Harnessing generative artificial intelligence to create authentic learning activities
Harnessing generative artificial intelligence to create authentic learning activities
Publish Date: 2026-06-18 14:05:00
Source Domain: www.ualberta.ca
The AI with Purpose series showcases how faculty and staff are thoughtfully using AI to enhance student learning, improve efficiencies and model critically informed use – while clarifying the university’s values, building AI literacy and strengthening U of A leadership in this rapidly evolving space.
A small team of academics in the College of Health Sciences is making a big impact by exploring the effects of integrating generative AI into authentic learning activities in health professions education.
Dr. Ken Cor, assistant dean Assessment and Evaluation in the Faculty of Pharmacy & Pharmaceutical Sciences, and Dr. Tim Konoval, assistant teaching professor of Interdisciplinary Health in the CHS Office of Education, alongside PhD students Rojin Adabdokht and Ehsan Misaghi, have leveraged a $25,000 grant from the Teaching and Learning Enhancement Fund (TLEF) at the U of A to examine how connecting learning activities with practical application of GenAI impacts students’ self-efficacy and beliefs about its use. The study ran nine times across eight courses, from pharmacy to physiotherapy and kinesiology over the past year.
One instance of using GenAI in the classroom to support learning involved training Gems, custom-configured personalized AI assistants, using Google Gemini to act as interprofessional learning coaches. Students utilized their Gems to learn and ask questions about the roles of other health-care professionals. For example, nursing students can better understand what medical laboratory scientists do and how they might interact with them through a Gem. “Role clarity is really important,” says Tim, adding the information should be verified by real health professionals or faculty.
“The most important thing is to be transparent about how you’re using GenAI as an instructor, how you see students using it and then co-create those guidelines with students,” says Tim.
The team is using their findings to…
