By Gwen Nguyen, advisor, Learning and Teaching, BCcampus 

Dear fellow educators:

I am excited to share with you the completion of a new resource that I developed with the extensive support of the BCcampus team—the GenAI in Teaching and Learning Toolkit for Educators. If you’ve ever felt overwhelmed by the rapidly evolving world of GenAI, you’re not alone.

This toolkit emerged from months of exploration—trying different tools, engaging in extensive reading, participating in collaborative learning, and sharing insights through blog posts. It’s designed to support and inspire you in embracing resilient teaching, enhancing GenAI literacy, and keeping human values central to technology integration in your teaching.

What Makes This Toolkit Different?

Think of this toolkit, not as a mere list of tools but as an instructor’s companion—a thoughtful box of collected ideas that bridges practical teaching experiences with innovative pedagogical approaches. Whether you are a faculty member, an instructor, an instructional designer, or a curious educator taking your first steps into the world of generative AI, this toolkit is for you.

Let me be clear—you won’t find answers to all your questions in this toolkit. You also won’t become an AI expert after going through all the modules. The toolkit is a starting point, an invitation to explore, experiment, and grow together. In other words, the goal is to help you feel more confident, give you room to reflect and share your thoughts, and encourage you to take that first step, even if you’re feeling hesitant. Then you will be ready to make informed decisions about how GenAI fits (or does not fit) into your teaching practice.

Inside the Toolkit: A Journey of Experiential Learning

The toolkit is designed to support you at every stage of your AI exploration.

Part 1: GenAI Basics

This section is all about getting started. You’ll explore the fundamentals of generative AI—understanding what it is, what it can do, and why it matters to educators. Learn basic skills, like crafting effective prompts, and begin to see how AI might enhance your teaching practice.

Part 2: Ethical and Creative Use

Here we tackle the critical questions surrounding AI in education. You’ll explore important considerations like academic integrity, fairness, and creative integration of AI tools. Practical resources include tips for updating syllabi and innovative strategies to make learning more engaging through AI.

Part 3: Reflection, Response, and Creation

This final section moves beyond understanding to active implementation. You’ll find strategies for addressing challenges, creating custom tools tailored to your teaching needs, and supporting digital wellbeing for both you and your students.

My Invitation to You

At the end of the day, you don’t need to know everything about AI. You just need to approach these tools—critically, ethically, and creatively—in a way that enhances your teaching and supports student learning. So, I invite you to:

• Start small and take one or two steps at a time.
• Revisit the core values of your teaching journey.
• Play with one or two tools that pique your interest or are quite commonly used among your students or academic communities.
• Learn some practical frameworks for engaging with AI platforms in your teaching and learning.
• Access ready-to-use resources for the classroom if you plan to communicate or integrate GenAI in your course.
• Continuously reflect and respond to some concerns around GenAI in your area.
• Engage in conversation about how generative AI can enhance your educational practices.
• Connect with colleagues to share insights and experiences.

Together, we can embrace technological changes that amplify what we already do best—building relationships, upholding core teaching values, and supporting our students’ learning journeys.

To make this exploration fun and engaging, I’d like to share a “New Year, New Beginnings” BINGO challenge to encourage you to interact with the toolkit in a playful, collaborative way! (And, just as you suspect, this activity was created with ChatGPT 4 using a prompt to generate twelve engaging activities based on the toolkit’s chapters.)

Parts/ Modules	“New Year, New Beginnings” BINGO Challenges
GenAI basics	Read the introductory material on GenAI and reflect on how GenAI could impact your professional development or teaching strategies this year. (Module 1)	Select a GenAI tool and create a digital New Year’s resolution card that visualizes your goals for the year. (Module 2)	Use GenAI tool to create at least five prompts designed to inspire students or users to think about their long-term learning goals. (Module 3)	Name one prompt framework that you know. (Module 3)
Ethical and creative use	Have a virtual coffee chat discussing some key ethical implications of using GenAI in educational settings. (Module 4)	Plan a lesson using GenAI to address a real-world issue relevant in January, such as setting goals or improving some specific skills (time management or task prioritization). (Module 6)	Create a GenAI-supported assessment activity that helps students or peers assess their New Year’s resolutions progress, using the framework or strategies from the toolkit. (Module 7)	Develop a list of dos and don’ts focussing on new beginnings and continuous improvement. (Module 5)
Reflection, response, and creation to flourish with GenAI	Write a letter to your future self outlining some challenges with GenAI that you’ve encountered and how you plan to overcome/address this this year and next year (Module 8)	Use ChatGPT to develop a GenAI assistant (New Goals_Assistant) to help with you achieve your targeted personal or professional goals (such as improving digital wellness, or learning new GenAI skills) (Module 9)	Create a digital wellness plan for the year that incorporates some GenAI tools (Module 10)	Create an infographic or a slide with GenAI to showcase how you have used or might use GenAI tools to support your teaching resolution. (Module 10)

How to Use the BINGO Card

• Objective: Integrate learning about generative AI with festive activities, aimed at completing BINGO through practical application of the toolkit’s content.
• Instructions:
  1. Select an activity from any square on the BINGO card that connects to a specific part or module of the toolkit.
  2. Complete the activity, focusing on how it applies GenAI concepts and tools in your teaching or learning setting.
  3. Mark the square as completed once you finish the activity.
  4. Aim to complete a full row or column to make BINGO, or go for a full-house to fully immerse yourself in the toolkit.
  5. Encourage peers to participate and share their BINGO achievements.

Remember, all we want is for you to feel equipped to explore AI, and to understand that you have an important voice and mission in this transformative journey. To this end, we need to be responsible and fight for the future we want.

Happy exploring, learning, and playing!

With good thoughts,

Gwen