The Blackboard AI Design Assistant provides a safe and secure way of exploring AI generated suggestions for Blackboard activities and images in Courses. The tool makes suggestions based on your course learning materials, however, it does not create materials (for example, lecture notes and presentations). It is designed to support—not replace—your expertise. As well as providing inspiration, it can help save time in sourcing images or setting up activities, as the outputs are structured into pre-existing Blackboard formats.

What can the AI Design Assistant generate? 

Academic staff have full control over AI Design Assistant outputs, you can easily reject or edit any the AI-generated suggestions and they are only added to the Course if you choose to deploy them. It’s important to recognise that due to the inherent limitations of AI, anything generated will need to be carefully reviewed by a subject matter expert before being approved for use in a Course. For a full list and ‘how to’ guidance, see TEL Support for Staff: Blackboard AI Design Assistant.

How does the AI Assistant work? 

The AI Design Assistant is powered by Microsoft Azure OpenAI technology and will create activities and content based on your inputs. There are standard controls that allow you to input your learning materials and tailor prompts, these are similar for each AI tool and use a simple, consistent panel (example below: generate AI Journal).

1. Description Field: Enter detailed prompts to focus content generation.
2. Context Picker: Use existing course content  and files to guide the AI.
3. Cognitive Level: Choose from apply, analyse, evaluate or create to configure outputs that align with Bloom’s Taxonomy levels. 
4. Complexity Level: Match the output language to the year or level of your course—higher levels give more advanced activity instructions or content (the levels are based on the American schooling system):

Additional controls not listed above (available for some other tools):

• Number of Results: Decide how many output options you’d like.  
• Language Options: Generate content in other supported languages.  See the full list.
• Images: Copyright-free images are suggested via Unsplash—you can change or remove them. Alternatively, you can generate from prompts.

Why use the Blackboard AI Design Assistant instead of other AI tools? 

The Blackboard AI Design Assistant offers several advantages: 

• Privacy and Security: Your data is never used to train the AI models. 
• Focused Results: The models are developed for Blackboard contexts. 
• Save Time: It not only generates content but also sets up the necessary Blackboard structures to deploy this. For example, it will build a Blackboard question bank for direct use in a Blackboard Test, or output a Blackboard rubric that can be attached directly to an activity.

What Makes This AI Tool Trustworthy? 

Anthology (the company that owns Blackboard) has developed its AI tools with a strong ethical foundation, called the Trustworthy AI Approach. Here are the principles that guide it: 

• Fairness: Minimising harmful bias in AI-generated content. 
• Reliability: Making sure outputs are accurate and useful. 
• Human Oversight: You remain in control of decision-making. 
• Transparency: Clear explanations of how the tools work. 
• Privacy & Security: Protection of user data at all times. 
• Value Alignment: Respecting the values of institutions like Reading. 
• Accountability: Roles and responsibilities for AI use are clearly defined. 

How does the AI Design Assistant use course and personal data? 

Only limited Course information is shared with Microsoft for the Azure OpenAI Service. Generally, prompts don’t include personal information unless it’s part of course titles or descriptions. All data used and generated by the AI tools is stored in Blackboard’s database. However, prompts and outputs are reviewed by Microsoft for content filtering and stored for up to 30 days. Anthology uses this information to maintain and support the AI tools, in accordance with applicable laws. 

Who owns the content created by the AI Design Assistant? 

Blackboard/Anthology, and Microsoft OpenAI do not claim copyright on the content generated by the AI Design Assistant. Content ownership is subject to the universities IMPs policies. 

What should I consider before using the blackboard AI design assistant? 

What are the key principles when using this tool? 

• You’re always in control. Nothing is published automatically—you choose what to keep, edit, or discard. You can easily edit text-based content like Learning Module names, rubrics, test questions, and discussion prompts. For images, while you can’t edit them directly in Blackboard, you can remove, replace, or download and edit them offline using tools like Adobe Photoshop. 
• Check for accuracy and tone. It’s important to review everything before sharing with students. The AI Design Assistant in Blackboard comes with the same risks as any generative AI tool. Be cautious about the accuracy of the content it generates, like rubrics, discussion prompts, and test questions. Also, generative AI can replicate human biases related to gender, race, age, and more, especially when creating images. For instance, asking for images of “scientists” might mostly show white men, which can reinforce stereotypes. 
• Use mindfully. Blackboard can quickly generate AI suggestions but consider if it is beneficial and meaningful for your students learning.  It can be easy to overpopulate your Course with content and activities.
• Be transparent where appropriate. Where the AI Design Assistant has been substantially used, include an attribution for students, or guidance about interacting with the AI feature. This helps build students’ digital literacy and supports them to experience authentic, appropriate use in context.  This is especially relevant for use of Blackboard AI generated Role play and Socratic questioning, which will likely present an unfamiliar format compared to interaction with more established digital learning activities such as Tests.

How can I cite the Blackboard AI Design Assistant?

When using the Blackboard AI Design Assistant, you can acknowledge its use in your course, similar to how you would expect students to acknowledge their use of generative AI tools in their assignments. This promotes transparency and aligns with the principle of responsible AI usage.

Suggested approach to acknowledge it:

• Add a statement:
  Include a statement in your course Module Information section.
• Be specific:
  Explain how you’ve used the AI Design Assistant (e.g., to generate questions based on the lecture materials, to suggest levels for a rubric, to add visual interest with relevant images).
• Keep it concise:
  The acknowledgment can be a short, clear statement about the AI’s role in your course design.
• Focus on your role:
  Emphasise that you are still in control and responsible for the final content and assessments.
• Example (includes link to student facing guidance):
  “This Course utilises the Blackboard AI Design Assistant (a generative AI tool) to help generate ideas for activities and images. The AI’s suggestions are carefully reviewed and refined by the Course instructor.”

Will my students know if I used the AI Design Assistant? 

Once you accept content from the AI Design Assistant, it’s not marked to show it was generated using the Blackboard AI Design Assistant. The only hint might be a rubric named “Generated Rubric,” but you can rename it. 

Is it fair to use the AI Design Assistant to develop my Course if I don’t allow students to use AI? 

This is a personal decision based on your values and course goals. Using the Blackboard AI Design Assistant to develop course activities and images is different from students using AI for their work. As a subject expert, you can judge the appropriateness and accuracy of AI-generated outputs for your context, and being transparent with your students about your use of AI can aid their understanding.

What information is available regarding the environmental impact of the AI Design Assistant? 

The language is a multi model process based on GPT 3, 4, 4.1, 4.5, typically, the approximate energy use for each output is the equivalent of 0.3% of charging a smartphone or calories burned for 1 min walking. Anthology (Blackboard’s parent company) are committed to ethical AI use, an example of this is the image generator, which now provides one or two options instead of many, so this limits the amount of energy used. 

Has the AI Design Assistant been tested at the university? 

Yes—it’s already been piloted by a number of colleagues, including CQSD TEL, academics, and digital champions here at Reading. Their insights help shape guidance about how the tool is used and configured. 

Where can I learn more about using AI responsibly for teaching and learning? 

You can refer to University policies and guidance around the responsible use of AI in teaching and learning.