By Nate Madrone
Following the recommendations from last week’s AI Corner, I asked ChatGPT to find ways in which I could leverage genAI in my day-to-day work. Now, if you know me at all, you probably know that I already use genAI daily to do things like brainstorm ideas, refine wording and understand complex situations. So, I really felt like I was already leveraging it to the greatest extent possible in an effort to be more efficient and effective in my work. I was wrong.
ChatGPT asked me four questions to understand not only the work that I do, but more importantly, the friction points that I experience. Based on that information, one of the recommendations it made was to train a custom GPT (think “chatbot” or “virtual customer support”) to field outcomes-related questions that staff and faculty may have. To give an example, faculty often ask how to make a learning outcome clearer or more measurable. However, sometimes questions come up after hours or when Outcomes and Assessment staff are not available. A custom GPT never sleeps and will virtually always be available to give input. The purpose of this GPT is not to replace me or anyone else (whew!), but rather to give people a new, flexible option for how and when they get their questions addressed.
Important note: Custom GPTs are a feature currently available only to those with a paid ChatGPT subscription, but those with a free account can use others’ custom GPTs.
While ChatGPT as a whole can be seen as a general-purpose assistant, a custom GPT is an assistant that only does what it’s been trained to do. It follows all the instructions and information that you provide; you can even “feed” it files and other forms of documentation so that it builds up a knowledge base.
So, I fed it our guidance document on writing high-quality outcomes, as well as our Teaching and Learning Playbooks, which include course design strategies and frameworks.
And thus, the Course Design Companion was born. This amazing tool can serve as a thought partner for faculty as they design a course from scratch, redesign a course, make refinements to assessment, develop rubrics and more. It extends the reach of the Teaching and Learning Center by making course design guidance more accessible and timelier, without replacing human expertise or outsourcing decisions to a machine.
Alright, faculty, here’s where you come in. I’d love for you to give the Course Design Companion a try. Maybe you’re designing a new rubric to clarify expectations for students or checking whether an assessment really aligns with what you want students to learn. You might even use it simply as a thought partner when you’re not quite sure where to start.
At its best, AI doesn’t replace the human work of teaching and learning; it helps create more space for it. My hope is that the Course Design Companion feels like a helpful, low-stakes resource that supports your thinking rather than dictates it. And when you’re ready for a deeper conversation, the humans at the Teaching and Learning Center are still here.
Try out the Course Design Companion here
For questions, contact Nate Madrone at the RCC Teaching & Learning Center.