Moving Beyond the Comfort Space

Exploring the Potential of GenAI to Support Higher Education Instructor Successfully Implement Universal Design for Learning

Abstract

This paper showcases work in progress currently being carried out to explore ways generative artificial intelligence (gen AI) can support post-secondary instructors.  The study is taking place on a campus located on the west coast of Canada.  The methodological approach selected is participatory action research; an instructor is collaborating with two graduate students to review the learning activities and assessment tasks present in two Masters of Education courses taught by the principal investigator.  The team is using prompt engineering to explore ways to implement Universal Design for Learning (UDL) more widely within these components.  The gen AI are being reviewed collectively for their fitness to purpose.  A set of graduate students participants having taken these courses in the past, will later be selected to offer feedback as to whether the versions of the courses redeveloped with genAI more effectively meet the needs of diverse learners.  It is hoped that the study will highlight the degree to which instructors can rely on genAI to explore UDL in more depth and select strategies that otherwise remain outside of their habitual zone of comfort in relation to inclusion.