AI assignment ideas for costume educators

For the past two weeks, I’ve been attending the ATCA workshops, virtual sessions on various topics of interest to and chosen by costume educators. I attended a two-part discussion on applicability of generative AI to the teaching of costume design and related topics. 

Many participants in those AI sessions were educators at institutions who have adopted and encouraged the use of language and image generative AI technologies such as Microsoft Copilot, DALL-E, Midjourney, ChatGPT, Google Gemini, etc.

Elphaba rendering by ChatGPT

There are many valid, ethical concerns about the use of these prompt-driven generative AI models—sustainability and ecological impact, inherent bigotry/bias, exploitative labor practices, violations of copyright and content use consent…the list goes on—and this post is not to enumerate or discuss those, although they would be excellent discussion topics to bring up with students in class.

Some educators reported that many of their students had no interest in AI technology and were vocally opposed to it, while others described curiosity and enthusiasm particularly from students who were drawn to other new technologies and/or graphics-heavy video games.

The point was raised of the importance to stay abreast of current litigation regarding the use of AI in creative fields. Reports from costume design union members stressed that at present, AI-generated designs are not copyrightable, and the use of the technology is prohibited by many employers seeking intellectual property rights over designs created for their contracts..

This is an aggregate list of potential assignments and activities to incorporate generative AI into costume-adjacent classes, aimed at educators who feel pressure to do so by AI-embracing employers.

Costume design lesson & project assignment ideas

• Corinne Larson of Capilano University described an assignment she did with her students where she used DALL-E to create a rococo dress design then had the students correct the silhouette as the assignment. An interesting way to incorporate the technology and also address its shortcomings.

• Nannette Marie (from Facebook): “I am thinking of an assignment where they can use AI for "inspiration" and then jump off from there to make it their own. Or one using their "key words" for a mood board, sort of just for fun. Thinking of AI as a possible tool to create and not the one doing the creating.”

• ATCA colleague (attribution lost): upload a scan of a sketch the student had done and direct the AI to generate something in the style of that sketch, so it would generate images informed by the student’s own artistic style

• Heidi Jo Schiemer of Elon University offered thoughts on her department’s experience using an AI model to create graphics for projections

• Ann Toewe at the University of Northern Colorado appreciates using the technology to assist with writing lesson plans & brainstorming discussion prompts. She described deepening the focus of a planned class discussion further than her initial idea by engaging in brainstorming conversation with the AI chatbot

• Rebecca Armstrong of Bates College proposed calling for sustainability offsets from university administration, particularly for schools that have made a public commitment to reduced or net-zero emission standards, & expressed a desire for the development of an ecological impact widget/plug-in. Possible opportunity for interdepartmental collaboration?

• Soule Golden of Barnard College showed examples of design iterations she had done using some of the many available AI clothing generators 

• Quinn Burgess of Boston College had a fun suggestion for an in-class demo based on the concept of a round-robin telephone game—input a word or words as a prompt to create an image, then ask the AI to describe the image, then ask the AI to create an image of the description, and so on

• Julie Learson of Fairfield University suggested having students watch Bernadette Banner’s video about erroneous AI depictions of period styles, then discuss the video in class and perhaps evaluate together more AI-generated examples, either that the students create or the class creates collectively during the discussion.

• I speculated about using the same prompt with different AI models, a theory I tested in this post

I have tried to give attribution credit to the scholars who proposed these assignment ideas. If you recognize one you suggested and I have not credited you or miscredited it, please leave a comment. I welcome your corrections.

Please also comment if you have other assignment ideas or experience to offer!

Some of these assignment ideas also came out of a discussion thread on the Facebook group, Costume Educators Forum. Thank you to all who participated in each of these discussions.

Suggested links for further learning:

• Teaching in Higher Ed Podcast episode on caveats of using AI in academic contexts

• Lead With AI podcast interview with Lexi Reece, an AI company CEO, mostly about what her company does, but at the end she talks about how and why she doesn’t want it incorporated into her kids’ education

• System Crash podcast show on current tech industry news hosted by two AI-skeptical journalists 

• Books reviewed in this post

• Cut the AI Bullshit article in which a postdoctoral researcher calls out her university

• More work for teacher? article, questioning whether AI saves or creates more work in an academic setting

• Pivot to AI YouTube channel of short daily updates on AI news

• AI doesnt scare me & why it shouldn’t scare you 12 minute video