Updating the workshop materials

I use AI to help update my class materials from last year. I upload the previous year's lecture slides and use the prompt:

"I need to update my lecture slides from last year. Suggest any key developments or improvements I could make to my class slides". These suggestions are a starting point and have been useful in filling in gaps in new regulations or case studies and even improving the narrative flow of the content.

Teaching notes for my colleagues

Working with a new colleague I realised that some of the anecdotes or concepts were in my head. I used AI to develop the notes using this prompt:

" I want some notes to accompany each slide for my colleague who is delivering one of the workshops for the first time. Suggest notes for each slide including classroom direction"

Advert for the class

I'm trying out making an advert for each class so students can see the benefits of turning up rather than just nagging them about attendance. AI did this quickly and effectively - it even picked up on the fact that they would need to bring their laptop for one of the activities without me telling it:

"Please give me an advert for this class which I can post to encourage students to attend"

Intro: As part of our AI in Creative Practice series, Level 5 students explored how human intuition meets AI insight in fashion forecasting. The aim was to test how generative tools can support, not replace, creative decision-making.

The Challenge

1️⃣ Form groups (3–5)
2️⃣ Explore TikTok hashtags (#OOTD, #StreetStyle, #TikTokMadeMeBuyIt)
3️⃣ Spot 2–3 micro-trends (colour, silhouette, aesthetic)
4️⃣ Use AI (ChatGPT or Google Trends) to ask:

Is this trend growing? Who’s driving it? Which brands are engaging?
5️⃣ Create a 1-minute forecast pitch predicting which trend will rise next

AI Feedback Moment

Each group presented while ChatGPT’s voice mode (Ember voice) listened and then offered live verbal feedback, questioning assumptions, adding context, and highlighting insights.

Key Takeaways

Human creativity + AI data = modern forecasting toolkit
Encouraged critical AI literacy and reflection
Voice feedback made AI feel collaborative and conversational

The gap in design ability was always clear during workshops. Those confident with design software excelled in visualising their ideas, while others… not so much. This was frustrating because students with great ideas were sometimes limited by their lack of design software expertise.

Bridging the gap

Encouraging ethical use of generative AI within my classroom activities has been transformative. It is not only enabling students an equal opportunity to create professional-quality marketing assets, it is enhancing their confidence, creativity and enthusiasm.

In Practice

In one of my modules, students take part in a hands-on ‘asset creation’ activity. Within it, we discuss the role of AI as a ‘collaborative tool’ and explore AI-powered software that could be used to visualise their marketing campaign ideas.

Open discussions and tutorials of multiple AI tools (CoPilot, ChatGPT and DeepAI) within this workshop takes place and is noticeably building students’ creative confidence. It is also creating a more inclusive environment for students regardless of their design software expertise (and laptop quality!).

Use of AI is optional within the activity to accommodate those preferring not to use AI (although I have never experienced an instance of this happening).

The Results

Creativity and imagination have flourished. Students appear a lot less afraid to explore bold concepts. The overall quality of their campaign ideas and visualisations has noticeably improved. AI hasn’t replaced creativity within marketing education - it’s amplified it.

I have attached an extract from the asset creation activity to this post.

I introduced them to agents/projects in CoPilot and explained the concept of making folders to interrogate materials and change format. They couldn't access CoPilot for some reason but went on to find Notebook LM "OMG it's incredible" - particularly for converting pdfs into video and audio content which this student finds more accessible. They particularly liked the way they were able to control which materials it was interrogating.

We then added another source (grey literature) and used Ai to compare and contrast the two sources in relation to our task.

AI enabled the rapid creation of a complete fictional festival ecosystem, including branding, visual assets, promotional imagery, a logo and visual identity, and supporting materials such as the running order and event instructions.

The social media activity was designed to reflect a storyboarded sequence of unfolding events during the festival, including incidents such as transport disruption, power outages, and a small fire. In total, the simulation included 75 posts representing incoming media activity and 66 scheduled outbound posts from the festival organisers, each supported by realistic imagery. These posts were scheduled in advance to appear as a continuous live feed, creating the impression of real-time social media activity that students needed to monitor and respond to.

Producing this volume of coordinated content, imagery, and event communications would have been impractical to create manually. AI made it possible for a single educator to build a complex and immersive simulation that would otherwise have required a small communications team.