21520.

Campus Partners

CAT Website

Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT)

The Center for the Advancement of Teaching fosters and champions effective teaching, grounded in sound pedagogy and enhanced by innovation, to promote successful learning for UCLA’s diverse student population. To realize this mission, CAT collaborates with faculty and other campus partners, drawing on its wide range of expertise in pedagogy, educational technology, assessment, learning spaces, and curricular research.

teaching.ucla.edu
310-825-9149
70 Powell Library Building

help@teaching.ucla.edu


CEILS Website

Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences (CEILS)

The Center for Education Innovation & Learning in the Sciences (CEILS) creates a collaborative community of instructors committed to advancing teaching excellence, assessment, diversity, and scholarship, resulting in the enhancement of student learning experiences in the Life and Physical Sciences.

ceils.ucla.edu
310-825-6695
251 Hershey Hall
612 Charles E. Young Dr. South

media@ceils.ucla.edu


DCP website

Disabilities and Computing Program

The mission of UCLA’s Disabilities and Computing Program at the Office of Information Technology is two-fold. The first goal is to facilitate the integration of adaptive computing technology into the areas of instruction, study, research, and employment at UCLA. The second goal is to make information – including electronic text and multimedia – accessible to all students, faculty and staff.

dcp.ucla.edu
310-206-7133
Disabilities and Computing Program
4909 Math Sciences

dcp@oarc.ucla.edu

Library website

UCLA Library

The University Library, with its many locations, is central to all of UCLA’s research, teaching, and learning activities.  Online Teaching and Learning appreciates the continued support of the UCLA Library, its staff, and use of its facilities.

UCLA Library
310-825-1938

ask.powell@library.ucla.edu

In Memoriam

Prof. Jan Reiff

Prof. Jan Reiff

Professor Jan Reiff (1949-2021) was the inaugural director of UCLA Online Teaching and Learning as well as a faculty in the 1960s GE Cluster. After serving as Chair of the Academic Senate, she functioned for a year as the Senate-Administrative liaison for Online Instruction. Former EVC/Provost Waugh invited her to serve as a special assistant to him in areas connected to online, blended, and technology-enhanced learning. In that role, she has worked with individuals throughout campus to create UCLA Online Teaching and Learning. She was involved with the use of digital technologies in research, learning, and teaching stretching back to her graduate school days at the University of Washington and her first job at the Newberry Library organizing NEH-sponsored institutes on computing and history at the Library and in universities across the U.S. At Northwestern, she founded the Microcomputer Support Group for faculty before assuming a faculty position at Case Western Reserve University where she was the Jesse Houk Shera Assistant Professor of History and winner of the John S. Diekhoff Award for Graduate Teaching and Mentoring. She also served as Fulbright Senior Scholar at the University of Bremen (Germany) in its Labor Migration Center before coming to UCLA.

At UCLA, she specialized in urban, social, migration, and labor history, having taught and published in each area. A recipient of a Senate Distinguished Teaching Award and the 2015-18 holder of the Waldo W. Neikirk Chair for Undergraduate Education Innovation, she helped launch both the 1960s and Los Angeles cluster.

At the time of her death, Jan was serving as a member of UCLA’s COVID-19 Response and Recovery Task Force, Program Owner for the LMS Transformation Project, and as special assistant for online teaching and learning to Chancellor Gene Block and Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Emily Carter.

Jan passed away peacefully in her home on May 4, 2021.

AI Resources for Learning Design

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AI Resources for Learning Design

Sample syllabi + syllabus formats and sections

Syllabus Statements on the Use of AI in Courses

AI for Assignment & Learning Design

  • Stanford University. Curricular Resources About AI for Teaching (CRAFT)
  • Trust, T. (2023). Chat GPT & Education, UMass (Amherst); including:
    • What ChatGPT Can Do, pp. 18-39;
    • What Chat GPT Can’t Do (Yet), pp. 40-42.
  • UNESCO. (2023). Chat GPT and AI in Higher Education: Quick Start Guide. See the table on page 9.
  • Watkins, R. Update Your Course Syllabus for ChatGPT – GWU
  • Young J. (2023). Why I’m Excited About ChatGPT: Here are 10 ways ChatGPT will be a boon to first-year writing instruction, Jennie Young writes.
  • Kim DeBacco’s (untested) assignment idea:
    • Ask your students to input into ChatGPT the assignment prompt (eg. compare and contrast 2 films on the same topic).
    • They must then analyze what Chat GPT generates first time round: what it got right, wrong, what’s missing, what’s not emphasized that should have been, and perhaps more, depending on the original prompt and your imagination – or indeed the conceptual demands of the course!
    • Ask the students to submit the initial AI-generated raw version to you, along with their critical analysis of the AI-generated piece in light of the other course-related material (eg. films or readings) you were asking them to compare & contrast, or analyze.

The World of AI Tools

Using ChatGPT for Syllabus Refresh

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Syllabus Refresh – Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT

The following are notes from OTL’s session for the AI in Action series.

Kim DeBacco and Kate Schaller worked with faculty to generate and regenerate a course syllabus. Together they investigated prompt engineering to iteratively refine their choices.

Session materials:

Ask Chat GPT to create a syllabus

Initial prompt:

Design a syllabus for an introductory, undergraduate-level university course about "The Psychology of Aging".

Sample refining prompt:

Regenerate this syllabus to include the following syllabus sections:

Course title: “The Psychology of Aging” (PSY136) 
Instructor Information: Kim DeBacco, PhD; kdebacco@online.ucla.edu
TA Information: Qiwen Moore, David Christomakis. 
Contact Information: tba
Course Prerequisites: PSY124
Course Description:
Learning Outcomes for this Course:
Course Materials:
Technical Requirements (Bruin Learn, browsers etc.)
How to Succeed in this Course (Expectations for Students, Study Advice & Tips)
Creating an Inclusive Classroom Community (Instructor, TA, and Community Expectations)
Course Schedule (Dates & Topics, Readings)
Predictable Weekly Pattern (for Students)
How Your Learning Will Be Assessed (Grading Policy)
Information about the Course Assignments
Link to the Quarter dates in the UCLA Academic calendar 
The class dates and times: Tuesday 10am - 12noon; Thursdays 10am - 12 noon
Link to UCLA resources for Student Well-being
Link to UCLA Policy on Academic Integrity

Model the prompt by inputting two or three past syllabi:

Integrate information, readings and topics from this syllabus. Do not include the dates.

NOTE: The example syllabi were freely provided, and previously downloaded from merlot.org

Additional Refining Steps

Provide a list of readings with links; link to a textbook, etc.

Add your lists of readings – Required/Essential, Recommended, etc.

Integrate these readings into the syllabus schedule:

Park, D.C., K. Warner Schaie, K. Schaie, S. L. Willis, S. Willis. Handbook of the Psychology of Aging. 7th edition.

Provide a focused, scripted course description, to narrow and specify content.

Regenerate the syllabus to reflect this description: [your course description goes here]

Read closely and correct!

  • Add your emphases, your voice and values, special sections, and more.
  • Consider sharing your syllabus with a colleague for feedback.

Solicit student feedback

After the quarter is over, ask (some of) your students to give you annotated feedback on your syllabus. Ask them to add comments all over it:

  • what worked well;
  • what advice would they give future students;
  • what would they change;
  • which readings and media made sense;
  • which readings were tough but worthwhile;

and so on…

See also the original session document.