On Friday 8th December, 2023, three new NILE tools will become available to staff; the AI Design Assistant, AI Image Generator, and the Unsplash Image Library.

AI Design Assistant

AI Design Assistant is a new feature of Ultra courses, and may be used by academic staff to generate ideas regarding:

  • Course structure
  • Images
  • Tests/quizzes
  • Discussion and journal prompts
  • Rubrics

The AI Design Assistant only generates suggestions when it is asked to by members of academic staff, and cannot automatically add or change anything in NILE courses. Academic staff are always in control of the AI Design Assistant, and can quickly and easily reject any AI generated ideas before they are added to a NILE course. Anything generated by the AI Design Assistant can only be added to a NILE course once it has been approved by academic staff teaching on the module, and all AI generated suggestions can be edited by staff before being made available to students.

• Auto-generating ideas for the course structure
• Auto-generating ideas for a discussion prompt
• Auto-generating ideas for test questions

AI Image Generator & Unsplash Image Library

Wherever you can currently add an image in an Ultra course, following the upgrade on the 8th of December, as well as being able to upload images from your computer, you will also be able to search for and add images from the Unsplash image library. And, in many places in Ultra courses, you will be able to add AI-generated images too.

• Selecting the image source (upload from device, Unsplash, or AI-generated)
• Searching for an image using Unsplash
• Generating an image using AI Design Assistant

First Thoughts on AI Design Assistant

Find out more about what UON staff think about AI Design Assistant in our blog post from Dr Cleo Cameron (Senior Lecturer in Criminal Justice): First Thoughts on AI Design Assistant

Other items included in the December upgrade

The December upgrade will see the ‘Add image’ button in a number of new places in Ultra courses for staff, including announcements (upload from device or Unsplash), and Ultra tests and assignments (upload from device, Unsplash, and AI-generated images). However, please note that images embedded in announcements will not be included in the emailed copy of the announcement; they will only be visible to students when viewing the announcement in the Ultra course.

Ultra rubrics will be enhanced in the December upgrade. Currently these are limited to a maximum of 15 rows and columns, but following the upgrade there will be no limit on the number of rows and columns when using an Ultra rubric.

More information

To find out more about these new tools, full guidance is already available at: Learning Technology – AI Design Assistant

You can also find out more by coming along to the LearnTech Jingle Mingle on Tuesday 12th December, 2023, between 12:30 and 13:45 in T-Pod C (2nd Floor, Learning Hub).

As ever, please get in touch with your learning technologist if you would like any more information about these new NILE features: Who is my learning technologist?