Pillar 3: Teaching, Learning, & Assessment Design
Built to integrate AI meaningfully into courses while keeping learning authentic and assessment sound.
This pillar focuses on pedagogy first and offers concrete models for course and assessment design at beginner, intermediate, and advanced levels. It supports ethical use, transparent citation, and integrity‑forward evaluation.
Designing Process-Based Assignments
Integrating AI into course design is about prioritizing critical reasoning, transparency, and human-centered reflection over simple end-product delivery. Shift your assessment models toward process-based learning that makes student thinking visible:
- In-Class Defense & Application: Complement written submissions with live peer discussions, oral presentations, or hands-on application activities.
- Staggered Milestones: Grade initial outlines, annotated bibliographies, and draft revisions rather than solely evaluating final papers.
- AI Disclosure & Reflection: Require students to include a brief reflection detailing how they used AI, what prompts they ran, and how they verified the output’s accuracy.
Butler AI Assignment Bank
Looking for practical ideas to integrate artificial intelligence into your courses? The Butler AI Assignment Bank showcases real classroom examples, assignments, and teaching strategies developed by Butler faculty across colleges. Explore how your peers are using AI as an analytical partner, clinical simulator, creative sandbox, and critical reflection tool—complete with downloadable rubrics, prompt templates, and sample artifacts.
2025-2026 Examples
Created custom AI tutors in Gemini and ChatGPT to generate quizzes from course materials, built a test-tracking dashboard for clinical PA students, and designed voice-enabled mock-patient simulators for practice.
Keywords: Interactive, Clinical Simulation, Study Tool, Case Study, Custom Bot
Developed by: Chris Roman (croman@butler.edu), Professor/Associate Dean, College of Health Professions
Uses generative AI to establish initial clinical scenario frameworks and small case studies for lab and classroom sessions, tailoring the generated content to help nursing students apply concepts to real-world end-of-life care.
Keywords: Case Study, Clinical Practice, Content Generation, Lab Activity
Developed by: LeeAnn Shondell (lshondell@butler.edu), Assistant Professor, Nursing, College of Health Professions
Leverages MagicSchool AI to differentiate K–6 content and Turbo AI for study podcasts, paired with critical discussions surrounding AI’s environmental impact and preserving authentic human voice.
Keywords: Differentiated Instruction, Study Tool, Ethics & Reflection, K-6 Pedagogy
Developed by: Catherine Pangan (cpangan@butler.edu), Professor, College of Education and Human Development
Employs Otter.ai in journalism to explore transcription tools, while guiding students on transparent AI use for paper outlines and interactive presentations.
Keywords: Industry Tools, Skill Practice, Ethical Outlining, Media Production
Developed by: Indah Setiawati (isetiawati@butler.edu), Lecturer, College of Communication
Replaced discussion boards with a live “News Lab,” using AI as an analytical aid to evaluate articles before live peer debates and reflection writing.
Keywords: Live Discussion, Process-Based, Critical Thinking, Analytical Support
Developed by: Jane Siegler (jsiegler@butler.edu), Associate Professor, Lacy School of Business
Leads a global analytics competition that embeds AI into coursework, preparing students for Microsoft certification through data projects tackling real-world issues.
Keywords: Applied Analytics, Competition, Certification, Social Impact
Developed by: Matthew Lanham (mlanham1@butler.edu), Assistant Professor, Lacy School of Business
Applies machine learning stem separation tools to isolate audio tracks, helping music students develop auditory streaming skills and analyze polyphonic performances.
Keywords: Audio Isolation, Skill Practice, Creative Application, Pedagogical Resource
Developed by: Fred Hosken (fhosken@butler.edu), Assistant Professor, Jordan College of Arts
Scaffolds GenAI prompting by having students run draft work through Gemini, document its suggestions, and justify which feedback they incorporated.
Keywords: Prompt Engineering, Digital Leadership, Peer Review, Process-Based
Developed by: Nick Wilson (nwilson@butler.edu), Adjunct, College of Communication
Open Lesson Plans & Course Activities: The PALNI / MERLOT AI Repository
Need ready-to-use lesson plans or classroom activity ideas? Butler University was awarded a grant by the Private Academic Library Network of Indiana (PALNI) to build an open-access repository of peer-reviewed AI teaching materials hosted on MERLOT. This free, open-educational resource allows you to browse and adapt field-tested lesson plans, prompt exercises, and discipline-specific assignments created by faculty across Indiana institutions to fit your own courses.