Fall 2022 - In Progress | Principal Investigator
Appalachian State University, Department of Applied Design
Since July 2022, I started to explore the possibilities of Artificial Intelligence in my teaching research and, especially, the use of text-to-image generators such as Midjourney, DALL-E, and Stable Diffusion, recognizing their potential to bolster the ideation phase in design.
In my CADD I course, which introduces students to the basics of digital design, I decided to integrate some of these AI tools. This curriculum change provided students from various disciplines—Industrial, Interior, and Apparel Design—with an opportunity to explore these new technologies, which in some way or another will be present in their professional practice.
In my creative practice, I introduced Midjourney to my colleagues at App DigiFab, the Digital Design and Fabrication Learning Community at Appalachian State University, with whom we created a collective digital installation that was presented at the Transformations Exhibition at the Turchin Center for the Visual Arts (https://digifab.appstate.edu/).
Additionally, I have been exploring using Large Language Models (LLMs), such as GPT-4, in teaching and research, particularly in qualitative data analysis and curriculum development. As a "calculator for words" (see https://simonwillison.net/2023/Apr/2/calculator-for-words/), this technology has shown great promise in reducing the time it takes to analyze qualitative data since it can create summaries, identify keywords, and conduct sentiment analysis in seconds.
As my exploration continues, I intend to experiment with the potential of custom-trained AI systems and continue identifying areas where these technologies can strengthen my students' learning and creative processes.
