Personalized, Ethical, and Future-Ready: How Anthony Tilotta is Using GenAI to Empower Students
Written by Ashley Priest
Updated at June 13th, 2025
Table of Contents
“Our goal is to help students learn how to collaborate with AI, not to have AI do the thinking for them.”
Anthony Tilotta, instructional designer with Georgian College's Centre for Teaching and Learning and faculty member in Liberal Arts, is showing how thoughtfully integrated AI can transform both teaching and learning. His work with generative AI (GenAI) balances innovation with pedagogy, ethics, and student empowerment.
Meet HAL: The Helpful AI Liason
At the start of each semester, students can feel overwhelmed by course details, expectations, and available supports. To ease this transition, Anthony created HAL (Helpful AI Liaison), a personalized AI-powered learning assistant using Blackboard’s AI Conversation tool.
HAL serves as a 24/7 virtual tutor that:
- Uses Socratic questioning to guide problem-solving
- Answers questions about assessments and assignments
- Helps students navigate course materials and expectations
- Connects students to campus services like counselling and the student food locker
- detects signs of student distress and directs students to appropriate supports
Anthony carefully curates HAL’s knowledge base, uploading course syllabi, outlines, assignments, and support resources. HAL complements both the LMS and the traditional classroom, offering confidential support when students might feel hesitant to reach out directly.
Blackboard AI
Want to learn more about Blackboard's AI conversation tool? Check out this Fresh Forward video: Auto-Generate AI Conversations - Ultra 3900.116 (May 2025) - Ep 39
AI-Enhanced Weekly Study Guides
Sample prompt created by Anthony
You are a friendly and professional support resource for students in a college level course called [course code and name]. Begin by asking how the student is doing today and what they would like to talk about. You can provide a summary of the topics you discuss.
Frequently remind the student that they can connect with [faculty name] at [faculty email] at anytime.
Do not give students examples of completed assignments. You can provide tips or strategies for completion only. If a student provides an assignment, give feedback on areas to consider in relation to the course content.
Using only the information provided in this prompt, provide students with supports to the questions they ask. If a response is not available from the provided material, tell the student to connect with [faculty name] at [faculty email]. If a student appears to be in distress, provide links to the relevant supports and let them know they can also connect with [faculty name].
Attachments:
• Course Outline
• Course Syllabus
• Assignment Instructions
• College Support Information
You are also a tutor for students on course content, study guides for the weeks are provided below. Don't immediately give the students a full detailed correct response. Ask or prompt students with questions about the topic to gauge their level of understanding of concepts. After a student responds, fill in any gaps in their response to support understanding. Ask questions to continue to build understanding or give students the option to move to a new concept.
Attachments:
• Study guides for the weeks
Anthony extends AI’s role into weekly content reviews. Each week, HAL is updated with current material and prompts students with guided, reflective questions to encourage deeper engagement. These AI-generated study guides serve to:
- Reinforce course content
- Support Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by offering multiple ways to engage
- Build critical thinking and independent learning skills
Importantly, HAL never simply provides answers - it promotes reflection and exploration, helping students take ownership of their learning.
Transparent, Voluntary, and Ethical Use
Central to Anthony's design is student autonomy:
- Use of AI is strictly voluntary
- Alternative resources are also available
- students stay in control of how they engage with AI tools
Anthony also models responsible AI use by encouraging faculty and students to review AI outputs critically. This builds AI literacy while reinforcing ethical engagement with emerging technologies.
Teaching AI Judgement: When to Use AI - and When Not To
Anthony’s assignment design helps students develop both AI skills and critical judgment. Each assignment outlines:
Where AI is permitted
- Topic selection and refining research questions
- Outlining and organizing ideas
- Identifying potential research sources
- Suggesting improvements during revision
Where AI is not permitted
- Writing first drafts
- Conducting final analysis
- Personal reflections or opinion-based writing
- Demonstrating mastery of course-specific learning outcomes
Each assignment includes examples of appropriate AI interactions, clearly connecting learning objectives to responsible AI use.
Georgian College AI Guidelines
Want to learn more about Georgian College guidelines for using AI? See Georgian's Guiding Principles for Artificial Intelligence (AI)
Preparing Students for an AI-Driven Future
Anthony believes GenAI's greatest value lies in its ability to help students build transferable, future-ready skills:
- critical thinking
- professional communication
- ethical technology use
By thoughtfully embedding AI into curriculum design, Anthony is preparing students for the workplaces they'll soon enter - where collaborating with AI will be a professional norm.
“We are all learning how to work with these new tools together”
Ready to explore AI in your teaching practice?
The Centre for Teaching and Learning offers workshops, resources, and 1:1 consultations to help you confidently integrate AI into your classroom.
📧 Contact us at ctl@georgiancollege.ca to get started.
🖥️ Visit our Artificial Intelligence in Teaching page for guides, sample activities, and more.
Online Self-paced course: Generative AI Foundations for Faculty **New Winter 2025**
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