Quick Hits: Several presenters suggested exercises that can be quick, easy, and fun for students. Invite your class to complete a Mad Libs using ChatGPT. It’s a playful way to leverage ChatGPT’s ability to predict the next word, giving students insight into how generative AI works on a fundamental level. You can also have your students use ChatGPT to rewrite their own writing in the tone and style of their favorite writers. This exercise demonstrates AI’s ability to mimic style and teaches students about adopting different tones in writing.
Vetting Sources: One session, led by the Johns Hopkins University’s Olysha Magruder, Juliet Owuor, and Stephyn Butcher, provided an exercise that helps instructors teach ChatGPT’s limitations. Challenge your students to ask ChatGPT for a list of academic sources on a topic, and then have them evaluate the credibility and usability of those sources. This exercise empowers students to verify the information AI generates, fostering responsible AI use.
Grade ChatGPT: Rather than assigning students to write an essay, assign them the task of using ChatGPT to generate one instead. Then have them grade ChatGPT’s work using a rubric you provide. This role reversal lets students gain a deeper understanding of essay components, source validation, argument evaluation, and supporting evidence. Follow this with peer reviews and reflection papers for further insights into their learning experience.
Lead by Example: To effectively teach about generative AI, experiment with it yourself. ChatGPT can generate templates for syllabi, assignments, rubrics, and course websites, while prompt engineering can refine your results.
Caryn Sever, director of instructional design and development at Northern Virginia Community College, and Kate Grovergrys, faculty consultant in the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Madison College, in Wisconsin, hosted a session that provided a wealth of resources for leveraging AI in the classroom. Here’s a document of AI prompts that can assist you in teaching and developing material for a language learning course. For example, you can transform Bing’s AI into a Spanish language tutor or use ChatGPT as a writing tutor. These prompts enable AI to serve as a supplementary support tool for students and complement your personalized guidance.
AI Proofing: But what if you don’t want your students to use AI? Sean Nufer, senior director of teaching and learning at The Community Solution Education System, shared this Canvas site with some suggestions. His take is that, regardless of AI being a concern, making your assignments more relevant to students’ lives reduces the chances of cheating.
One assignment asks students to use principles from their course readings to analyze an advertisement that resonates with them. This familiarizes them with class concepts and encourages practical application in their daily lives, further cementing how relevant their learning material can be. Extend this approach by having students apply class principles to analyze local store product displays. Using a platform like Padlet enables students to interact with photos and videos, enhancing the learning experience with multimedia materials. Encouraging students to explore their communities, Nufer says, not only promotes the application of course knowledge in a meaningful way, but also enriches your understanding of their personal experiences, affording a stronger interpersonal connection between instructor and student.
What stood out to me from OLC Accelerate 2023 was how open people were to using AI in classrooms. Many presenters argued that it would be better in the long term to teach students how to use AI effectively now, rather than letting fear or corporations dictate how it is used. In that spirit, I put my first draft of this article through ChatGPT to see how it would rewrite it. While I did polish it up afterward, I feel that this article turned out better thanks to that first editing round with ChatGPT.
If you use any of the exercises above, or found this list useful, please let me know. And if you have more to say on this, either through sharing exercises you found helpful or by sharing your opinion on the ones I have above, I am eager to hear what you have to say. Write to me at luna.laliberte@chronicle.com and your advice may appear in a future newsletter.
Active Learning reexamined
Studies have repeatedly found that students whose STEM courses are taught using active learning perform better than those taught with traditional lectures. But just how solid are those studies, which, after all, were conducted in classrooms?
That’s the question a team of researchers set out to answer in a recent study examining the internal validity of studies supporting active learning. Their conclusion? The field needs better, more specific research, and a bright-line distinction between “active learning” and “lecturing” doesn’t really make sense, since many class periods include both techniques.
I spoke with the authors and got some additional context from education researchers and faculty developers for my latest story, which you can read here.
Do you use a blend of lecture and active-learning strategies? If so, write to me at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com and tell me how that has worked for you and your students.
Wrapping up
Lots of professors reconsidered the way they give final exams during the first semester of emergency remote instruction, and some of those changes have stuck.
I’m curious to hear what you do to close out the semester with your students beyond a final paper/exam/project and any expected student course evaluation. Do you conduct your own survey of students, in addition to the institutional one? Do you have a different assignment to get their feedback on how things went? Do you do something else to help students reflect, celebrate, or put everything they learned together? If you have a creative end-of-the-semester activity — whether new or longstanding — tell me about it at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com, and your example may appear in a future newsletter.
Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email us, at beckie.supiano@chronicle.com or beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.
As always, nonsubscribers who register for a free Chronicle account can read two articles a month. Your readership supports our journalism.
-Beckie
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