UROP Project
Generative AI and Instructional Alignment in Online Courses: A Comparative Study of Faculty and Student Perspectives
AI, Artificial intelligence, Course design, Educational research, Faculty development, Student Experience
Research Mentor: Liying Miao,
Department, College, Affiliation: Office of Digital Learning and Academic Technology, N/A
Contact Email: lmiao2@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Department, College, Affiliation: Office of Digital Learning and Academic Technology, N/A
Contact Email: lmiao2@fsu.edu
Research Assistant Supervisor (if different from mentor):
Research Assistant Supervisor Email:
Faculty Collaborators:
Faculty Collaborators Email:
Looking for Research Assistants: Yes
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Education, Online Education Policy & Evaluation, Instructional Design and Technology, Online Teaching and Learning
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
Number of Research Assistants: 1
Relevant Majors: Education, Online Education Policy & Evaluation, Instructional Design and Technology, Online Teaching and Learning
Project Location: On FSU Main Campus
Research Assistant Transportation Required: Yes Remote or In-person: Partially Remote
Approximate Weekly Hours: 5, Flexible schedule (Combination of business and outside of business. TBD between student and research mentor.)
Roundtable Times and Zoom Link:
- Day: Monday, August 31
Start Time: 12:30
End Time: 1:00
Zoom Link: https://fsu.zoom.us/j/6912151094
Project Description
This project explores how online faculty and students perceive and use generative AI in their courses—where they find it most useful instructionally, and what barriers, policy, ethical, or access-related, they encounter. It further examines whether faculty and students believe current course design should change in response to AI, and if so, which elements: learning objectives, activities, assessments, or tools. By comparing the perspectives of those who set expectations with those who use these tools daily, findings will inform institutional decisions about AI policy, course design guidance, faculty development, and student support.Research Tasks: Literature review, survey design, conduct surveys, data collection, and data analysis.
Skills that research assistant(s) may need: Required skills:
Reliable, professional communication
Basic writing and note-taking
Comfortable with Word and Excel
Attention to detail and consistency in repetitive tasks
Discretion with confidential material
Time management
Developed skills through the project:
Literature searching in education databases (ProQuest, ERIC, Education Source) and reference management (Zotero/EndNote)
APA 7 formatting and citation practice
CITI human subjects training and IRB protocol preparation
Survey design in Qualtrics—question wording, response scales.
Recruitment and consent procedures
Semi-structured interview practice: protocol drafting, scheduling, note-taking, possibly co-facilitating
Transcription and transcript cleaning
Qualitative coding—codebook development, thematic analysis, possibly NVivo or other paid tools
Basic descriptive statistics and survey data cleaning in Excel or PowerBI
Data visualization for presenting findings
Research poster and presentation skills for the UROP symposium
Academic writing
Prior coursework in education, psychology, communication, or statistics
Interest in AI tools and their use in coursework
Mentoring Philosophy
I aim to provide mentees with a safe environment in which to ask questions, follow their curiosity, explore new opportunities, and challenge established ideas. I work to understand each mentee's academic and professional goals and circumstances that may affect their work so that I can offer the support they need to see the project through. My goal is that mentees leave with more than a completed project: transferable skills in educational research and practical experience conducting surveys and interviews, from instrument design through data collection and analysis. I also believe mentorship depends on logistical clarity, so I communicate openly about funding opportunities, project timelines, and meeting frequency, and I maintain a shared schedule of milestones so expectations are never ambiguous.Additional Information
ODL's website on course design: https://odl.fsu.edu/course-designFSU's web page on AI: https://ai.fsu.edu/