Objective
In this module, you will learn how to use AI tools, such as ChatGPT, to quickly create low-stakes assessments that measure students’ ability to remember and understand key concepts from your course.
Why Low-Stakes Assessments Matter
Low-stakes assessments are great for keeping students engaged and providing quick feedback on how well they are grasping key ideas. They are typically easy to grade, don’t contribute significantly to the final grade, and are useful for ensuring students are following along before moving on to more challenging material. These types of assessments work best for measuring lower-level cognitive skills like remembering and understanding, which are foundational for more complex tasks.
Designing Assessments to Target Basic Knowledge: Remembering and Understanding
You can generate assessment questions quickly and efficiently by integrating AI tools into the process of creating low-stakes assessments. This saves time for the instructor and provides a variety of question styles that can help keep students engaged and think critically about the material. Follow the steps below for quick implementation.
1 Review Course Description
Start by reviewing your course objectives and looking for those that focus on the Remembering and Understanding categories in Bloom’s Taxonomy. These objectives typically involve recalling facts, defining terms, or explaining concepts. Common action verbs used in these objectives include list, define, identify, and recall for Remembering, and describe, explain, summarize, and interpret for Understanding. These verbs signal that the objective is aimed at helping students master foundational knowledge and comprehension.
2 Select the Assessment Type
Select an assessment type that effectively measures whether students have met the learning objective, particularly focusing on basic knowledge checks under the Remembering category of Revised Bloom’s Taxonomy. Consider using low-stakes assessments such as multiple-choice questions, true/false questions, or simple recall tasks, like flash cards.
3 Use GenAI to Write Instructions for the Selected Assignment Type.
The prompt below will help you quickly generate customized quiz questions. By assigning the GenAI the role of an “educational expert,” the AI is guided to create thoughtful, relevant questions. It uses chain-of-thought reasoning to explain the correct answers, and the provided example clarifies your expectations. It is recommended to use the attachment feature, to generate quiz questions directly tied to your assigned readings, to emphasize the class study materials, and to reduce the system’s hallucinations.
The prompt below is based on the C.R.E.A.T.E. Prompting Framework by Dave Birss.
Replace content within curly brackets { } and don’t forget to attach your study material to the prompt.
Character: You are an experienced educational expert specializing in creating assessments that test foundational knowledge.
Request: Based on the reading material provided, generate {number} multiple-choice quiz questions targeting the Remembering level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. These questions should help students recall facts, define key terms, or explain basic concepts from the material related to {specific topic or term}. For each question, provide four answer choices—one correct answer and three distractors.
If the study material is not attached to this request, please remind the instructor to include it before proceeding in a succinct manner (3 sentences max). Explain that attaching the relevant material ensures that the questions generated are accurate and grounded in the appropriate content, reducing the risk of system hallucinations. The provided material will serve as the knowledge base for generating the quiz questions.
In addition to the questions, provide an explanation for each one. For the correct answer, explain why it’s right, and for each distractor, clarify why it might seem plausible but is ultimately incorrect. This will help me review the questions before finalizing them for my students.
Example:
Question: Which of the following is the primary function of photosynthesis?
a) Releasing nitrogen into the atmosphere
b) Converting solar energy into chemical energy (Correct Answer)
c) Absorbing carbon dioxide for plant respiration
d) Breaking down sugars for immediate energy
Correct Answer: Photosynthesis primarily converts solar energy into chemical energy, stored in the bonds of glucose, which plants use for growth.
Distractor Analysis:
a) Releasing nitrogen into the atmosphere is not related to photosynthesis but is a key process in the nitrogen cycle.
c) Absorbing carbon dioxide occurs during photosynthesis, but this answer confuses it with plant respiration, which uses oxygen.
d) Breaking down sugars happens in cellular respiration, not photosynthesis.
Adjustments: Adjust the complexity of the questions by varying the difficulty of the distractors or focusing on more detailed recall for advanced students. The number of questions ({number}) can also be tailored to the scope of the content.
Type of Output: Create a quiz with {number} multiple-choice questions that focus on factual recall and basic understanding. Each question should include explanations for the correct answer and each distractor to help refine the questions.
Extra: Ensure that the questions challenge students’ memory and understanding without overwhelming them, fostering their confidence while engaging with the content. Remind students to rely on their own knowledge of the material, avoiding external tools like AI, to ensure independent learning and mastery of foundational concepts.
✅ Alignment with Learning Objectives
The quiz questions assess students’ ability to recall and recognize key facts, definitions, terms, or concepts, ensuring alignment with the course’s learning objectives at the Remembering level.
✅ Clarity of Questions
The quiz questions are clear, concise, and focus on direct recall. The language used is simple, without complex phrasing, to ensure that students are not confused by wording and can focus solely on recognizing the correct information.
✅ Accuracy of Content
All quiz questions and answer choices are factually accurate. Any terminology, dates, facts, or key concepts being tested are presented correctly and align with the course material.
✅ Focus on Key Concepts
Each quiz question directly targets the core concepts or facts that students are expected to remember from the course material, avoiding unnecessary or overly detailed questions that may go beyond the Remembering level.
✅ Distractors Quality
For multiple-choice questions, the distractors (incorrect options) are plausible and related to the content, but distinguishable from the correct answer. This ensures that students must actively recognize the correct answer and not just guess.
✅ Balance Across Content Areas
The quiz covers a balanced range of key topics, facts, or terms from the learning material, ensuring a comprehensive recall assessment without over-emphasizing one particular area.
✅ Number of Questions
The quiz includes a sufficient number of questions to reliably assess students’ recall ability across the content. Ensure there are enough questions to cover the key facts without overwhelming students.
It is recommended to use the quizzes as weekly knowledge checks or low-stakes assignments, each contributing less than 10% to the final grade. This keeps the pressure low for students while helping you track their understanding.
3 Prompt to Generate Assessments that Facilitate Understanding
Low-stakes, formative assessments help gauge students’ recall and understanding as they progress through foundational concepts. For example, assessments that measure student understanding include summarizing and mind maps; they encourage students to organize and explain material, fostering deeper comprehension at the understanding level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. GenAI tools can generate customized tasks quickly aligned with your course readings. Use the prompt below in ChatGPT or a similar tool to create these assessments.
The prompt below is based on the C.R.E.A.T.E. Prompting Framework by Dave Birss.
Character: You are an experienced college instructor focused on assessing student comprehension of foundational course concepts.
Request: Develop an assignment prompt that encourages students to summarize what they have learned about {specific topic here}, targeting the Understanding category of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The prompt should be specific and include a personal engagement element to ensure deeper comprehension and deter reliance solely on GenAI tools.
Examples:
For Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning, ask students to summarize the experiment and describe how the neutral stimulus becomes a conditioned stimulus. They should also provide a personal observation of a classical conditioning example in everyday life.
For the Carbon Cycle, prompt students to summarize the key stages focusing on how carbon moves from the atmosphere to living organisms. Include a reflective element where students relate one stage of the cycle to an observed real-world example.
Adjustments: Ask students to include a brief reflection on how they understood the concept or process, emphasizing their learning journey. This reflective step should require them to elaborate on their personal engagement with the content.
Type of Output: Create a concise paragraph suitable for a formative assessment assignment or course syllabus. Include a reflective element that encourages students to engage personally with the material.
Extra: Include a reminder that the output must focus on comprehension without simply copying or relying on AI-generated content. The goal is to foster independent thought and the ability to articulate concepts clearly.
The prompt below is based on the C.R.E.A.T.E. Prompting Framework by Dave Birss.
In the same chat, paste the prompt below. Replace the content in curly brackets { } before running it. Adjust the prompt if needed.
Character: Now that you’ve created a summarizing assignment, you are ready to develop a grading rubric to evaluate student performance.
Request: Based on the summarizing assignment on {specific topic here}, create a grading rubric that evaluates student performance across key categories. The rubric should include {number of levels} levels of achievement and the total score should add up to {total points possible}. Each level of achievement should describe expectations for students, ensuring that the rubric provides clear guidance for consistent and fair grading.
Present the rubric in table format. Categories should be arranged hierarchically to reflect the importance of different aspects of the assignment.
Hierarchical Categories:
- Comprehension (most important)
- How well does the student demonstrate understanding of the main concepts?
- Consider how thoroughly and accurately they summarize the key ideas from the content.
- Clarity
- Is the summary well-organized, with ideas expressed clearly and logically?
- Assess how easily the reader can follow the student’s explanation.
- Conciseness
- Does the student avoid unnecessary details and present the summary in a concise manner?
- Evaluate whether the summary captures the essential points efficiently.
- Reflection
- Has the student included personal insights or connections between the summarized content and real-world examples to demonstrate deeper understanding?
- This category helps distinguish advanced comprehension and engagement with the material.
Rubric Example:
| Category | Level 1 – {lowest level description} | Level 2 – {middle level description} | Level 3 – {highest level description} | Total Points Possible – {total points possible} |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Comprehension | Lacks understanding of key concepts. | Demonstrates basic understanding. | Thorough understanding of all concepts. | {total points weighted for comprehension} |
| Clarity | Disorganized and unclear. | Somewhat clear, but needs improvement. | Clear and logical structure. | {total points weighted for clarity} |
| Conciseness | Includes too much irrelevant detail. | Some details are unnecessary. | Information is summarized concisely. | {total points weighted for conciseness} |
| Reflection | No personal insight or connection made. | Provides minimal personal reflection. | Insightful reflection, connecting content to real-world examples. | {total points weighted for reflection} |
Adjustments: You can modify the number of levels and the distribution of points among the categories based on the total score ({total points possible}) for the assignment. Ensure that more critical categories, like comprehension, have greater weight compared to others.
✅ Alignment with Learning Objectives
The assignment requires students to summarize key concepts, demonstrating their ability to comprehend and explain ideas in their own words, aligned with the Understanding level of Bloom’s Taxonomy.
✅ Clarity of Instructions
The assignment provides clear, concise instructions, guiding students to focus on the main ideas and key details of the content they are summarizing. It emphasizes avoiding unnecessary details or direct quotations.
✅ Accuracy of Content
The summary accurately reflects the original material’s core ideas and concepts. Students should convey the essential points, ensuring their summaries align with the intended meaning of the material.
✅ Use of Student’s Own Words
Students are expected to paraphrase the material rather than copy it, showing they have understood the content well enough to restate it clearly. Direct copying or excessive quoting should be discouraged.
✅ Identification of Key Points
The assignment emphasizes the need for students to identify and prioritize the most important ideas or themes from the material, ensuring that summaries focus on critical information rather than peripheral details.
✅ Rubric Alignment
A rubric or clear criteria should be provided, ensuring that students understand what a successful summary looks like—accurate restatement of key ideas, use of own words, conciseness, and logical flow.
Usually worth around 10-15% of the final grade, these low-stakes assessments encourage deeper student engagement with the material.
The prompt below is based on the C.R.E.A.T.E. Prompting Framework by Dave Birss.
Character: You are an experienced educational expert specializing in creating assessments that help students visually organize their understanding of key concepts.
Request: Develop an assignment prompt that encourages students to create a mind map to organize and display their understanding of {specific topic here}. The mind map should focus on key concepts and the relationships between them, helping students visualize how different ideas are connected. The assignment should target the Understanding category of Bloom’s Taxonomy, asking students to demonstrate their comprehension by organizing key information.
Examples:
- For Pavlov’s Classical Conditioning, ask students to create a mind map that includes the main concepts (e.g., neutral stimulus, conditioned stimulus, conditioned response) and shows how these terms are related. Encourage them to add brief definitions or explanations for each term.
- For the Carbon Cycle, prompt students to create a mind map tracing the flow of carbon through various systems (e.g., atmosphere, biosphere, oceans). The map should show connections between processes like photosynthesis, respiration, and decomposition, and explain how carbon moves between these stages.
Adjustments: Students can include a brief written or recorded explanation alongside their mind map, describing their understanding of the relationships they’ve mapped out. This reflective element encourages them to explain how the organization of the mind map deepens their comprehension of the topic.
Tools:
- Simple Tools: Students can use basic programs like Microsoft Word, Google Docs, or PowerPoint to create their mind maps using shapes and lines. These programs offer simple drawing tools that allow students to connect and organize their ideas.
- Intermediate Tools: Mind mapping software such as Coggle or Lucidchart allows for more flexibility in creating complex diagrams with drag-and-drop features, making it easy to organize thoughts. Provide hyperlinks to the tools.
- Advanced Tools: For more collaborative or dynamic mind maps, students can use platforms like Miro or MindMeister, which offer advanced features for mapping ideas, linking concepts, and even collaborating with peers. Provide hyperlinks to the tools.
Type of Output: The final mind map should visually represent the key concepts and their connections in a clear and organized way. The map can be hand-drawn, created using digital tools or developed with mind mapping software of the student’s choice.
Extra: Encourage students to take ownership of the mind map and avoid using AI-generated templates or automated tools that think of them. The goal is for students to actively engage in organizing their thoughts and demonstrate their understanding of the topic. Creativity is encouraged, but clarity and comprehension are key.
The prompt below is based on the C.R.E.A.T.E. Prompting Framework by Dave Birss.
In the same chat, paste the prompt below. Adjust the content in curly brackets { } before running it. Usually worth around 10-15% of the final grade, these low-stakes assessments encourage deeper student understanding and engagement with the material.
Character: Now that you’ve created a mind map assignment, you are ready to develop a grading rubric to evaluate student performance.
Request: Based on the mind map assignment on {specific topic here}, create a grading rubric to assess student understanding. The rubric should include {number of levels} levels of achievement and the total score should add up to {total points possible}. Each level should describe expectations for the students in terms of how well they have demonstrated understanding of the key concepts and their relationships through their mind map.
The rubric should be structured hierarchically, with the most important categories (like comprehension and organization) given more weight.
Hierarchical Categories:
- Comprehension (most important)
- How well does the student demonstrate understanding of the key concepts?
- Consider how thoroughly and accurately they have mapped out the main ideas from the topic.
- Organization
- Is the mind map organized logically, showing clear connections between related concepts?
- Evaluate whether the structure of the mind map helps clarify the relationships between ideas.
- Clarity
- Is the mind map easy to follow, with concepts and connections clearly labeled?
- Assess how effectively the student has communicated their understanding through the visual format.
- Creativity
- Has the student creatively used the mind map format to enhance understanding?
- Consider how they’ve used visual elements (e.g., colors, shapes) to distinguish between concepts or emphasize important ideas.
Rubric Example:
| Category | Level 1 – Below Expectations | Level 2 – Meets Expectations | Level 3 – Exceeds Expectations | Total Points Possible |
|---|
| Comprehension | Shows little understanding of the key concepts. | Demonstrates a basic understanding of most key concepts. | Demonstrates thorough and accurate understanding of all key concepts. | 10 (adjust based on total) |
| Organization | The mind map is poorly organized with unclear connections. | Some logical structure, but connections could be clearer. | Well-organized, with clear, logical connections between all concepts. | 5 (adjust based on total) |
| Clarity | The mind map is difficult to follow, and concepts are unclear. | Some concepts are labeled clearly, but others need improvement. | All concepts and connections are clearly labeled and easy to understand. | 5 (adjust based on total) |
| Creativity | Minimal use of visual elements, making the map difficult to interpret. | Some creative elements were used, but not fully effective. | Creative and effective use of visual elements to enhance understanding. | 5 (adjust based on total) |
Adjustments: You can modify the number of levels and the weighting of each category based on the total points available for the assignment ({total points possible}). Ensure that the most critical categories (like comprehension) are given more weight than others.
✅ Alignment with Learning Objectives
The assignment prompt requires students to demonstrate their understanding by organizing and connecting key concepts in a visual mind map, targeting the Understanding level of Bloom’s Taxonomy. The output should encourage students to show how concepts are related.
✅ Clarity of Instructions
The instructions provide clear guidance on how students should create the mind map, specifying the key concepts to include and how to display the relationships between them. Instructions must be detailed enough for students to understand the scope and expectations of the task while allowing flexibility for creativity.
✅ Focus on Key Concepts and Relationships
The output emphasizes that the mind map should focus on key concepts of the topic and visually demonstrate their connections. Students should be encouraged to organize the information logically, showing the relationships between the terms and ideas.
✅ Encouragement of Active Engagement
The assignment encourages students to actively engage with the material by constructing their own mind map, rather than relying on AI-generated templates. The goal is for students to take ownership of their learning and demonstrate comprehension through their organization of ideas.
✅ Options for Reflection
The output offers the option for students to include a brief written or recorded explanation alongside the mind map, describing the connections and relationships they have mapped out. This reflective element reinforces understanding and helps students articulate how the mind map deepens their comprehension.
✅ Variety of Tool Options
The prompt provides students with flexible tool options (e.g., Microsoft Word, Coggle, Lucidchart) for creating their mind maps, catering to different levels of comfort with technology. It encourages the use of simple to advanced tools, allowing students to choose what works best for them while guiding accessing and using the tools.
Usually worth around 10-15% of the final grade, these low-stakes assessments encourage deeper student engagement with the material.
Key Takeaways
In Module 1, you learned how to use AI tools like ChatGPT to create low-stakes assessments targeting remembering and understanding. By generating quizzes, short-answer questions, and discussion prompts, you can efficiently check students’ grasp of key concepts. It is important to review and refine AI-generated content to align it with your course objectives and maintain a student-centered course design, promoting deeper learning and keeping students engaged while using AI responsibly.
References
OpenAI. (2024). ChatGPT [AI language model]. Retrieved from https://chat.openai.com.
Educational Technology Department. (n.d.). “Selecting assignment types to measure student learning.” Hostos Community College. https://commons.hostos.cuny.edu/edtech/faculty/teaching-with-technology/teaching-learning-frameworks/selecting-assignment-types-to-measure-student-learning/
