SPECIAL AI EDITION
Be An AI Prepper! Resources to Help Us Survive and Thrive in an AI World
Dear Colleagues:
As we prep for the semester, most of us are excited, concerned, or perplexed — or all of the above — about how generative AI will affect our teaching and our students. Here are some resources that can help you think about how to deal with AI in your courses. Specifically, we’ll address what generative AI is, how to write policies for student use, and how to adjust assignments to adapt for the AI world.
For more on the topic, please plan to attend our first Friday Forum on Sept. 6. A.I. is a Game-Changer. Let’s Write New Rules is from 12:20 to 2 p.m. in TJN Innovation Center, Room 106/07. CIE and the Center for Learning will continue to focus on AI throughout the year. Stay tuned!
Generative AI Primer
Here are a few articles and tips sheets that explain what generative AI is and how it works. One thing to keep in mind is that the technology is evolving quickly, so even the experts have trouble keeping up. You do not need to be an expert. Knowing a few basics is enough!
- Generative AI in Higher Education FAQ and Resources (NMC)
- Artificial Intelligence In Education: Teachers’ Opinions On AI In The Classroom – Forbes Advisor (Forbes)
- 7 Things You Should Know About Generative AI (EDUCAUSE)
- Explained: Generative AI (MIT News)
AI Syllabus Policies
The only wrong policy is no policy. Well, not quite. Threatening to run all writing through an AI detector is not best practice. However, you do need to say something about AI in your syllabus, even if your overall policy is flexible and general. Emphasize to students that effective use of AI is context specific, both at school and in the workplace. Different courses will have different policies, and AI permission may vary from assignment to assignment. As long as you make your expectations and rationale clear to students, you are doing it right.
Here are several resources with suggestions for AI syllabus policies:
- Generative Artificial Intelligence (NMC)
- A Stoplight Model for Guiding Student AI Usage (Edutopia)
- The Best AI Syllabus Policies I’ve Seen So Far (Substack)
- Course Policies & Syllabi Statements (U-M)
- Teaching in the Age of AI: Rethinking Pedagogy and Curriculum in Service to Student Learning (AAC&U)
Adjusting Assignments
No matter what your AI policy says, you will be most successful in getting students to use their own brains if you revamp some of your standard assignments. In other words, the best defense is a good offense. Let’s say that you traditionally assign written chapter summaries, a decent assignment in olden times. But now, given that ChatGTP is quite adept at straight-up content summaries, even your most dedicated students will be tempted to use AI when they’re short on time. What else can we do to get students engaged with the content? How else can we assess their understanding of the reading? The resources here have a number of workable suggestions:
- Assignment Design: Is AI In or Out? (U Penn)
- Using Class Discussions as AI-Proof Assessments (Edutopia)
- The Homework Apocalypse (One Useful Thing)
- Latest AI Announcements Mean Another Big Adjustment for Educators (EdSurge)
As we said, there will be much more discussion of AI this year. We’re in this together!