Building courses is time-consuming and stressful, but AI can make it easier. Learn why you should use AI-powered software to create online training.
Using artificial intelligence (AI) in education is nothing new. It dates all the way back to 1965 when Stanford University taught science and math to students with a computer program named PLATO. However, the recent leaps in generative AI have taken the possibilities to an entirely new level. With chatbots such as ChatGPT, instructors and course designers can create unique content in a matter of seconds rather than hours.
While it offers great benefits, ChatGPT also has significant limitations, and using AI-powered software to create online training courses is the best way to overcome them. This article explores all the factors, from speed to versatility, that make course creation software an asset.
What Is AI-Powered Software?
AI-powered course creation software is a tool that you can use to create educational content and place it in online lessons. It leverages and expands on the strengths of generative chatbots, which use advanced technology to produce human-like responses to user prompts.
Chatbots are available independently through their own platforms. However, within a course creation software platform, you can ask the chatbot to generate raw text, test questions, and other materials that are specifically tailored to your needs. You can also upload files that the software uses to train the AI so the output will align with your existing content, learning objectives, and teaching style.
How Does AI-Powered Software Simplify Course Creation?
Course creators face the challenging task of developing well-organized, engaging content that's accessible and interesting to a wide range of students. They compile information, update past documents, and conduct research, tasks that course creation software can virtually eliminate.
Pre-formatted Text
When you enter a prompt on ChatGPT, it provides a response in a generic text box. However, that output isn't in the special format that's so often necessary in education.
Imagine that you ask the chatbot to provide you with a multiple-choice question for an upcoming test. It gives you a great question, but you still have to copy and paste it into a document or your learning management system (LMS) and update the formatting to reflect the structure of the test. Repeating those steps over and over to produce a 50-question exam becomes more time-consuming than writing the test on your own.
AI-powered software, on the other hand, provides you with that same high-quality question in a ready-to-use format with no copying and pasting required. Fill-in-the-blank questions, for example, will already have the blank in place, so you don't have to add it manually.
End-to-End Solution
An AI-powered online training creator can generate a variety of content types. In addition to quizzes or exams, you can create videos, lecture notes, syllabi, and interactive elements, such as surveys or discussion boards.
A chatbot alone can produce some of that same content, but you'll be on your own when it comes to uploading and organizing it. With the right software, you'll get the content you need, and the system will automatically place it in modules that students can access directly from your course site.
Faster Course Development
Building a new course takes time and a lot of effort. It's common for instructors to spend several days, weeks, or even months finding resources and materials, developing a framework for the course, and writing all the necessary lessons and activities.
Course creation software achieves those same goals in 20 to 30 seconds. It produces new content and makes recommendations for useful resources so you don't have to waste time scouring the internet or repurposing old assignments.
Integration and Customization
Compatibility is a common concern when instructors use new course building software. If it doesn't integrate with their organization's LMS or tech stack, they won't have a way to get the material in front of their students.
Fortunately, some software solutions — including IllumiDesk — have a complete API that you can hook into, along with many flexible integration options. That means you're not restricted to using the IllumiDesk platform to host your content, and you won't have to worry about manually transferring content between systems.
In addition to integrating with your existing tech, custom-branded course creation software also allows you to personalize your course. Making changes to your fonts, color scheme, and logo helps students associate the class more closely with your organization.
Using AI to build a course is a new experience for a lot of educators, and the team at IllumiDesk wants to make the process as seamless as possible. To see how AI accelerates your course creation without sacrificing quality, get started with IllumiDesk for free.
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