Week 13: Discernment Guides for Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI

In this week’s tip, explore how to keep human formation at the center of your courses in the age of AI. You'll also find a breakdown of SJU’s approved AI tools and discover practical ways to use AI for accessible course design.

Review the pedagogical and technical information below to inform your progress in Week Thirteen. Have questions about what you learned here or ideas for future tips? Join Coffee & Answers (open support Zoom sessions with the Academic Technology Team) or email the Office of Teaching and Learning.

Pedagogical

In the age of AI, how do we ensure our courses remain spaces for deep human formation rather than mere task completion?

As a member of AJCU’s Commission on Artificial Intelligence, I was invited to attend the Ignatian AI Conference. I walked away from the conference with hope and new perspectives on faith-shaped principles of human formation. For this teaching tip, I adapted my new knowledge into moral discernment guides for teaching and learning.

One much-discussed, evidence-supported human formation framework was the DELTA Framework, developed by Notre Dame’s Institute for Ethics and the Common Good. This moral discernment framework focuses on five aspects of human formation: dignity, embodiment, love, transcendence, and agency. Below are the provided definitions.

Dignity

Every human being possesses inherent worth—not because of productivity, intelligence, or economic value, but because they are made in the image of God. 

Embodiment

We are embodied, relational, and mortal beings—our lives unfold in space, time, and community.  

Love

Christian ethics begins with love: a radical, unconditional call to see and serve others in their full humanity. 

Transcendence

Not everything of value can be created, optimized, or sold. Wonder, beauty, truth, and gratitude draw us beyond ourselves to rejoice in the gifts that God gives us.  

Agency

To flourish, humans need to pay attention and exercise freedom and moral responsibility. The Christian tradition teaches that agency is not just task completion, but the capacity to choose truth and good. 

 

Below is an adaptation of this framework into a discernment guide for instructors and program directors. I invite you to ponder these questions as you review your courses/programs and plan for future offerings.

Adapted DELTA Framework Discernment Guide for Teaching and Learning

Instructions: Focus on a specific course, reflect, and write your responses to the questions below. Review what you’ve written, and ponder in what ways, if any, you can use what you’ve learned from this discernment process to make adjustments to your course.

Dignity

• Does my course make students feel unique, seen, and valued?
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

Embodiment

• Does my course model presence and attention to the people before me?
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

Love

• Does my course facilitate friendship among students?
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

Transcendence

• Does my course connect students’ learning to life’s biggest questions?
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

Agency

• Does my course challenge our students to do the slow, hard work that fosters intellectual growth?
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

 

Another often-discussed framework was the familiar Ignatian Pedagogical Principles. Below is an adaptation of the Ignatian pedagogical principles into a series of discernment questions for learning redesign. I invite you to ponder these questions as you review your courses or programs and plan where you’d like to adjust your learning design.

Adapted Ignatian Pedagogical Principles Discernment Guide for Learning Redesign

Instructions: Focus on a specific learning design of a course or program, reflect, and write your responses to the questions below. Review what you’ve written, and ponder in what ways, if any, you can use what you’ve learned from this discernment process to make adjustments to your learning design.

Context

• In my learning context, do I try to understand my students’ backgrounds? Do I demonstrate my care for them as individuals? 
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

Experience

• In the learning experience I create for my students, do I engage the students as whole persons in the new learning experiences? 
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

Reflection

• In my assignments and assessments, do I activate the students’ imagination and intellect to ponder the deeper meaning of what is being learned? 
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

Action

• In my learning activities, do I guide the students to ponder choices that are in service of others and benefit the larger community? 
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

Evaluation

• In my course objectives, do I measure our students’ growth in mind, heart, and/or spirit? 
• What is one thing I’m doing well? What is one thing I can improve on?

 

– Aubrey Wang, Ph.D., Professor, Educational Leadership
Director, Office of Teaching and Learning
 

 

Technical

What AI tools are currently available to faculty and students at SJU?

 

Which AI tool at SJU do you recommend exploring and how might I use it?

Gemini Notebook is an AI-powered research and note-taking tool from Google that helps synthesize information from your own sources. This tool is available to all faculty/staff at SJU and can help create slide decks, infographics, discussion prompts, even podcasts! You can upload documents, PDFs, Google Docs, or links, and the tool will generate summaries, answer questions about the content and create artifacts based only on your materials. Gemini Notebook has become very popular because it solves the biggest problem with standard AI: hallucinations. Since it only looks at the sources you upload, you can trust that the information isn't being pulled from a random source on the internet.

A couple of real-world ways faculty and staff are currently using it:

Create an "Audio Overview" as a way to provide Multiple Means of Representation

Faculty are using the "Audio Overview" feature to create 5-8 minute podcast-style summaries of their densest readings.

• Use Case: Upload a complex slide deck or a dense lecture. Use the Studio tools in Gemini Notebook to generate a podcast style conversation between two AI hosts discussing the core arguments.
• Benefit: This provides a "way in" for students who struggle with dense text or have long commutes, aligning perfectly with UDL principles by providing multiple modes of representation.

Audit your Course Design & Alignment

Faculty are using the chat feature to ensure their course content and assessments align with course objectives.

• Use Case: Upload your course learning objectives, weekly module descriptions, and assignment rubrics. Then ask Gemini Notebook: "What learning objectives are not supported by my current assignments?"
• Benefit: It acts as a second pair of eyes for Backwards Design, identifying gaps where the content doesn't actually lead to the promised outcomes.

 

For ideas on how to intentionally incorporate AI in Assignments, visit Academic Technology’s One Stop Shop for Course Development or join any Coffee & Answers open support session!

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Additional Resources

• Saint Joseph’s University (2026 updated). Consolidated Syllabus Statements.
• University of Sydney's (2025, May updated) consolidated and publicly accessible “Overview of secure Lane 1 assessments.”
• Wang, A. H., & Wentzell, G. (accepted). Reflections: Reimagining learning outcomes through ai-enhanced pedagogy. Journal of Excellence in College Teaching.
• For more guidance on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and how to use the UDL Guidelines in practice explore The CAST UDL Guidelines™

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Are these tips helpful? Do you have a topic we should include in future weeks? Please let us know by emailing otl@sju.edu!