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AI for Instructional Design: Tips and Best Practices

By Mary Strehl, MS

Since AI has become more prevalent and more accessible to individual users, new large language model (LLM) sites, AI software, and tips seem to be popping up at an exponential rate. It can be difficult to sift through the information to find not only what to use, but how to use it for education. AI is a powerful tool that can be used to assist instructional designers with all stages of design including project management, content creation, and assessment. AI can augment the work of instructional designers, saving time in some areas so that they can focus their expertise and creativity in other areas. These tips and best practices will give a starting point for effectively leveraging AI in instructional design while also using AI responsibly.

AI for Project Management

There are AI tools for project management that can help an instructional designer enhance efficiency, collaboration, and overall project success. AI software can automatically generate subtasks based on task descriptions, summarize discussion threads, and autonomously generate summaries for task updates. It can assist with time and task management by scheduling project tasks around a team’s availability, and by taking into account changes to plans and early completion. It can analyze past project data to predict risks, bottlenecks, resources, and completion times, so that instructional designers can make informed decisions. AI can be used for quality assurance, providing automated testing for content consistency, correctness, and adherence to design standards. It can be used to optimize resource management, and can even help to reduce project costs

AI for Content Creation

AI can offer valuable support to instructional designers throughout the content creation and design process. It can be used for planning, storyboarding, and writing course objectives. It can analyze images for relevance, accessibility, and suggest alternative visuals to enhance the learning experience. It can provide accessibility features such as alt text and captions. AI can assist with the creation of virtual reality based games for learning, including training that simulates specific work environments. It can generate summaries, drafts, and outlines of content, and create scripts and videos from outlines and concepts. It can generate summaries, drafts, and outlines of content, and create scripts and videos from outlines and concepts. AI can analyze learner behavior and preferences so that relevant materials can be recommended, creating a more personalized learning experience.

AI for Assessment

AI can be used to generate ideas for assessments, or the assessments themselves. It can be used to create adaptive assessments which change dynamically based on the learner proficiency. AI can analyze assessments to provide performance trends, suggesting areas for improvement and weaknesses in assessments. It can create and grade open ended responses, assessing the quality of the responses and checking responses for plagiarism. It can be used to personalize feedback to learners, and to give automated feedback that will guide students on areas of improvement. AI can also help to assess the overall effectiveness of an instructional program after its completion, and measure the extent to which the learning objectives were achieved.

Using AI Responsibly

Instructional design has already benefited from the capabilities of AI, and the already impressive capabilities of AI will only continue to increase. By integrating AI into instructional design, designers can benefit from automation, personalization, and data-driven insights, which will ultimately improve the quality and effectiveness of educational experiences. While the adoption of AI in instructional design offers many potential advantages, it is essential to approach its use with careful consideration of ethical considerations, privacy concerns, and the continued inclusion of human expertise in designing learning experiences. The content should be checked for bias and combined with a human touch. AI should be used to complement, not replace, the role of instructional designers who bring creativity, strong pedagogical knowledge, and a deep understanding of learners to the educational process. It is important to stay up-to-date on advancements in AI and how it impacts instructional design, and update the use of tools and algorithms to incorporate these improvements.

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Mary Strehl, MS

Mary Strehl, MS has been working in online education for 15 years, and as an instructional manager for 5 years. In addition, Mary has served as subject matter expert for several institutions, and created practice assessment content for a variety of subjects. She is certified to teach multiple K-12 subjects, including Latin, Art, and English, and earned an MS in Curriculum Design and Instructional Technology from SUNY Albany.