How to Teach AI Without Adding Another Course
From ideation to research, AI fits every subject. Explore classroom activities using free AI tools that spark creativity and critical thinking skills.
- Higher Education
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- Digital Skills Digest
Artificial intelligence has such broad applicability across disciplines that it is relatively easy to find ways to implement it as a tool in your classroom. While many institutions now have some level of access to AI tools for students, many still do not. That’s okay, because free versions of ChatGPT, Copilot, and Gemini are still more than suitable for classroom use.
The following are some ideas you can implement. The intention is to give you valuable starting points without requiring you to develop completely new courses. You can use these ideas as is, or you can modify them in a way that fits your teaching style more closely. You can define highly restrictive parameters or allow students to have a more open opportunity. There are no rules.
The first idea involves ideation. This is where AI is powerful. You can challenge students to use AI to generate ideas for solving problems. For example, if you teach a math class, you can have students ask AI for a new approach to solving a problem. In business, you can help students develop approaches to solving business challenges. You can apply this in any discipline to foster creativity and help students think through solutions.
A second idea is creative in nature. AI is excellent for creating infographics. Give students a topic that involves data or technical information, then have them create an infographic that explains the situation. This will engage the left and right sides of students’ brains and help them learn how to articulate effective ways to convey important information.
Finally, you can use AI as a research guide for students. There are many ways to do this. You can have students ask questions that help them research a topic, or you can have students challenge the responses they receive. This is how research should work, because research methods tell us you can never really prove anything. You could also have students use AI to help them find suitable sources of information. There are many ways to use AI as a research aid.
As you can see, AI provides enough flexibility that you do not have to create whole new courses. Simply sprinkle a little AI into your class and assess whether the approach is effective. The good news is that these approaches are easy to modify and can be done with AI platforms that are free.
Dr. Frank Sorokach is an Assistant Teaching Professor at Penn State University and the newly appointed lead author of Microsoft 365: A Skills Approach, published by McGraw Hill. With over two decades of experience in business education and corporate training, Dr. Sorokach brings a unique blend of academic insight and practical expertise to the evolving world of digital productivity. His work focuses on integrating technology into learning environments, and he has trained hundreds of professionals through Penn State’s Supervisory Essentials program. As lead author, he offers a fresh, streamlined approach to Microsoft 365 instruction—designed to meet the needs of today’s agile learners and tomorrow’s workforce.
