Week 12: New and Emerging Technologies

Plan a lesson around AI tools for education - DALL-E

AI image generation tools such as DALL-E are used in this lesson to support students’ planning and ideation during the product design phase. Rather than replacing creativity, the AI tool functions as a visual stimulus that helps students explore possibilities for food preparation, ingredients, and target markets. This aligns with contemporary perspectives on educational technology that emphasise augmentation of learning rather than automation (O’Brien, 2017; Sanders & George, 2017).

Using AI-generated images supports assessment as learning, as students critically evaluate and annotate their design choices, justifying why certain elements are appropriate or inappropriate for their proposed product (Black & Wiliam, 2009). This process strengthens outcomes FT5-7, FT5-8 and FT5-11 by encouraging reflection, evidence-based decision making, and planning. The think-aloud and annotation strategies ensure cognitive processes are made visible.

The lesson also develops students’ digital literacy by requiring them to create effective prompts, evaluate AI outputs, and use the technology ethically and purposefully. As highlighted in the Horizon Report, emerging technologies such as AI are most powerful when embedded in authentic learning tasks that promote higher order thinking rather than passive consumption (Inside Higher Ed, 2020).

References:

Black, P., & Wiliam, D. (2009). Developing the theory of formative assessment. Educational Assessment, Evaluation and Accountability, 21(1), 5–31. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11092-008-9068-5

O’Brien, J. (2017). Back to the future of edtech. https://www.educause.edu/interactive/2017/4/back-to-the-future-of-edtech/

Sanders, M., & George, A. (2017). Viewing the changing world of educational technology from a different perspective: Present realities, past lessons, and future possibilities. Education and Information Technologies, 22(6), 2915-2933.

Insider Higher Ed. (2020). Ideas from the 2020 horizon report. https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/technology-and-learning/ideas-2020-horizon-report