Creating Assignments That Reveal Student Thinking About Readings Using Custom AI Agents

Presenters: Mark Jacobs & Jay Schnoor
AI is rapidly changing how students engage with course materials, often reducing the effectiveness of traditional assessments such as reading quizzes or written reflection assignments. Rather than attempting to detect misuse, this session focuses on redesigning assignments to leverage the strengths of AI—particularly dialogic interaction—to promote deeper engagement and critical thinking. This workshop introduces a practical approach to creating AI-powered, dialogic assignments that reveal student thinking about readings. Drawing on classroom implementations, participants will see how structured interactions with custom AI agents can encourage students to articulate, defend, and refine their understanding of course material. The session is designed for beginners and requires no prior experience with AI tools. Participants will be guided step-by-step through the process of creating their own assignments using custom AI agents, with examples that can be adapted across disciplines and institutional contexts. The session will include three phases: (1) experiencing a dialogic AI assignment from the student perspective, (2) building a custom AI agent for a specific course use case, and (3) discussing strategies for integrating these assignments into existing courses and learning management systems. Participants will leave with practical resources and a working foundation they can immediately apply in their own teaching.