This is how I use AI: Cornelia Koch
In today’s increasingly interconnected world, the modern lawyer must have a basic understanding of the legal systems of numerous countries. In Comparative Law (LAW 2508) students develop a global perspective by making substantive connections between the Australian common law and a range of other legal traditions. They question whether national legal systems and institutions are converging or if differing economic, political, social and cultural contexts preserve legal diversity.
Cornelia Koch, course coordinator and senior lecturer at Adelaide Law School, describes how incorporating generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) brings inspiration, enjoyment and improved efficiency to her work.
How are you using AI in your course?
I use ChatGPT and Microsoft Copilot to assist me in drafting Canvas quiz questions. I ask the tools to provide me with questions on a topic for multiple choice and multiple answer questions.
I specify how many correct and incorrect answers the tools should generate, and also ask them to provide a short feedback comment on each answer. I use what the tools generate as suggestions and refine the questions, answers and feedback further.
What I find particularly helpful is that I can provide the tools with documents (scholarly writing, video transcripts, my own notes etc.) and ask them to write questions based on the contents of the document. That assists me with setting questions on the prescribed readings and materials.
What are the main reasons for using AI in this course?
Efficiency. It allows me to write questions, answers and feedback much faster than if I had to do it manually.
Also, inspiration. It assists me with ideas on what types of questions could be asked. I find the suggestions for wrong answers particularly helpful.
It’s easy to use. After one Learning Enhancement & Innovation (LEI) training session I was able to use these tools easily for this purpose.
It’s also quite enjoyable working with the gen AI tools and feels like teamwork instead of working alone and staring at a blank page. Finally, it’s necessary. Gen AI proficiency is an important 21st century professional skill for students and educators alike.
"Getting familiar with gen AI is crucial because our students are expected to use it in the workplace. Therefore, academics must start working with gen AI tools just like we started working with, e.g., the Internet or computers"Cornelia Koch
How are you maintaining academic integrity?
That is not a major problem in this case as I am using the tools to assist me, rather than asking students to use gen AI.
However, I ensure not to provide any private or protected information to ChatGPT, as the inputs are shared across the ‘world’ (with OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT). As the University has a private subscription to Microsoft Copilot, I can share, for example, my lecture notes with it. However, I still make sure that I do not share any copyrighted material (e.g. published scholarly articles where permission from the publisher is required).
Did you encounter any problems, how were they resolved?
The tools can make mistakes. It’s therefore crucial to check all content generated carefully and not to rely on it. As a subject matter expert, this is easy for me. However, for students who are not experts this is a major challenge when using gen AI tools.
Private and protected information: as explained above, I ensure not to provide the tools with any protected information. That limits the materials on which I can use the tools’ assistance. In future, it would be great to have a tool that is private and where copyright and other permissions have been provided (similar to the University’s course readings system).
Environmental impact: gen AI use consumes significantly higher amounts of energy and water than ‘ordinary’ use of the Internet. Therefore, I do not use the tools frivolously and make my students aware of the environmental impact of gen AI use, so that they are empowered to make sensible choices.
What tips do you have for other educators interested in using gen AI in their teaching?
There are a lot of training opportunities, including by LEI but also, e.g., LinkedIn Learning and learning and teaching webinars on gen AI offered by other universities and institutions. It’s quite easy to make a start and then it’s a matter of experimentation.
Many institutions offer free gen AI tools developed for tertiary education, for example, the University of Sydney (Cogniti) or Arizona State University (ASU Online AI Labs). However, it is important to always check whether the information you provide to the tool will be kept private or not and adjust your use of the tool accordingly.
Various providers helpfully offer free prompts to use in tools. Once you have your own ‘typical’ prompts for an activity, you can reuse them.
Getting familiar with gen AI is crucial because our students are expected to use it in the workplace. Therefore, academics must start working with gen AI tools just like we started working with, e.g., the Internet or computers. Gen AI provides many opportunities and can be very helpful.
We’re sharing these case examples to profile the different ways educators are approaching generative AI in their teaching practice. Before using any gen AI software tools, University of Adelaide staff should understand the ITDS Generative AI IT Security Guidelines and ensure they maintain information security and data privacy.
If you’re encouraging students to use gen AI tools in their studies, be mindful of how varying levels of access to software (including paid subscriptions) might impact education equity among diverse student cohorts.
Feel free to encourage your students to check out the University Library’s Guide for using AI for study and research in an ethical, responsible and evaluative way.