Scholarlink

This design study, conducted with 41 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory college psychology class, describes a practical method for professors and learners to use action science and Gordon Pask’s cybernetics to co-design curricula fit for the Information Age by jointly bringing past experiences, acting, and reflecting as they use AI and other cutting-edge technologies in class, and in their everyday lives. Two cycles of experience, action, and reflection are described. AI-assisted activities were explored and redesigned iteratively through these cycles. Pask’s cybernetics was used to visualize blueprints of human-computer interaction. Narrative inquiries and network statistics form representable data that draw out insights on implementing new technology-assisted educational activities in real-time and refining them by overcoming social and/or structural bottlenecks. In Classroom 1, students initially encouraged adding an AI component to storyboarding assignments and shared it helped overcome apprehensions with drawing/artmaking. However, AI sometimes failed to create consistent narratives and add legible texts/captions to images (structural bottlenecks). Classroom 2’s curriculum incorporates feedback from Classroom 1, providing specific instructions to prompt characters consistently in storyboards, and manually add captions. Modifications led to greater efficiency in storyboarding for 19 students next Spring. These learners investigated how to increase interactivity of class discussions in which students often refrained from responding to each other (social bottleneck) using AI chatbots. Network analysis revealed transitivity and eigen centrality were higher in AI group chats. Qualitative reflections highlighted student co-agency in facilitating AI-mediated conversations. Students’ insights fueled future adaptations in the discussion activity, including explicit instructions to review class slides and develop consensus, and a post-chat debrief to allow students to discuss perspectives with other groups. Results of this study offer a practical way for university professors to include students as co-designers in creating curricula fit for the Information Age.

错误：搜索内容不能为空，请输入英文关键词
错误：关键词超出字数限制，请精简
高级检索

Using Action Science to Incorporate AI as a Conversational Agent in the College Psychology Classroom

  • 会议论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年

查看全文
  • Shantanu Tilak,
  • Nathan Prince

摘要

This design study, conducted with 41 undergraduate students enrolled in an introductory college psychology class, describes a practical method for professors and learners to use action science and Gordon Pask’s cybernetics to co-design curricula fit for the Information Age by jointly bringing past experiences, acting, and reflecting as they use AI and other cutting-edge technologies in class, and in their everyday lives. Two cycles of experience, action, and reflection are described. AI-assisted activities were explored and redesigned iteratively through these cycles. Pask’s cybernetics was used to visualize blueprints of human-computer interaction. Narrative inquiries and network statistics form representable data that draw out insights on implementing new technology-assisted educational activities in real-time and refining them by overcoming social and/or structural bottlenecks. In Classroom 1, students initially encouraged adding an AI component to storyboarding assignments and shared it helped overcome apprehensions with drawing/artmaking. However, AI sometimes failed to create consistent narratives and add legible texts/captions to images (structural bottlenecks). Classroom 2’s curriculum incorporates feedback from Classroom 1, providing specific instructions to prompt characters consistently in storyboards, and manually add captions. Modifications led to greater efficiency in storyboarding for 19 students next Spring. These learners investigated how to increase interactivity of class discussions in which students often refrained from responding to each other (social bottleneck) using AI chatbots. Network analysis revealed transitivity and eigen centrality were higher in AI group chats. Qualitative reflections highlighted student co-agency in facilitating AI-mediated conversations. Students’ insights fueled future adaptations in the discussion activity, including explicit instructions to review class slides and develop consensus, and a post-chat debrief to allow students to discuss perspectives with other groups. Results of this study offer a practical way for university professors to include students as co-designers in creating curricula fit for the Information Age.