2023 has undoubtedly been the year of ChatGPT and generative AI. I don’t think I’ve been in a single meeting in the last year that DIDN’T mention AI in some form or another. However, I’d love to share some of my favorite educational technology tools and trends I’ve seen this year.

Just a few housekeeping items first:

• Even though new technology is cool and a nice shiny thing to play with, we need to be strategic about how we use it. We shouldn’t just use a tool for the sake of using it, but we should have a need or a learning objective that is met by these tools.
• When deciding on different tools to use, try to consider the accessibility of the tool. About a fourth of the population has or will experience some sort of disability. That’s a lot of people. That’s also a lot of people that may find themselves unable to complete coursework if a tool is selected that isn’t accessible.

H5P and Lumi

At the beginning of the year, we highlighted H5P and the use of Lumi. This tool is extremely useful and fun to play around with as it allows you to create interactive content types that can be embedded in your course both as a low-stakes assessment or as purely an interactive piece of content. You can create content like interactive timelines, drag and drop activities, and more (many more…).

Feedback Fruits

We also highlighted newly approved and acquired tools like Feedback Fruits to help provide an easier assessment for peer evaluations for group work. This tool has been used widely across the University since its integration and utilizes AI (you know it had to be talked about) to help with grading and providing feedback to students as they write their own evaluations of their groupmates.

Generative AI

And then the elephant in the room: AI. Artificial intelligence has had some of the largest impacts on education out of any new tools or trends that we’ve seen in the last year. Generative AI tools like ChatGPT, Dall-E 3, and Microsoft Bing enable new experiences in the classroom—like role playing, interviewing, and language assistance, to name a few—and present new ethical questions and concerns related to copyright, academic integrity, and more. We’ve all heard of and experienced the impact of these tools and that trend is going to continue for the foreseeable future. But with all new tools, education will continue to evolve to meet the new needs of the future and I’m excited to see what happens next!

Here’s to the next year with more tools and especially more AI! If you ever have a question about a tool, accessibility, or even a general course design question, please don’t hesitate to reach out to us by submitting a Request Assistance form.

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Tags:  Academic Integrity, Accessibility, Educational Technology, Instructional Design, Instructional Development, Online Teaching, Pedagogy, Teaching, Technology