Rethinking the Student Learning Experience

This past semester, as part of a professional development course led by Michael Pazinas, who heads Pedagogical Innovation and Effectiveness at the Center for Educational Innovation (CEI) at Zayed University in Dubai, we were tasked with rethinking the student learning experience, specifically exploring ways to embrace AI in our teaching and pedagogy. Through a series of semester-long seminars and working sessions that delved into the intersection of Learning Experience Design (LXD) and Generative AI, we investigated the potential of AI to support students with their coursework.

I focused on one of the creative challenges my students face in my ART 251 course. Assignment 2 in this course pushes students to explore their creativity and step beyond their comfort zones. As part of the learning experience design course, we were asked to create a short video showcasing our proposed inclusion of AI in our courses. The video above demonstrates how a simple AI tool can have a transformational effect on a struggling student. Using AI as an empathetic and supportive partner is a concept that I believe will become the norm in education.

AI is going to fundamentally transform how we learn. I hope that my exploration in this area can be beneficial for others as they consider meaningful ways to integrate AI into their courses, showing how AI can be a supportive partner in enhancing the learning experience.