AI in Education Custom Bots/GPTs July Showcase

Monday, July 14th, 1:00-2:15pm ET

Registration: https://us02web.zoom.us/meeting/register/z4f8GiVoTmWwBD39r4_BYQ

John Swope is an education technologist who has been building large-scale, open online courses on the Open edX® and edX.org platforms since 2012. He chairs the Open edX® educators working group and developed the Open edX® Demo Course, the flagship course that is included with every Open edX install. He has worked with some of the world’s premier educational institutions developing their open online education offerings. John focuses on developing pragmatic AI solutions that are effective and measurable, without the rhetoric. John leads the AI in Education committee at a major medical university, and he shares a weekly AI “MicroApp” focused on some area of course development or assessment.

Tina R. Austin helps educators and students make sense of AI in the classroom and beyond. Since 2022, she has taught courses on AI across fields like bioethics, regenerative medicine, social sciences, and gender studies. She also collaborates as an AI consultant and strategist with colleges and universities worldwide.  She has led workshops for faculty at universities across the country. She was recently named one of ASU+GSV’s 2025 Leading Women in AI. Tina’s goal is simple: help people use AI confidently and creatively.

This follows up on the recent June showcase:

Jason Gulyais a Professor of English and Applied Media at Berkeley College who teaches onsite and online courses related to writing, the Humanities, and Generative AI. He also works widely as an AI Consultant and Strategist and has been featured in Forbes, Business Insider, and several other major publications. He recently published his second book, titled Artificial Intelligence, Real Literacy. Jason will introduce how custom chatbots can be worked into the classroom. He’ll focus on 2 specific use cases: (1) role-playing chatbots and (2) student-designed chatbots. 
For the first use case, Jason will cover how he uses custom chatbots for role-playing scenarios. For example, in the course “The Art of Film,” Jason asks his students to choose a movie they care about and to create a 3-5 minute mini-lesson on it. For the final, he asks his students to deliver that lesson to a chatbot designed to act like a 10-year-old Jason. Students boil down the lesson for the chatbot, engage it in conversation, and then submit the entire transcript.

The second use case is from a different angle. Instead of asking students to engage with a pre-created chatbot, this one asks students to create their own chatbots. The goal is to boost not only student’ content knowledge, but also their AI Literacy.

James Bedfordis an award-winning writer and educator with over 10 years experience working in higher education. He holds a PhD in Creative Writing from UNSW and is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy. Currently, he serves as an Education Specialist in Artificial Intelligence at UNSW College. 

James will explore the concept of ‘AI-Guided Learning Modules’ and how they can be implemented both in and outside the classroom.