It has really only been 3 months since ChatGPT was released and there has been an explosion of articles, conversations, policies, discussions, rules, and more that are emerging and multiplying exponentially. I think that this is reflective of the impact that AI is having on Higher Education. On the one hand, there are arguments and policies being drafted for how we “stop the cheating” and “ensure academic integrity;” and on the other side there are arguments for “embrace the technology” and “rethink the way you teach.” This reminds me, as I date myself and my career here, when we entered the era of Web 2.0. Web 2.0 is when the internet went from static pages (users consumed information); to generative web pages – (users created content).
AI generated art using DallE 2 prompt: teaching and learning in space digital art
Bryan Alexander wrote an article published in Educause back in 2006, “Web 2.0: A New Wave of Innovation for Teaching and Learning” and while it was very much about the innovation emerging in 2006 such as social bookmarking and RSS much of what he said about their impact on higher education is applicable to now with the emergence of generative AI. One quote he wrote, “Web 2.0’s lowered barrier to entry mayinfluence a variety of cultural forms withpowerful implications for education.” Replace Web 2.0 with Generative AI and we are considering the same implications for education. I think with most innovation there will emerge two opposing opinions and AI is no different. This document, started by an individual at College Unbound, has quickly generated a list of institutional policies that are quickly being created in response to ChatGPT and more are added daily. This document alone demonstrates through language the wide range of expectations when it comes to AI and teaching and learning. From strict “zero tolerance” policies to “this is important to learn how to use” policies, this document demonstrates the wide range of believes that come with generative AI. The Chronicle of Higher Education already has some 15 articles about ChatGPT also offering varying thoughts and ideas about how AI should be used in higher education.
In Maricopa we have departments discussing it at meetings, conversations (digital and in person) back and forth about the amazing things and the “horrifying” things it can do, and what it means to our traditional methods of teaching. We have communities of practice where faculty come together and share thoughts, ideas, resources, explore topics such as content policies, what does generative AI mean for Intellectual Property, copyright, what does it mean for the writing process, what does it mean to create art, and more. I find it all exciting. While the conversations vary from cheating, plagiarism, academic integrity, to emerging technology, leveraging innovation, new ways of thinking about writing, etc…it all, fundamentally, is a conversation about how we teach, why we teach, what our goals are for teaching, what is important to student learning, what is important for critical thinking, writing, communicating, expressing ones self, and so much more. Higher Education, especially in the Community College‘s, is about teaching and learning and should always be transformative. For students and for faculty. Our practice should always change, our students change, our culture changes, our communities change, our understanding of our discipline changes, new things are discovered in our disciplines, new ways of using innovation in our disciplines change…teaching should always change if we are to stay current in our fields and help students succeed.
In Maricopa one of our Excellence in Teaching and Learning Guiding Principles is: Creativity and Innovation. This principle says Maricopa faculty, “evoke a spirit of curiosity, wonder, and imagination in our students. Holding creativity and innovation in high regard, we stretch beyond what is established into what is possible.” I think now is such a time for considering “what is possible.”
I know there are many in the district already using AI in their courses. I want to share some of the creative ways faculty have shared with us in how they are using ChatGPT, Dall-E, MuseNet, Dall-E 2, Whisper, etc. While I am not saying there isn’t a time and place for the academic integrity and plagiarism conversation, because there definitely is, however, our work in in this space is to “lead and inspire innovative teaching” and one of the best ways is to learn from each other.
Here are a few examples, shared by faculty in the district, on ways they are using AI in their courses:
Asking students to use ChatGPT to write potential test questions, revise/correct as needed, and submit the original and the revised versions.
Use ChatGPT to do a case study and have the students evaluate if it is correct or incorrect
Use ChatGPT to research specific topics then have the students evaluate/correct the results. As an example, “explain what a torn ACL is and what the common treatment is” then have the students research to assess if it is correct, fix what is wrong, and add to it to include certain aspects of a case study like that.
Use ChatGPT to generate an essay, ask for its resources, then have the students research the resources used and have them find better ones and write up a summary about their opinion on the resources that ChatGPT used and why they choose to add the ones they did, etc.
Have students use ChatGPT to fact check something- then have the students fact check ChatGPT’s fact checking
Use ChatGPT to generate an initial writing prompt and then have the students write the next portion
Redesign essays that are intended to serve as a “summary” and instead have students write reflection essays on the content where they write about example of the concept in their own lives. Example: Instead of “summarizing Plato’s Republic” have students write about a concept in that book based on an experience in their own lives and how the book influenced their perception of that experience.
Use in-class experiences for assignment ideas…a speaker, a recorded video, an in class/lab experience, a discussion, etc. that they then complete an assignment about that experience. (because AI can’t be in class with them)
Provide students with a “conclusion” to an essay, argument, etc. and have them to build a reference list/citations for that conclusion. Have them reverse research the paper.
Here are additional, innovative ideas for using ChatGPT in the classroom presented by ASCD, Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development in a blog entitled, Leveraging ChatGPT: Practical Ideas for Educators. Other creative ideas can be heard from Maricopa’s own, Dr. Steven Crawford in a webinar he did recently with PackBack called “ChatGPT and AI’s Effect on Community Colleges.”
We look forward to continued conversations, sharing innovative ideas and practices, and exploring this dynamic, changing landscape that is teaching in higher ed.
Webex has introduced breakout rooms! This workshop will cover the basics of setting up breakout rooms, leveraging new features for hosting, and more! The first sessions will be held:
Tuesday, September 29, 1:30pm – 2:30pm
Wednesday, September 30, 1:30pm – 2:30pm
See the CTL Calendar for meeting details and future sessions!
What’s an Unconference? Conferences are about presentations but an Unconference is about conversation…conversations around topics you choose. So, we won’t create the schedule – you will! Tell us what you want to talk about and we’ll find someone to facilitate that conversation OR better yet – tell us what topic you are willing to facilitate a conversation around. We are all busy getting ready for this upcoming year and all faced with many of the same challenges…we have much we can share and discuss so let’s get together and talk! What do you want to talk about? Tell us! Then join the conversation on Wednesday August 14, 2019 in the CTL.
The CTL has partnered with FSS to offer three days of professional development for faculty and staff. The full program is now available for review. Register before 5PM on 5-10-17. Space is limited.
Residential faculty may earn up to 14.0 clock hours of FPG.
A stipend of $110.00 for the first full day completed and verified through the CTL. A stipend of $137.50 each for the second and third full days completed and verified through FSS. Funding is limited; priority will be assigned by registration date. That’s $385.00 to attend all three days!
Hourly breakdown: ($27.50 x 4 hours x 1 day) + ($27.50 x 5 hours x 2 days)
Participating faculty will need to fill out all necessary paperwork, including daily evaluation and assessment forms. To be eligible for stipends, MCC faculty members must have taught during the 2016-2017 Academic Year and not reached their summer load limit. This includes Residential, OYO, OSO, and Adjunct faculty. HR will check load before processing assignments for payment.
DAY 1 (5/15): GRAB YOUR PACK AND GET HIKING • Session Full
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will kick off camp with a day filled with learning. Student Affairs staff will find connections with inclusive practices for serving diverse students.
Day 2 is focused on topics that integrate an array of tools for supporting students from recruitment to instruction. Keynote, Robin Ozz, will share current practices and trends for developmental learners.
Day 3 will challenge faculty and staff to engage in refined practices to elevate the student experience at MCC. Keynote, Caron Sada, will introduce the entrepreneurial mindset for community engagement and career readiness. Select sessions will demonstrate alignment to MCC’s GPS and HSI initiatives.
Come to Camp Inspired and create a dialogue among faculty and staff about practices and strategies that blur the boundaries between Academic departments and Student Affairs in order to create a comprehensive, supportive path for students.
The Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) will kick off camp with a day filled with learning. Student Affairs staff will find connections with inclusive practices for serving diverse students.
Day 2 is focused on topics that integrate an array of tools for supporting students from recruitment to instruction. Keynote, Robin Ozz, will share current practices and trends for developmental learners.
Day 3 will challenge faculty and staff to engage in refined practices to elevate the student experience at MCC. Select sessions will demonstrate alignment to MCC’s GPS and HSI initiatives.
Compensation Available
We have submitted for Pre-Approval for 14.0 clock hours of FPG.
A stipend of $110.00 for the first full day completed and verified through the CTL. A stipend of $137.50 each for the second and third full days completed and verified through FSS. Funding is limited; priority will be assigned by registration date. That’s $385.00 to attend all three days!
Hourly breakdown: ($27.50 x 4 hours x 1 day) + ($27.50 x 5 hours x 2 days)
Participating faculty will need to fill out all necessary paperwork, including daily evaluation and assessment forms. To be eligible for stipends, MCC faculty members must have taught during the 2016-2017 Academic Year and not reached their summer load limit. This includes Residential, OYO, OSO, and Adjunct faculty. HR will check load before processing assignments for payment.
Throughout the month of March, faculty and staff professional development will be available at Maricopa campus and district locations in a number of formats including day, evening and online. Each week, a different region of locations will be offering learning events, i.e. games. Faculty and staff are encouraged to not only attend games (sessions) in their own regions, but also travel to other regions of the Valley. MCC’s CTL is offering a variety of in-person and webinar sessions for this series. View the MCC Spring Training professional development schedule. We hope to see you soon!
The CTL will be featuring an OER Ideation Circle during the Spring semester. Ideation Circles require a small group of faculty or staff from any area of the college who come together for at least a semester to discuss a teaching and learning topic that they can delve deeply into during group discussions. Annapurna Ganesh and other Education Studies faculty have formed an ideation circle on the topic of Open Educational Resources (OERs).
You are invited to explore and learn about OERs. The group intends to meet regularly (twice a month) in the CTL to exchange and share ideas. The same ideation circle will be offered at two different times Mon 10:15 – 11 and Tues 4:30 – 5:15, you are welcome to choose either time to participate.
See the CTL calendar for the dates of the OER Featured Ideation Circle. The first session will be offered on February 8 or 9. Bring your questions, resources and ideas as we discover OERs together. We will be meeting in the CTL lobby at the Southern & Dobson campus. MCC-RDM faculty will be meeting in the CTL spot located in the PV instructional support room (adjunct office area).
This is Sarah Outwater, a young woman who has been blind since she was 3 years old. She's a cancer survivor (metastatic retinoblastoma) and has been in her condition ever since she had surgery on her eyes to protect her from the deadly disease.
I was invited to participate in a charity project for a little girl she had heard of on the news who was in a similar condition as she was at her age, except technology has advanced and this little girl (last I heard) was free of her cancer and still able to see.
Sarah is an extremely intelligent girl and can play several different musical instruments and uses technology to support her education and professional career goals. In her charity project, she was compiling a music album and asking for donations to help the family of the girl who was receiving cancer treatments. As part of my donation, I offered to build a web site and create/donate some multimedia presentations for benefit concerts and post them on the website (This was before I heard of YouTube). Sarah brought her laptop to my workplace and we cut some video interviews together and I showed her how to edit content for the website. Later we were joking together in a group meeting about how people and technology interact. I made the quip that people who talk to their technology to get it to do obscure things are borderline bonkers, and she retorted "well that's nothing. My technology talks to me!"
Of course it was true. In our interactions for her laptop was equipped with screen reading technology that allowed her to complete her work for school and work on her music projects. This is a prime example of adaptive use of technology for a population that predominantly gets their work done despite the fact that they can't see what they are doing.
However, that's not the only way people who can't make use of their eyes to do their work continue to survive. They must be able to use their other senses. Audio alone in my humble opinion is not the savior of interaction with technology. People must be able to use their other senses too. Which of the remaining 4 senses makes the most sense for HCI for blind people? Touch or tactile surfaces is what's coming to mind.
Here is something that Macrodobia (Adobe the company and Macromedia's Technology) have been pushing for a while…the idea that consistent technology for authoring multimedia content be available on a multitude of devices. What this means is that soon someday we will be seeing flash on tons of personal handheld devices.
I also suspect we will see flash interfaces on other devices too such as kitchen appliances and home entertainment center components. Even more sobering would be to see it in public facilities and transportation devices such as elevators.
Adobe is really pushing their flash platform which is really good for people like me who enjoy learning about their platform. What I would really like to see is an concerted effort to research what accessibility options exist for persons who can't use their eyes to interact with interfaces that will potentially be flat and non-tactile.
Even Apple's iPhone with all its glitz and glory has its issues. How does a person who can't see be excited about an iPhone for their communication needs? Sarah had no problem using her cell phone to communicate, and could very easily find the buttons to push because she could feel them with her fingers. Voice activation is probably on the horizon and may become mandatory for devices using these interfaces, and I will be waiting to see what advances are on their way with Adobe's technology.
I’ve been reading Bob Cringely’s column ever since I discovered he was the person behind one of my favorite PBS documentaries, “Triumph of the Nerds” which is a history of personal computing. Last week he posted an article about how the later generations of our students who are beginning to perceive that there was no life prior to computers, perhaps much in the same way my generation perceives television. What will our children’s children be experiencing in their learning opportunities?
Many readers might have wondered where we were during the posts in between November and the start of Spring Semester. We had a little challenge with our blog software, but we are obviously back online now, thanks to James Bowles who has been serving as our new Systems Administrator.
As for myself, I’ve been very busy since returning to the CTL after a semester-long sabbatical leave to finish a master’s degree in Educational Technology at ASU. It’s done and I’m back and although I’ve been really struggling to find time to do everything I want to as well as serve the needs of the CTL faculty it’s been fun.
