Using AI to create Interactive Resources - another post and example...

[GideonWilliams]

Pages must be one of the least used features in Canvas and I can remember a discussion from a long time ago about whether pages might be dropped from the platform!

Over the last few years, Pages have had a new lease of life, with the ability to embed external documents from Google and (eventually) from Microsoft to quick and easy design wins with the excellent CidiLabs. There are significant challenges for any organisation wanting its users to create pages apart from the time factor. Creating pages shifts the pedagogical standpoint. Your VLE moves from being a passive platform of resources to one where its users are asked to engage and interact with the content.

As is well documented on other posts, I am trying to use AI in ways that further develops the impact of pages by creating interactive resources that can be used by individuals or groups. The resources that I have helped create supervise have been working with Chat GPT.

Our school has recently purchased Mindjoy which allows teachers to create tutor chat bots to support learning in class. The resources are far more focused and appropriate to use by K12 than the largely unfettered world of Chat GPT.

I recently used MindJoy to create an interactive web-based worksheet challenge for some A Level work on the 1^st Law of Thermodynamics.

Students work in groups of 3. They take it in turns to add a label to the table. When one student adds a label, the other two can check it. If it is wrong, it can be replaced.

The aim of the task is to identify which labels correctly match the to the different elements of the 1^st Law and also to make sure that the 1^st law is upheld (the POSITIVE, NEGATIVE and NO CHANGEs) are correct.

I wrote what I wanted into MindJoy asking for the html, CSS and JavaScript to be housed in one page. I then copied the code into Notepad, converted that to an html document and tested it. After a few attempts (better than my usual) I got it looking pretty much as I wanted. The good thing is I can always go back and tweak a few things (or correct the odd mistake!) and the updating does not take long.

As Canvas users, you will know the platform restricts direct pasting of elements like CSS styles and JavaScript into the page HTML code. However, there is a workaround by uploading the webpage to Canvas then using an iframe generator (iFrame Generator - Free Online iFrame Code Maker Tool) to link to that file.

I have a digital activity that I can use again and again. The activity is being used by a group. It prompts some good conversations. There is a little bit of gamification and competition involved where students can choose to make the scenario more challenging. The group can call me over to settle any difference. It also makes what is quite a theoretical subject a little more engaging for everyone concerned.

In the past, if wanted to do a similar activity, I would have made lots of paper labels, cut them up, and put them in envelopes. By having a digital version, I can adjust the activity by altering some of the coding.

We have a digital platform, I don’t want it to just be a repository of files. This is what I like about using AI in my teaching.

In a recent project based learning lesson, I set students the challenge of creating their own interactive webpage using MindJoy. They had 25 minutes to do this with the aid of a help video. The results were amazing but that's for another post.

Video of my Activity: