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Artificial FlAIvoring: Determining Where Generative AI Makes Sense in Teaching & Learning

Lance Eaton

https://bit.ly/Emerson-AI-2024

Director of Faculty Development & Innovation

College Unbound

lance.eaton@collegeunbound.edu

https://aiedusimplified.substack.com/

This work is licensed by Lance Eaton under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Google Slides Image Generator with prompt: “The Good, The Bad, & The AI”

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Created using Google Slide Duet with prompt “robot monstrosity”

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Name change in Zoom

V- if virtual
I- if in person

Google Slides Duet AI with prompt: “a image of a card that says "Hello, my name is..."

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How do we make sense of generative AI?
What might we do with generative AI?
What should we do next?

Today’s Agenda

Google Slides Image Generator with prompt: “A chalkboard in a classroom that has a bunch of writing on it”

https://bit.ly/Emerson-AI-2024

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Bing Image Creator with prompt: “a high speed train on the horizon travelling through an alien landscape”

“The train will always return and there’s still time to catch the next one.”

Laura Dumin,

University of Central Oklahoma

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What are your feelings about generative AI?

Let’s do a lil unpacking. Also, this is the portion of the talk where you realize that I’m the kind of professional that will shamelessly include pictures of his pets to elicit responses from participants.

This is Pumpkin…and yes, I can imagine she may embody the way some of us are feeling–and that’s real!

What are your feelings about generative AI?

Like honest feelings about generative AI about them.

And do not worry about upsetting me. I assure you, I'm just a large-language model--I do not have feelings.

[Call out specific feelings that show up]

That’s a lot of different feelings, right?

And honestly, this stream of thoughts is about the range of feelings I have about generative AI at least once a day–seriously, I just go through all the feelings like I’m in some movie montage!

This is all really complicated and strange. I appreciate the honesty and thought here.

I want to share one tactic that I use whenever I am feeling overwhelmed by generative AI–I want you to remember this lil nugget. All over France and Quebec and everywhere they speak French, whenever they talk specifically about ChatGPT–the pronunciation of that word–sounds so very much like, “Cat, I farted.” So all over the news stations across French-speaking countries, people are hearing that phrase repeatedly.

Now, I don’t care how powerful of a tool generative AI will be–the fact that ChatGPT translates into that, means I can always rally and talk myself back from the ledge of worrying about our robot overlords.

It’s the little things, right?

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What is generative AI? Wrong answers only…

Google Slides Image Generator with prompt: “A cartoonish old sci-fi robot”

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How long has it been since the death of the college essay?

DALLE-3 with ChatGPT4 with prompt: “Create an image of a robots attending the funeral of the essay.”

At the funeral of the essay, the eulogy was a powerful thesis, arguing that its paragraphs had truly made a mark, leaving an indelible imprint on the pages of history. Mourners were asked to bring their own pens and paper, as it was only fitting to 'note' their final 'sentences' in a manner befitting the dearly departed manuscript.

–ChatGPT, esq.

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DALLE-3 with ChatGPT 4 (see annotated slide deck for prompt)

How long has it been since the end of education as we know it?

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How long has it been since robots replaced everyone?

Google slides with DUET AI with prompt: “Robots running the meeting inside the the US Senate”

And we all remember being wiped out by the takeover of AI, right? Or am I in the wrong universe?

I’m not saying this to dismiss these ideas–well, ok, maybe the last one, but in earnest, to remind us of two things.

One: we’ve been constantly telling ourselves these things over the past century or longer and there’s a way that’s also trained us to respond with “oh not another thing to revolutionize education–that’s the 27th revolution in my teaching career which is only 20 years old”.

Two: Education has actually been changing, but gradually. I teach in a class that is different from the classes that I learned in which is different from the classes at the time I was born. 3 Generations and there are differences in teaching and learning. It’s changes in technology and also in pedagogy.

And that’s something I want us all to sit with. Teaching and learning continues to change and adapt; we’re not stagnant as society would like us to think.

There is a real narrative out there saying we’re not keeping up and there can also be a lot of newer things that coming at us more quickly, but we are equipped to handle it.

We’re equipped more so than ever before because there’s not just all of these amazing folks in this space right now, but you all have the potential to be tapped into other networks, digital or otherwise, that are sharing and discussing really awesome work around this and quite frankly, are doing really fantastic things.

The missing piece in so much of this is the sharing, getting and giving feedback, and figuring out how to continue to iterate on your successes.

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What have we learned with regards to generative AI in the last year?

DALLE-3 with ChatGPT 4 (see annotated slide deck for prompt)

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Has anything significantly changed in how we teach and learn in the last year?

DALLE-2 with prompt: “a robot teacher in front of a class with robot students at desks”

Has anything significantly changed in how we teach and learn in the classroom in the last year? If so, what. Again, put that into the chat.

[Lift some up and talk about them]

Some of us may be more suspect–yes. We’re thinking differently a bit about assessment. We may even be using generative AI.

But let me ask this differently.

Contrast the changes today with what you were doing in Fall, 2022. And now, contrast that with the changes you were making in Spring and Fall 2020. Is this past year bigger or smaller in your changes? Feel free to share your insights in the chat.

[Lift some up and talk about them]

I would argue that the urgency to change things this past year has felt as strongly as it might have felt during the pandemic. Yet–I appreciate Autumm Caines’ point about generative AI. In the end, it doesn’t require elaborate jumps and leaps that we had to figure out as we did with the pandemic. Rather, it just requires what we’re always striving for. Good pedagogy; intentional approaches creating a learning community; directly engaging students with what these things can mean.

It is both that simple and that complicated. AND–AND that will not guarantee everyone does things the way that we want them to.

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Physically raise your hand and/or use the “raise hand” feature to indicate if you have used generative AI in teaching and learning in the last year?

Bing Image Generator with prompt: “students and faculty standing together staring at a giant computer monitor that has a robot face on it looking back at them”

Now, we're going to go into something that might be a little uncomfortable for folks. Also, it can be really powerful.

I hope you will trust me enough to join me in this activity.

I want to lift up some of the work that’s already being done. Going forward, it's the folks at this event that are going to have more to share and discuss--my job is to help everyone realize it. I'm not smarter than this room--even on this topic that I've been talking about incessantly for the last year.

No, what I'm here to do is to help you all start talking and learning from one anothers.

So what follows is I'm going to start to ask folks to make themselves known in some ways.

If you're uncomfortable and don't want to. I 1000% support that. But I hope that we can maybe do a little interaction here that proves fruitful going forward.

[NEXT]

Ok, for those of folks using generative AI in some capacity in teaching and learning the last year, I want you to use the "Raise Hand" feature.

I ask this so that we can get a visual sense of how many in the room are already at this juncture.

[Look at the participants list to see the amount].

Look at these folks. If you’re not raising your hand, please, please, please look to see who these folks are and decide who you may reach out to in order to learn more. Get ready to reach out to them and learn from them.

Ok, I'm going to ask those folks who raised their hand to do 2 things right now.

First, lower your hands.

Next, please put into the chat what you have been doing--to the degree that you can or want to share. Provide as much detail as you can.

Only if you feel comfortable and I hope you'll share!

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Physically raise your hand and/or use the “raise hand” feature to indicate if you want to figure out how to use generative AI in teaching and learning?

Image generated by Google Slides with prompt “a robot handing a basketball to a human”

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Physically raise your hand and/or use the “raise hand” feature to indicate if you are resistance to using generative AI?

Are you really sure? I think it might be the best thing for you.

Bing Image Generator with prompt: “a version of clippy that is evil in appearance and has a winning smile”

Now, this final group. The group that maybe be resistant to engaging with and using generative AI in teaching and learning. This is a totally legitimate space to be for so many reasons and we NEED folks to be resistant and skeptical–that’s really important in all of this.

Are any folks who are resistant willing to raise their hand? I know this might feel the hardest or most challenging to do now that we’ve looked at those who are for it or trying to find their way there.

If you don’t want to identify–no worries.

But I want to take a moment to allow you the same opportunity to be seen and heard about your legitimate concerns in navigating generative AI.

Thank you for raising your hands. And now, I’ll ask the same of you–share in the chat what your concerns are.

[Call out ideas from folks].

I want to reiterate here–look to the chat and your colleagues. Who is doing or saying things that you want to follow up more with. Take a moment right now and check the chat or figure out who you want to talk to!

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Start the conversation!

IN PERSON

Find someone you want to learn more about what you just heard.

Ask them a question.

Make an agreement to follow up.

VIRTUAL

Randomly placed in breakout room

Ask each a question to understand more about their approach

Make an agreement to follow up.

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What are we to do as educators?

Ok, so let’s look to the final arc of the conversation, give you some ideas and have some questions!

That’s Bear, she’s here to give you a smile…even though she always looks like she’s judging us.

What are we do to as educators? I’m not looking at the chat but I bet someone is going to respond to that rhetorical question with a reference to retiring.

To be clear, we’re not going to solve this entirely nor perfectly here today. I’m sorry but I’m just not that amazing. I’m mediocre or middling at best.

But I do want us to leave today with a few things.

Some clear ways you can use it.

Some practice in using it.

A sense of the different ways your colleagues are thinking about and using it from which you can further learn.

Let’s discussion some clear ways to use it. Folks have already spoken to some of that and I’m here to give you some more use cases that you can start up and run with.

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Task Minimizing
Brainstorming Partner
1st Drafting
Sorting Through Information

How might you use it for now?

Google Slides Image Generator with prompt: “Aa robot sitting at a desk”

If you have successful prompts that you regularly use, consider putting them into the chat to share.

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Prompt #1: Task Minimizing

Provide me with a listing of all the Tuesdays between August 21, 2023 and December 18, 2023. Please list them in the following format: Tuesday, September [Date], 2023.

If any US holidays happen between each Tuesday listed, please include the holiday and its date.

Additionally, please include any religious holidays or special days for Christianity, Judaisim, Islam, Hinduism, or other major religions

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Tuesday, August 22, 2023

Tuesday, August 29, 2023

Tuesday, September 5, 2023

Tuesday, September 12, 2023

Tuesday, September 19, 2023

Tuesday, September 26, 2023

Tuesday, October 3, 2023

Tuesday, October 10, 2023

Tuesday, October 17, 2023

Tuesday, October 24, 2023

Tuesday, October 31, 2023

Tuesday, November 7, 2023

Tuesday, November 14, 2023

Tuesday, November 21, 2023

Tuesday, November 28, 2023

Tuesday, December 5, 2023

Tuesday, December 12, 2023

US National Holidays

Labor Day - Monday, September 4, 2023

Indigenous People's Day - Monday, October 9, 2023

Veterans Day - Saturday, November 11, 2023

Thanksgiving Day - Thursday, November 23, 2023

Christianity

All Saints' Day - Wednesday, November 1, 2023

Advent begins - Sunday, December 3, 2023

Feast of the Immaculate Conception - Friday, December 8, 2023

Judaism

Rosh Hashanah - Thursday, September 21, 2023 to Friday, September 22, 2023

Yom Kippur - Saturday, September 30, 2023

Sukkot - Thursday, October 5, 2023 to Wednesday, October 11, 2023

Shemini Atzeret - Thursday, October 12, 2023

Simchat Torah - Friday, October 13, 2023

Hanukkah - Friday, December 15, 2023 to Friday, December 22, 2023

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Prompt #2: Brainstorming Partner Example 1

You're an expert educational developer at a private college in New England with extensive experience drawing out the nuances and subtleties in challenging situations where faculty have to rethink their pedagogical approaches such as how they teach, how they assess, and engage with students. You use a variety of lenses to engage, problem-solve, and think critically about the situation and deploy contemporary and relevant pedagogical approaches.

A faculty member is looking to revise a part of their History of Comedy course using Open Pedagogy. They want to update their exploration of comedy films of the 1930s & 1940s. Be sure to include topics, objectives, activities and assessments that align with an Open Pedagogy approach. Explain with each thing you include how it aligns with an Open Pedagogy approach and what might be 1-2 other ways it could be done with this approach.

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Topics

Evolution of Comedy Genres (1930s-1940s): Explore how comedy evolved during this era, focusing on sub-genres and notable films.

Open Pedagogy Alignment: Students co-create a digital timeline, contributing research on specific genres or films.
Alternative Approaches: Students might create podcast episodes discussing these genres or lead virtual film club sessions.

Influential Comedians and Filmmakers: Study key figures in comedy during this period.

Open Pedagogy Alignment: Students develop collaborative biographical profiles, which could be published in a class-created online resource.
Alternative Approaches: Host a panel discussion where students role-play these comedians/filmmakers, or create short documentary-style videos.

Objectives

Understanding Historical Context: Grasp the social and political influences on comedy films of the 1930s and 1940s.
Analyzing Cinematic Techniques: Identify and analyze the techniques used in comedy films of this era.
Collaborative Learning: Engage in collaborative projects that enhance understanding and allow for knowledge sharing.

Activities

Film Analysis Workshops: Groups analyze selected comedy films and present their findings.

Open Pedagogy Alignment: Each group could focus on different aspects (script, direction, acting) and compile a comprehensive class wiki.
Alternative Approaches: Creating a shared blog or video essays.

Interactive Timeline Project: Building a digital timeline of key comedy films and events.

Open Pedagogy Alignment: This allows for collaborative research and presentation, fostering a shared resource for all.
Alternative Approaches: A collaborative podcast series or a student-curated virtual film festival.

Assessments

Peer-Reviewed Research Papers: Students write papers on assigned topics, reviewed by peers before final submission.

Open Pedagogy Alignment: Incorporates peer feedback, fostering a community of learning and improvement.
Alternative Approaches: Convert papers into blog posts or digital magazines.

Group Presentation: Final group project presenting an aspect of 1930s-1940s comedy films.

Open Pedagogy Alignment: Could be a webinar open to the public, demonstrating real-world relevance.
Alternative Approaches: Creating a mini-documentary or a series of educational TikTok/YouTube videos.

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Prompt #3: 1st Drafting Example 2

Come up with a rubric for the Peer-Reviewed Research Papers: Students write papers on assigned topics, reviewed by peers before final submission. Be sure the rubric is in table form.

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Criteria	Exemplary (4)	Proficient (3)	Developing (2)	Beginning (1)
Research Depth	Comprehensive and in-depth research; goes beyond the assignment requirements.	Thorough research; meets all assignment requirements.	Basic research; meets most assignment requirements.	Limited research; does not fully meet assignment requirements.
Analysis & Critical Thinking	Demonstrates superior analysis and critical perspective; insightful connections and conclusions.	Good analysis and critical thinking; clear and supported conclusions.	Some analysis and critical thinking; some conclusions are unsupported.	Limited analysis and critical thinking; conclusions are unclear or unsupported.
Organization & Structure	Highly organized and structured; clear and logical flow of ideas.	Well-organized and structured; clear progression of ideas.	Organization is present but lacks clarity or logic in places.	Disorganized or unclear structure; ideas are difficult to follow.
Writing & Style	Exceptional writing clarity, precision, and correctness; professional and academic tone.	Good writing quality; minor errors, clear and academic tone.	Writing is understandable but may have several errors; tone is inconsistent.	Multiple writing errors; tone is informal or inappropriate.
Peer Review Feedback Incorporation	Excellent incorporation of peer feedback; demonstrates substantial improvement and refinement.	Good incorporation of peer feedback; shows clear improvement.	Some incorporation of peer feedback; improvement is marginal.	Minimal or no incorporation of peer feedback; little to no improvement.

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Prompt #3: 1st Drafting Example 2

you're an expert in asynchronous online teaching and learning at a expert at a state university. Review this attachment of readings and assignments for a 6-week Composition 2 asynchronous course.

Recreate this into a detailed 15 week course that covers the same content. In a table, include each week, when themes are covered, when readings are due, and when activities should be due .

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Week	Theme	Readings and Activities	Due Dates
1	Introduction to Course	Course Syllabus, Guidelines, Introductory Video	End of Week 1
2	Thinking About Reading & Writing	Metacognition articles and videos, Reading strategies	End of Week 2
3	Exploring Nonfiction (Part 1)	Intro to Essays, Creative Nonfiction readings	End of Week 3
4	Exploring Nonfiction (Part 2)	"How to Tame a Wild Tongue", "A Letter to My Nephew", "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"	End of Week 4
5	Drama (Part 1)	The History of Theater, Crash Course Theater, Analyzing Plays	End of Week 5
6	Drama (Part 2)	Choose 1 Play (Medea, Master Harold...and the boys, or No Exit)	End of Week 6
7	Fiction (Part 1)	Intro to Fiction Parts 1 & 2, Analyzing Novels & Short Stories	End of Week 7
8	Fiction (Part 2)	Intro to Fiction Parts 3, 4 & 5, The Space Traders by Derrick Bell	End of Week 8
9	Fiction (Part 3)	Bloodchild by Octavia Butler, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas	End of Week 9

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Prompt #3: 1st Drafting Example 2 Extended

Reproduce the chart and include actual dates. End of the week is always Sunday. The semester starts Monday, January 22, 2024 and we have Spring Break for for a week starting on March 18, 2024

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Week	Dates	Theme	Readings and Activities	Due Dates
1	Jan 22 - Jan 28	Introduction to Course	Course Syllabus, Guidelines, Introductory Video	Jan 28
2	Jan 29 - Feb 4	Thinking About Reading & Writing	Metacognition articles and videos, Reading strategies	Feb 4
3	Feb 5 - Feb 11	Exploring Nonfiction (Part 1)	Intro to Essays, Creative Nonfiction readings	Feb 11
4	Feb 12 - Feb 18	Exploring Nonfiction (Part 2)	"How to Tame a Wild Tongue", "A Letter to My Nephew", "Letter from a Birmingham Jail"	Feb 18
5	Feb 19 - Feb 25	Drama (Part 1)	The History of Theater, Crash Course Theater, Analyzing Plays	Feb 25
6	Feb 26 - Mar 4	Drama (Part 2)	Choose 1 Play (Medea, Master Harold...and the boys, or No Exit)	Mar 4
7	Mar 5 - Mar 11	Fiction (Part 1)	Intro to Fiction Parts 1 & 2, Analyzing Novels & Short Stories	Mar 11
8	Mar 12 - Mar 17	Fiction (Part 2)	Intro to Fiction Parts 3, 4 & 5, The Space Traders by Derrick Bell	Mar 17
-	Mar 18 - Mar 24	Spring Break	No assignments	-
9	Mar 25 - Mar 31	Fiction (Part 3)	Bloodchild by Octavia Butler, The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas	Mar 31

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Prompt #4: Sorting Through Information

As an expert in learning management systems and student engagement, provide an overview of students experiences about faculty usage. Point out any particular glaring concerns and any particularly outstanding positive usages in the following feedback (Claude).

I find it help for looking at qualitative data and can use it to make sense of things quickly. I’ll still dive into the data for more insights but the high level analysis can help me move with more clarity.

Now, I did something here that is ok in this context but we want to be very careful in our classrooms. Generally speaking, you should never put student work into generative AI. There’s a lot of different reasons for that such as copyright infringement and questions about what it means to have generative AI review/create feedback on student work.

However, what I did was take anonymous feedback, double-checked to make sure the data was clean, and then put it into generative AI for analysis.

I used Claude AI to review a bunch of anonymous feedback from students about their faculty’s use of the LMS system to determine what is going well and what isn’t. This is qualitative data and often, we’re dealing with hundreds of responses to this question every 4 weeks during the semester.

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Based on the student feedback, there are a few key takeaways:

Overall Positives:

Organization - Many faculty keep the LMS organized with clear instructions, due dates, etc. This helps students stay on track and know what is expected.
Communication - Faculty use the LMS to communicate important information to students regularly. Some also give feedback and communicate directly with students.
Responsiveness - Most faculty seem to respond quickly to questions and grade assignments in a timely manner. This helps students feel supported.
Ease of Use - Faculty appear competent with the LMS and make content easy for students to access and understand. Some provide instructions/videos on using the LMS effectively.
Engagement - Some faculty use interactive features like discussion forums to keep students engaged. Others share multimedia content.

Areas for Improvement:

Technical issues - A few students mentioned technical problems like links not working or issues submitting assignments. Providing IT support/training could help.

Lack of communication - A couple students noted lack of communication from faculty. Regular LMS updates are important to keep students informed.

Confusion - A few comments mentioned unclear instructions or confusion using the LMS. Clear guidance and organization is key.

Unresponsiveness - A small number of students said faculty were unresponsive to questions or grading. Timely communication and feedback is important.

Overall the student feedback is largely positive. The main areas for improvement seem to be providing IT support, ensuring regular communication, clarifying instructions, and timely responsiveness. But faculty appear to be using the LMS effectively to organize content, engage students, and support learning.

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Play/continue to play with 1+ tools
Be mindful about what you put into it
Find outlets to learn, discuss, share
Determine institutional and department norms and acceptable use
Create communities of practice

How are and aren't we getting there?

Google Slides Image Generator with prompt: “strange terrain”

Ok–then what should you do?

This is where I wanna call back to that moment when I asked about what has changed in the last year in terms of teaching and learning. Not a whole lot and this is where it’s different from the pandemic. The pandemic happened all at once to everyone.

Even though the hype cycle feels like the robot have already taken control. It’s not just not true. So what follows is the longer game and guidance to help you move to more deeper ways of engaging with generative AI as it continues to evolve and we continue to see it arise.

Play with it and its variations. Don’t wait–go and kick the tires. You’re not going to break it and there’s lots of support materials to get you started (again, see the annotated slide deck). Try different tools and see what’s right for you.��NEXT�
Always think about what you are putting into it and if you have the right to do so or are violating someone’s privacy. This particularly includes students!

�NEXT�

Find your outlets to learn about it. You’re part of an institution of higher education–you’re part of an entity that whether we like it or not, are required to be lifelong learners if we want to continue to adapt to an every-changing and complex world. Put this on your personal agenda for learning and development.�

Hone in on how the tools are being used in your field. Start to learn what that conversation is like and how folks are considering it. Along those lines, –find your people! People in your fields and areas of work are already doing things with this. And they are writing, making videos, doing podcasts–all the things! Find them–and if you need help, let me lift up our amazing librarians–the OG’s of knowledge search and creation–the folks who could teach Google a thing or two about effective searching!�

Keep an eye out for the guardrails that your industry or field are communicating or establishing. Standards for generative AI use are going to be different for market than it will be for recruitment than it will be for alumni outreach. ��NEXT�

Does your usage align with your mission? For instance, any institution that upholds supporting their community and antiracist practices in their mission opens up interesting quandaries. Does marketing save time and money by using generative AI image-creations of a “diverse student body” for brochures, social media, the website and such. OR do they spend the extra time hiring community photographers or getting permissions of individuals to build out their stock photos for visual materials?

As you start to learn about it and use it, have conversations within your departments and teams to figure out the norms and acceptable use. Make sure you’re all on the same page and learn from your industry about what should be on those pages!��NEXT�

Create your communities of practice–here, among your professional colleagues, among your friends–but start learning and sharing–you do not have to be the holder of all the knowledge.

Within that, determine among your community of practice how you are going to share. Some folks are collective creating prompt books, others are creating Youtube playlists of things they are doing or of what they find others doing. But find a way to capture and share that works for your group. ��But as you learn more about these tools and find new ways of using generative AI–share them with colleagues. If generative AI is a collective of what already exists, then amplify its benefits by sharing with others.�

One thing I’ll add is that the annotated slide deck is a great place to go for further ideas between the resources provided throughout and the prompts in the second half, you have a lot to get up and going.

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Thank you!

Questions?