Welcome to the class!

I believe that artificial intelligence (AI) is a tool like any other. And like any tool, it can be used well or poorly. How you use it and whether that use supports or harms you is (fortunately or unfortunately) up to you. However, there are ways to learn and develop skills in how to use AI, and this class will endeavor to do that.

The goal of this class is to understand how learning works, such that when you use AI, you learn what you want to learn and have confidence that you learned it, as opposed to having an illusion of knowing. We will do this through reading/watching/listening to preparation materials, discussing questions such as “If someone could only do a task with AI, have they learned it?”, systematically observing and experimenting with our learning, and carefully considering when it actually makes sense to use AI to support our learning.

This course is skills-based. Measuring whether you have mastered a skill requires assessing the products of those skills. However, this course cares more about the process you went through to create the product, not the product itself. Therefore, we have 13 learning objectives (LOs) organized around 4 themes. You will have multiple attempts to demonstrate competence in each LO and each attempt will be given feedback to help you with the next attempt if you need one. Further explanation is below.

By the end of this course, I hope that you will be able to think more carefully, critically, and skeptically about how to use AI when it comes to achieving your learning goals. And you will leave with greater confidence that you know what you know and can incorporate AI into your learning process in a way that benefits and does not harm your learning.

Grading Marks

There are two kinds of grading in this course. The first is through points, which is what you typically see in school settings. The other grading will generally use the rubric below. What something is using will be clearly marked.

1. 1. [E]xemplary – Work that meets all requirements and displays full competence of all learning goals.
   2. [S]uccessful – Work that meets all requirements and displays full competence of the main learning goals and at least partial competence in all learning goals.
   3. [N]ot Yet – Work that does not meet some requirements and/or displays developing competence.

Learning Objectives

The course has the following learning objectives. 8 learning objectives (LOs) are designated as core LOs. Also, some LOs will take longer than others to cover in this course.

#	Theme	Core?	Learning Objective	Description
1	What is learning?	Yes	Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD)	Given a learning scenario, can identify and explain where the learner is in terms of the Zone of Proximal Development
2	What is learning?	Yes	Revised Bloom's Taxonomy	Given a learning activity, can identify and explain where the learning objective it demonstrates falls in the revised Bloom's taxonomy
3	How does learning work?	Yes	"Normal Learning" Day 1 Day 2	Given a learning scenario with challenges or setbacks, can analyze which aspects reflect normal learning processes versus situations requiring strategy adjustments
4	How does learning work?	Yes	Self-regulated Learning (SRL)	Given a learning scenario, can analyze where in the 3P model the learner is and provide recommendations on what else the learner can do while in that phase
5	How does learning work?	-	Cognitive Load	Given a learning scenario, can apply cognitive load theory to identify intrinsic vs extraneous load and evaluate the germane load of the task
6	How does learning work?	-	Motivation	Given a learning scenario, analyze the factors affecting the motivation and provide recommendations on what the learner can do to improve motivation
7	What is AI?	Yes	Different kinds of AI	Given a description of an AI system, can identify its type using course terminology and evaluate whether it is likely to be anthropomorphized, and why
8	What is AI?	Yes	Intro to Data Visualization	Can pick a spot on a graph and fully describe what it means with no ambiguity
9	What is AI?	-	Building Visualizations Day 1 Day 2	Can critique a chart in terms of its design and recommend improvements to address those critiques
10	What is AI?	-	Intro to Probability	Given a probabilistic scenario, can apply basic probability or conditional probability to calculate the probability of an event.
11	What is AI?	Yes	Probability in the Real World Day 1 Day 2	Given a probabilistic reasoning excerpt, can identify the kind of probabilistic school of thought it belongs to, and evaluate whether it exhibits any hidden assumptions and/or fallacies
12	Taking control of your learning	Yes	Learning Illusions Day 1 Day 2	Given a learning scenario can identify reasonings or behaviors that do not support learning or the use of motivated reasoning, and provide recommendations on how to improve the learning
13	Taking control of your learning	-	AI Prompting	Given a prompt, can critique and provide recommendations for improvements that would better support learning

Learning Objective (LO) Checkpoints

To demonstrate competence in an LO, we will have LO Checkpoints every other week. Each checkpoint is an in-person, paper “exam” where each question is clearly labeled with which LO it is assessing. You get to choose which LO you will attempt. You do not have to attempt every LO at every checkpoint (in fact, once we cover enough LOs you will likely not have enough time). Your current mark on an LO is your best mark across all attempts. So, if you receive a Satisfactory (S) on an LO, and then attempt again to earn an Exemplary (E) but instead earn a Not Yet (N), your mark for that LO is still considered an S.

Knowledge Check Quizzes

Before class, you will be given material to help you prepare for class. Material will be paired with a knowledge quiz to check your basic understanding of it. These quizzes will be due at 11:59pm two days before the class we will discuss the material. Each quiz will typically have a 24-hour late window (see calendar for exceptions). Submitting during this window does not incur a point penalty.

The reason the quizzes are due two days before is because we review the data from the quizzes to inform how to structure in-class activities. For example, if there is a concept that many of you are clearly struggling with, we will spend more time on it before applying that concept. The main consequence of submitting during the late window is that your data may not be considered when we analyze how well the class is performing on a concept.

You are allowed one extension on one quiz, no questions asked. Request this extension on the forms page. For additional extensions, you must email the course email address.

Homework

This course has homework to support your learning and make a smoother learning curve to get to full competence on an LO. Therefore, homeworks are a means of consistent feedback where you can resubmit them after reacting to the feedback from the prior round of grading.

Specific questions on each homework will be labeled with the LO it focuses on. Your overall mark on a homework is the minimum mark across these specific questions. The homework will have other questions intended to help you understand parts of an LO and support your success at the specially labeled questions. They will not be incorporated into that homework’s overall grade. However, leaving them blank will reduce the amount of feedback you can receive to understand how to get the desired mark on a homework. We reserve the right to require these questions if there are multiple failed attempts to achieve a Satisfactory on a homework.

Class Cadence

To support learning, the course runs on a 2-week cycle. At the end of the week, either a homework is due or a resubmission of a prior homework can be turned in. The same week a homework resubmission can be submitted, the second class meeting for that week is a LO Checkpoint day (see the course calendar for details on which days are which). On typical days (a.k.a. not an LO Checkpoint day), the class cadence is as follows:

1. 1. Prepare for class
      1. Reading/listen/watch content
      2. Take knowledge check quizzes on content
      3. Prepare for class discussion
   2. Class – Class discussion and applying what learned from content
   3. After class
      1. Reflection
      2. Homework

Learning Log

Part of this course is learning how you, in particular, learn. As part of this, you will log about your learning process and experiences throughout the semester. You will do this by creating a personalized Microsoft Form that you will fill out weekly. We will provide you with a template to copy, and then you will add your additional questions to better capture your learning experience. You will then share your form with us so we can see your log entry progress.

Class Engagement Points

Student engagement in the education research field is defined as a student’s active, emotional, and cognitive participation in the learning process. This class cannot grade your emotional participation, but we can define actions you can take to demonstrate active and cognitive participation. Engaging in your learning is vital for learning. Therefore, we have class engagement points as part of your grade. There are four categories of points, and how the categories are incorporated into your grade is covered in the Overall Course Grade section. The philosophy we used to calculate how many points you need for an A is that we took the maximum points possible and then subtracted the number of points typically earned every two weeks, rounding in your favor.

1. 1. Learning Log – 1 point earned for the first entry each week. Another point for the second entry each week. The third entry and beyond do not earn a point.
   2. Discussion preparation – 1 point per class day for clear effort on preparing for discussion.
   3. Reflection – 1 point per class day for clear effort on the reflection.
   4. In-class activities – Up to 3 points per class day (not awarded on LO Checkpoint days)
      1. 1 point – Attending class. We will take attendance at the beginning of class.
      2. 2 points – For engaging in class. Some days, we will also use Microsoft Forms, and those will also be used as part of earning these points.

There will also be other means to earn points, such as class surveys. Those will count towards your general total.

Points will be tallied and updated in Canvas roughly on a weekly basis. If you miss a discussion preparation or reflection, you may make up one of each per week. Email the instructor for details on how to make up this work.

Project: When to Use AI Infographic

Your final project for this course will be a personalized infographic on how you plan to use AI in your learning. The infographic will draw on what you learned in this course and the data you collected in your learning logs. It should help you determine when to use AI for your learning and when not to.

Late Tokens for Homework and the Infographic

If you want to submit late, you must use late-day tokens. There is no point/grade penalty for submitting late. The only “cost” of submitting late is using tokens. You start the semester with 9 late tokens. To use your late token, you need to fill out the late day form on the forms page within 24 hours of the due date (before or after), so we are aware to expect a submission and a rough idea of how many tokens you plan to use. To submit, submit your homework like normal during the late window.

Late tokens can also be used for the homework and the infographic project. Homework will typically be due on Fridays and have a 3-day late window. If you miss the late window, you will then submit this homework as a resubmission. I recommend submitting a partially complete homework rather than nothing, so that you can receive feedback on what you’ve done. The infographic is due near the end of the semester. See the calendar for details on its due date and late window.

The total number of late tokens you use will be based on the calendar day in Duke’s time zone when your active submission was submitted, not what was stated on the form. You do not need to submit the form more than once per assignment. For example, if the assignment was due on Friday, you told us you planned to use 3 late days on Friday, but your active submission was submitted on Sunday, you used only 2 late days for that assignment. Assuming this is the first time you used late days, you will have 5 late days left.

In the Canvas grade book, you will find a column telling you how many late tokens you have used. If you run out of tokens, you will need to contact the professor through the class email (see the course info page) to discuss getting more. The “denominator” of the column will be the number of default tokens anyone has. If you receive more, we cannot change that number individually for you. You will need to keep track of how many tokens you can spend yourself.

Overall Course Grade

The overall course grade is determined by meeting a set of requirements, all of which must be completed to earn a specific grade.

	A	B	C	D
Core LOs at E/S	8	7+	5+	3+
Non-Core LOs at E/S	4+	3+	2+	1+
Any LO at E	4+ across 3 themes	3+ across 3 themes	2+ across 2 themes	1+
Engagement points (Note: everyone has reached all A requirements by subcategories, so they are no longer tracked as of 10/30.)	87 pts total with the following minimums: Learn Log: 10 pts Disc Prep: 10 pts Reflection: 10 pts In-class: 30 pts	68 pts total with the following minimums: Learn Log: 6 pts Disc Prep: 7 pts Reflection: 7 pts In-class: 21 pts	49 pts total with the following minimums: Learn Log: 2 pts Disc Prep: 4 pts Reflection: 4 pts In-class: 12 pts	30 pts total with the following minimums: Learn Log: 0 pts Disc Prep: 1 pts Reflection: 1 pts In-class: 3 pts
Knowledge check quizzes	Mean (average) of >=80% across all quizzes	Mean (average) of >=70% across all quizzes	Mean (average) of >=60% across all quizzes	Mean (average) of >=50% across all quizzes
Homework	E/S on all	E/S on all but 1	E/S on all but 2	E/S on all but 3
Infographic	E/S	E/S	E/S	E/S/N

If you do not meet all of the criteria for any of these, you will earn an F.

Final exam overall course grade modification

The final exam will be your last chance to demonstrate competence in any LO. In addition, the final exam will serve as a recertification of your competence on the 8 core LOs. Your LO marks on the 8 core LOs will modify your overall course grade as follows:

• • 8 E/S: Add a plus, e.g. A → A+
  • 5+ E/S: No change to letter grade
  • 2+ E/S: Add a minus, e.g. A → A-
  • 0 or 1 E/S: Drop letter grade by one full letter and add a plus, e.g. A → B+