In this course, AI was not treated as a threat — but as a thinking companion. Students were guided to interact with generative AI in thoughtful, responsible ways that strengthened their understanding of structural analysis concepts.
The goal wasn’t for students to memorise prompting techniques. Instead, they were scaffolded through a series of questions and writing tasks that naturally encouraged them to explore, question, and refine AI responses — just as they would do with a human tutor.
Designing the Assessment Differently
From the start, students were encouraged to use AI tools — but not to find the answers. Instead, they were asked to:
- Ask AI questions about structural concepts, then check whether the explanations made sense
- Identify what AI got wrong or missed
- Revise their questions and try again with better input
- Write short reflections about what they learned — and what surprised them
This wasn’t a one-time task. The questioning and reflecting process was repeated weekly, so students began to think more clearly — not just about structures, but about how they learn and how AI fits into that process.
Sample Guided Prompts Given to Students
Students were not left alone. They were provided with guided question templates such as:
- “What is the concept behind this diagram? Does AI explain it clearly?”
- “Try asking it differently — what changed in the answer?”
- “What would you tell your friend who misunderstood this part?”
- “Can you spot the flaw in this AI explanation?”
Through these structured prompts, students developed critical