Using AI course assistants via Ask Alma

ASKALMA 10-002

What you need to know

Scenarios for using Ask Alma in teaching

Ask Alma (formerly bwGPT) can be used in teaching in a variety of ways.

Scenario 1: For example, you can use the service as a personal assistant to prepare, plan, and conduct courses. To do so, open Ask Alma directly in this External link opens in a new window:FELIX course  and click on “Go to chatbot.”

Scenario 2: In addition, you can make Ask Alma available to your students as a general (untrained) chatbot directly in your FELIX course. This gives all students low-threshold access to AI support, which contributes to equal opportunities.

Scenario 3: Finally, there is the option of using course-specific, preconfigured AI course assistants that serve as subject-specific learning guides or organisational contact points for a course based on your materials.

For the latter two scenarios, you must integrate Ask Alma into your FELIX courses via a FELIX building block (LTI module) (see step 1).

The helpcard below describes how to preconfigure a course-specific AI assistant according to your preferences.

What you have to do

  1. Import the entire “Ask Alma” substructure, including the “Important note – Use of AI” module, as it contains important information on the responsible use of AI.
    For help with importing, see the Internal link opens in the same window:Importing course modules from another course helpcard (FELIX 30-005).
    Once the import is complete, you can customise the modules to suit your needs. Move the modules to the desired location in the course and rename them if necessary (e.g., “AI support” and “AI assistant”).

  2. Click on the red cross (top right) to close the course editor. Select the “Publish automatically” option to apply the change in the course view.

    • The new module will not be displayed in the course view until after it has been published.

  3. In the course view, open the integrated LTI module by clicking on “Display LTI learning content.”

    • Your personalised “Ask Alma” view will open.

    • If you have not yet set up a course assistant for this course, the message “New course ‘Title’ detected” will appear, indicating that no assistant has been created yet.

  4. Click on “Create Course Assistant”.

    • The configuration options for training your course assistant will open.

  5. Test your AI assistant by simulating typical dialogues in the preview (on the right). Think about what questions students might ask and conduct corresponding conversations with the assistant. If the assistant exhibits undesirable behavior, you can specifically adjust and optimise the instructions.

  6. Click on “Update Course Assistant” once you have completed the configuration. From this point on, the assistant will be available to your students. You can edit the assistant again at any time. It is also possible to use multiple assistants within a course.

  7. Copying assistants to other courses:

    You can also copy course assistants that you have created for one course to other courses. To do this, click on the three-dot menu of the desired assistant and select the “Copy” option.

    In the window that opens, select the course to which you want to copy the assistant and confirm with “Confirm selection”.

    • When you copy a course assistant to another course, a separate assistant is created that is not linked to the original assistant. Changes to the configuration of the original assistant therefore do not affect the copy.

    • Note when copying the course for a new semester:

      When you copy a course for a new semester, the associated course assistant is not automatically transferred. If you want to continue using the assistant, you must copy it from the original course to the new course as described above.

Problems or questions?