AI for Course Design | Faculty of LA&PS

AI for Course Design is a practical toolkit that explores how instructors might leverage Gen AI for course design. To support instructors in navigating using Gen AI for course design, this toolkit explores topics including Universal Design for Learning, conversational prompting, course learning goals, assessments and rubrics.

Each topic includes a brief description that provides context for various aspects of course design as well as example prompts. AI can offer help with some of the more time-consuming tasks around course design and delivery, such as creating different versions of assessments.

Quick Links

Key Idea

Generative AI could be a useful tool to support instructors in refining, rethinking or reinventing specific elements of a course lesson, reading or assessment.

Collaborating with Gen AI

Versions of AI-generated outputs may be inaccurate and always require instructor review. However, they can still be a starting point—think of Gen AI as an ideation assistant—upon which instructors may build lesson ideas.

The information and prompts included in this toolkit were developed independently by a human and then entered in Copilot to generate responses. Of the various aspects of course design shared below, only prompts in the Conversational Prompting for Course Design section were created with assistance from Copilot. Copilot is a sanctioned York U AI tool.

Connect with the LA&PS Teaching & Learning team at lapsteach@yorku.ca to receive a copy of our Gen AI Prompts and Conversations Collection.

Universal Design for Learning and AI

When adopting AI as an educational technology tool, an important first step for instructors is to consider accessibility and inclusion. Universal Design for Learning (UDL) is a proactive approach to creating a more barrier-free, inclusive and flexible learning environment for and with students.

To design with AI using a UDL-first approach, consider the following perspectives:

Does the chosen AI tool add a barrier for students (e.g., cognitive, monetary, privacy)?
Are there equitable alternatives for students who are unable or uncomfortable using the AI tools?
Does the AI tool support learners in achieving/demonstrating the course learning outcomes?
Do learners clearly understand how the AI tool supports the work of the discipline or course?

Consider using the prompts below to explore how Gen AI might be leveraged to enhance UDL in the classroom.

Prompt 1: What are some UDL-informed strategies for teaching complex concepts in Public Policy in [insert name of subject area or specific context].

Prompt 2 (accepting a recommendation given by Gen AI tool in response to Prompt 1): Can you help design a course activity or assignment using these UDL strategies?

Prompt 3 (enhancing a recommendation given by Gen AI tool in response to Prompt 1): Give me an example of a UDL-informed lesson plan on the topic of [insert topic name here] suited for an upper-year university course.

Prompt 4: Review my current course outline attached to this prompt. Identify ways to move towards equity and transparency and suggest language that uncovers the hidden curriculum.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL)

Happy college students and their teacher using computer in the classroom

Conversational Prompting for Course Design

Conversational prompting is one way that users can interact with Generative AI tools to generate a desired output—text, image, audio, video and more. Gen AI tools like Microsoft Copilot, ChatGPT, Claude, Perplexity and Midjourney are trained to learn from and build on conversation/input patterns. To leverage these tools’ capabilities, instructors can use effective, structured prompts, otherwise known as prompt engineering. Specifically, they can try prompt patterns or templates to support the development of different aspects of course design. While there are different ways to develop prompts, conversational prompting with AI can be effective for course design.

The following three variations of the same task offer an example of engineering conversational prompting for course design. The prompts are based on a scenario where an instructor would like to better understand students’ skills and knowledge at the beginning of a course.

Prompt 1: Create some questions to test students' knowledge of economics.

Prompt 2: Generate five multiple-choice questions to assess first-year undergraduate students’ understanding of basic microeconomics concepts such as supply and demand, opportunity cost, and market equilibrium.

Prompt 3: Design a set of five diagnostic multiple-choice questions aimed at first-year undergraduate economics students from diverse academic backgrounds. The questions should assess conceptual understanding (not memorization) of foundational microeconomics topics such as opportunity cost, supply and demand, and market equilibrium. Include one question that uses a real-world scenario (e.g., pricing of concert tickets or housing markets) to test application of economic reasoning. Ensure the difficulty varies to help instructors identify different levels of student preparedness.

UIT Prompt Library
Generative AI in Teaching & Learning: Effective Prompting

A smiling male college professor reading a student's essay paper in his office in front of a laptop

Developing Learning Goals

Gen AI can help with drafting or refining learning outcomes. Course learning outcomes support students with understanding what to expect in the course while also informing course assessments, activities and materials. Including learning outcomes in the course outline can help define what skills, knowledge and attributes students will learn in the course. Generally, learning outcomes are a set of 4–5 concise statements defining what students are expected to achieve upon completion of the course.

Prompt 1: Draft a set of 3–4 course learning outcomes for a university-level, first-year, introductory course on the topic of ‘Research for Writers’. These are outcomes that students will achieve upon course completion.

Prompt 2: Create a set of 4–5 course learning outcomes that students will achieve upon completion of a third-year history course on the topic of Sport and Society in Ancient Greece. Align the learning outcomes with Bloom’s Taxonomy, where each outcome begins with an action verb and includes a deliverable that students create to show comprehension/mastery of skills.

Prompt 3: Help me refine the course learning outcomes that students will achieve upon completion of a fourth-year IT course on the topic of Business Process Management Systems. Align the learning outcomes with my unit’s ‘student learning objectives’. Begin each learning outcome with an action verb and include a deliverable that students have to create to show comprehension/mastery of skills. I’m attaching my unit’s student learning objective handout. The current course outcomes are: [insert current course outcomes here].

Curriculum Toolkit: Course Learning Outcomes

Drafting Assessments and Rubrics

AI can act as an assessment assistant that helps generate or enhance questions and rubrics. It can also explore assessment possibilities and identify new approaches to scaffold and support students as they learn new skills. When using AI for assessment design, the verification of information as well as the final decision-making always rests with the instructors.

Consider incorporating a Gen AI-use acknowledgement statement or criteria in the assessment instructions and/or rubrics for students if they are permitted to use Gen AI for particular assessments. These self-acknowledgements or criteria can help reinforce the AI guidelines set by the institution as well as the instructor in the context of each assessment. For developing prompts on assessment and rubric design, for example, generating quiz questions, creating alternate versions of tests or considering how students can/might leverage Gen AI, you can also connect with the Teaching & Learning team at lapsteach@yorku.ca.

Prompt 1: I like using the following three approaches to assessment: assessment for learning, assessment of learning, and assessment as learning. With that in mind, what types of assessments can I consider within each approach to check students’ understanding in a university-level Ethics course?

Prompt 2: I’m attaching a Public Policy assignment Word doc for reference. Using the assessment criteria below, create a holistic rubric for the first stage of the Public Policy assignment as well as a 4-point analytic rubric for the remaining stages of the same assignment. The assessment criteria is: [insert assessment criteria]

Prompt 3 (A prompt following from Prompt 3 in ‘Universal Design for Learning’ above): Turn this lesson plan into a UDL-informed, process-based, scaffolded assignment.

Prompt 4: I’m developing a test for an undergraduate university-level [insert course name] course that I teach. I’m attaching a question bank for reference. Please create three alternate versions of the test with the following in mind:

Feel free to use all the questions in the question bank.
Develop additional questions that test the same skill and knowledge level.
Include an answer key for each of the three alternate versions.
Additionally, suggest me a few analytical/critical thinking questions I can ask students if the focus of my course is [insert course description].

Gen AI for Faculty: Adapting Assessment Strategies

The Professional Anthropologist: The Anthropologist as Practitioner

Planning the Learning

Gen AI tools can support instructors with planning their course and learning flow throughout a term. For example, Gen AI tools can assist with content or topic generation and organization, resource development or suggesting methods for teaching a specific skill.

The prompt outputs from planning the course learning flow may only be used by the instructor to inform the teaching practice or could be made available to students to make course flow and skill development explicit. For example, a visual flow of topics could support students with understanding what they will learn and what to expect in a course.

Prompt 1: Suggest me a course structure for a university-level, first-year course on Introduction to Research Methods. Students in this course are pursuing one of the undergraduate programs. So, let’s focus on building a strong foundation in a variety of research-related skills.

Prompt 2: Please create a visual showing the flow of topics covered in my course, [insert course title here] and how the topics connect to each other and to the real world. Also include how the assessments are building on each other and identify areas of enhancement. I’m attaching a detailed course outline for reference.

Prompt 3: Give me sample UDL-aligned lesson plans for the following three topics: Research Design, Qualitative Methods and Quantitative Methods. You may use Anthropology as your context. Include teaching and assessment options that facilitate group work and timely feedback. For students using Gen AI tools, I would also like ideas in how they might engage with those tools to support their learning without compromising on developing their writing and critical thinking skills.

Teaching Hub

Female professor distributing papers to students

Building Course Materials

Generative AI tools can be used to help with sourcing or developing course materials. This use of Gen AI can assist instructors with enhancing or augmenting their current content or case studies. It also introduces an opportunity for instructors to critically engage students with AI-generated material, creating space to discuss academic integrity and AI-use in context.

The prompts below show a variety of uses to build course materials in different courses, contexts, year of study, and types of activities. Instructors might mix, match and replace based on their classroom teaching and learning needs.

Prompt 1: In the context of a Health & Society undergraduate degree program, identify for me 7–10 case studies for classroom use. I want to introduce students to complex issues in Health Systems in the Global Society. I would like case studies that are diverse and global, covering cultural, socioeconomic and political issues. Don’t forget to include a link to your sources.

Prompt 2: I would like to include more media when teaching about Disaster & Emergency Management. Help me create some visual aids that students can use to record notes as well as for review ahead of tests. You can use the weekly course schedule to create the visual aids – see attachment [upload weekly course schedule]. Are you also able to generate an audio and a video clip highlighting the increasing importance of Disaster Risk Management in today’s world?

Prompt 3: I teach Communication and Media Studies with a focus on Indigenous Media, to upper-year university students. Help me draft instructions for a UDL-aligned, semi-guided, term-long, hands-on research project that includes the following elements:
1. Work in groups to brainstorm aspects of a research project.
2. Choose a project plan proposal to instructor for feedback and approval.
3. Instructor check-in and peer-to-peer feedback every 3 weeks.
4. Final project due in 10 weeks on [insert due date here].
The maximum mark is 30 points, so please distribute across steps 1–4 above.

Prompt 4: Help me write three different prompts/scenarios for a role-playing activity on the topic of Children, Childhood and Youth Studies. Assign 3 roles – [specify roles for the activity here or ask GenAI to suggest relevant roles] – for each scenario. Also, for each scenario, provide an introduction, 4–5 decision points, a continuous narrative and a conclusion. Then, suggest ideas for what types of observations other students can make to stay engaged while one group is role-playing. Finally, share a few options on how to conduct discussion and provide feedback for such scenario-based, role-playing activity.

Choosing Course Materials

Woman and man working together at a desk

Enhancing Course Outlines

The prompts below highlight some ways AI might support with instructor updates to course outlines. Course outlines can offer a clear, supportive roadmap for students while sharing what to expect in the course. AI can help make it easier for instructors to streamline updating course outlines while possibly sparking new ideas for the course.

Prompt 1: What are some ways in which you can help me revise my course outline? I teach a [insert study level and subject area] course. Suggest 1-2 ideas for the overall document as well as for each section. My goal is to create a course outline that is engaging to read, clearly communicates course expectations and is student-centred. I’ve attached the course outline to this prompt.

Prompt 2: What are some ways I can inform and encourage students about academic honesty [or another course/assessment challenge] through my course outline? See the attached course outline.

Prompt 3: Using the attached course outline, identify 3-4 ways to account for recent changes in the academic field such as [Generative AI or another disciplinary development] within the context of the courses’ scope and learning outcomes.

Prompt 4: I’m attaching my assignment description. Create a 75–100-word summary for my course outline using student-centered language that is clear and engaging for a [insert study level and discipline] university course.

Pause & Reflect

The following question invites instructors to pause and reflect on the theme of Gen AI in the classroom:

How might learning experiences in courses be updated as industries and disciplines continue to rapidly change or adopt Generative AI technologies?
Is there one element of a course, such as one lesson, reading or assessment, that can be explored for redesign with AI?
Where in course design would collaborating with AI help save time or help implement changes to address current challenges or opportunities?

Learn More

Vanderbilt University. (2025). Generative AI: Prompt Patterns.

University of Alberta: Centre for Teaching and Learning. (n.d.). Instructional Practice and AI.

Perkins, M., Furze, L., Roe, J., & MacVaugh J. (2024). AI assessment scale (AIAS).

Arizona State University. (2024). Generative AI in the humanities classroom.

Questions?

Reach out to lapsteach@yorku.ca to connect with the Teaching & Learning team.

AI for Course Design: A Practical Toolkit

Quick Links

Key Idea

Collaborating with Gen AI