Oktoberbest - A Symposium On Teaching
Ray Schroeder
UPCEA Sr Fellow
UIS Professor Emeritus
Photo by Daniel Korpai on Unsplash
University of South Carolina "Oktoberbest" 10/6/2023
Teaching and Learning with GenerativeAI
Welcome!
First a word about power-pointless. I have been presenting without ppt for the past 15 or more years. My rationale is to best serve you. The presentation is intended to be informative, timely, updatable, and accessible anytime/anyplace. So, I use this format of brief summaries of articles, charts, etc. with publication dates that are linked to the sources because the field is changing day-by-day. In this way, you can easily extract them and use them for your own presentations or correspondence with colleagues. You can browse ahead while I present, or linger on a topic and links where your interest is piqued. Enjoy! -ray
Abstract: Teaching and Learning with Generative AI
We will examine the current and future impact of Generative AI on teaching and learning at the college level. Among the topics we will touch upon are how course instructors might take advantage of the emerging Generative Artificial Intelligence innovations to engage students in critical thinking, writing, and analysis. We will also consider how these technologies can also be used by instructors in the creation of course material, grading, and providing feedback on student work, generating lecture materials and exam questions, and conducting literature reviews and data analysis. Looking ahead, we will consider employer expectations of graduate knowledge and facility with Generative AI in making hiring decisions. Finally, we will look ahead to the impact of AI more broadly in both higher education and the workplace.
You hate AI for all the right reasons. Now reconsider. - Josh Tyrangiel, Washington Post 9/10/2023
Imagine if your brain got 10 times smarter every year over the past decade, and you were on pace for more 10x compounding increases in intelligence over at least the next five. Throw in precise recall of everything you’ve ever learned and the ability to synthesize all those materials instantly in any language. You wouldn’t be just the smartest person to have ever lived — you’d be all the smartest people to have ever lived. (Though not the wisest.) That’s a plausible trajectory of the largest AI models. This explains how, since roughly the middle of the Obama administration, AI has gone from a precocious toddler to blowing through many of the supposed barriers between human and machine capabilities. The winners and losers might be in flux, but AI is likely to insinuate itself into most aspects of our lives.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2023/09/10/ai-future-power-imperfection-technology/
Bill Gates in March 21, 2023 Time Magazine
“The development of AI is as fundamental as the creation of the microprocessor, the personal computer, the Internet, and the mobile phone,” he wrote. “It will change the way people work, learn, travel, get health care, and communicate with each other.” https://time.com/6264801/bill-gates-ai/
Enterprise workers gain 40 percent performance boost from GPT-4, Harvard study finds - Matt Marshall, Venture Beat 9/25/2023
A Harvard-led study has found that using generative AI helped hundreds of consultants working for the respected Boston Consulting Group (BCG) complete a range of tasks more often, more quickly, and at a higher quality than those who did not use AI. Moreover, it showed that the lowest performers among the group had the biggest gains when using generative AI. The study, conducted by data scientists and researchers from Harvard, Wharton, and MIT, is the first significant study of real usage of generative AI in an enterprise since the explosive success of ChatGPT’s pubic release in November 2022 — which triggered a rush among major enterprise companies to figure out optimal ways to utilize it. The researchers moved quickly, starting their research in January of this year, and using GPT-4 for the experiment — which is widely considered the most powerful large language model (LLM). The study carries some significant implications for how businesses should approach deploying it.
AI Impact: Over 40% of Labor Force Could Be Affected in Next Three Years, Says Morgan Stanley - Emmanuel Abara Benson, BNN 10/3/2023
Morgan Stanley’s recent forecast suggests a significant change in the labor market due to the increasing impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI). Analyst Brian Nowak anticipates that AI will affect about 44% of the labor force in the next few years. The economic impact is estimated at 4.1 trillion dollars, changing input costs, automating tasks, and altering how companies process and analyze information. Currently, AI’s impact is estimated at 2.1 trillion dollars, affecting 25% of labor.
How to Integrate AI into Higher Education - Susan Fourtané, Fierce Education 6/26/2023
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is a controversial subject in higher education, however, there is a plethora of opportunities where colleges and universities can effectively integrate AI into their teaching and learning. “AI is great for dramatically speeding up time-consuming tasks. If you were building a deck and needed to drill in screws to hold the lumber in place, you’d likely use an electric drill instead of a hand screwdriver. Both produce the same result, but the electric drill is faster and more efficient than doing the task by hand. AI works in a similar way with tasks that are traditionally cumbersome or data-intensive,” explains Michael Vaughn, Education and Adoption Specialist at Open LMS, working on a generative AI use policy.
https://www.fierceeducation.com/teaching-learning/how-integrate-ai-higher-education
ChatGPT and generative AI: 25 applications in teaching and assessment - Seb Dianati, Suman Laudari, Times Higher Education 8/15/2023
Everyone knows generative artificial intelligence (AI) such as ChatGPT has extensive and varied potential uses in higher education. But how does this apply to your own academic and instructional work? Following on from our previous guide “An introduction to prompting generative AI like ChatGPT for teaching and learning”, here are 25 examples of prompts to show how generative AI could be used within curriculum development, teaching and assessment.
ChatGPT: University Teaching Applications - OpenAI 6/29/2023
Give me 100 applications of Chatgpt for university teaching
https://chat.openai.com/share/f25e384c-ebef-4221-bca7-459a091eaa19
The case for ChatGPT as the ultimate educator’s toolkit - Julia Lang and Dustin Liu, eCampus News 9/20/2023
In both higher education and K-12 education, AI offers numerous potential benefits, including early interventions via identifying students at risk and its ability to provide real-time feedback to both students and teachers, helping identify areas where students may be struggling and allowing for immediate intervention. AI tools can create content quickly, such as quizzes and worksheets and complete administrative tasks, such as grading assignments and generating progress reports, freeing up more time for instructional activities. ChatGPT also has the potential to revolutionize learning for students with disabilities by making information more accessible: it can summarize information, convert text into alternative formats, and be programmed to follow any provided accessibility guidelines.
OpenAI to Teachers: Tools to Detect ChatGPT-Generated Text Don't Work - Michael Kan, PC Mag 8/31/2023
As teachers tap tools to detect whether students are using ChatGPT to cheat, OpenAI says don’t bother: The tools aren't reliable. The company issued the advice in a new FAQ instructing educators about the use of ChatGPT in schools, including the potential pitfalls in trying to detect AI-written text. A number of tools have emerged to address how AI-powered chatbots can help students cheat on their homework assignments and tests. But according to OpenAI, depending on a tool to suss out AI-written text from a student’s work is loaded with problems. “While some (including OpenAI) have released tools that purport to detect AI-generated content, none of these have proven to reliably distinguish between AI-generated and human-generated content,” the company wrote in the FAQ.
https://www.pcmag.com/news/openai-to-teachers-tools-to-detect-chatgpt-generated-text-dont-work
Teaching with AI - OpenAI 8/31/2023
We’re releasing a guide for teachers using ChatGPT in their classroom—including suggested prompts, an explanation of how ChatGPT works and its limitations, the efficacy of AI detectors, and bias. We’re sharing a few stories of how educators are using ChatGPT to accelerate student learning and some prompts to help educators get started with the tool. In addition to the examples below, our new FAQ contains additional resources from leading education organizations on how to teach with and about AI, examples of new AI-powered education tools, and answers to frequently asked questions from educators about things like how ChatGPT works, its limitations, the efficacy of AI detectors, and bias. Read examples linked below.
Advancing meaningful learning in the age of AI 9/2023
Bloom’s Taxonomy is often used as a resource to help higher education faculty assess what kinds or “levels” of learning are planned based on course-level outcomes and, relatedly, to align appropriate activities and assessments to support student learning and success. Here, we have used Bloom’s Taxonomy as a touchstone for reconsidering course outcomes and student learning in the age of generative AI. The visual outline and accompanying narrative below are intended for faculty use as a guide to reflect on their activities, assessments, and (possibly) course outcomes and begin to identify what changes may be needed to ensure meaningful learning going forward.
https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/faculty/artificial-intelligence-tools/meaningful-learning/
AI decision tree - Oregon State University
This document is intended to help the Ecampus Course Development Team, as well as faculty and staff, use a principles-based approach in deciding if and how to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into course development, research, and other work projects. After reviewing the risks identified below, consider whether the overall benefits of using the tool outweigh the risks.
View the decision tree graphic: https://ecampus.oregonstate.edu/faculty/artificial-intelligence-tools/decision-tree/
Setting HE Coursework in the ChatGPT Era: Assessing the Process, Not the Product - Adam Finkel-Gates, Medium 9/8/2023
Rather than focusing on the final essay, I’m going to assess my students based on their interaction with ChatGPT. The prompts they use, the questions they ask, all become a direct reflection of their understanding of the subject. This approach can be universal, applicable across courses, highlighting the students’ critical thinking and understanding rather than their ability to construct an essay. In this evolving ChatGPT era, my assessment strategy for students pivots from traditional methods to a more interactive, process-centric approach. Rather than solely evaluating the final essay or content generated by AI tools like ChatGPT, I will focus on the students’ interaction with the platform. Each prompt, query, and directive they give the AI becomes a testament to their grasp of the subject matter.
Syllabi Policies for AI Generative Tools - Lance Eaton, Google Docs Repository 9/20/2023
This resource is created by Lance Eaton (contact him via email, Twitter, or LinkedIn) for the purposes of sharing and helping other instructors see the range of policies available by other educators to help in the development of their own for navigating AI-Generative Tools (such as ChatGPT, MidJourney, Dall-E, etc). If you would like to revise your submission, please just fill out the form and clarify in the comments that it’s a replacement. Folks are welcomed to download or share this resource or parts of it with their colleagues, institutions, and communities of practice.
What Students Said About the Spring of ChatGPT - Ross Aikins and Albert Kuo, Inside Higher Ed 9/7/2023
If interviews with students tell us anything, it’s that an ever-growing number of students are turning to AI as a first resort for almost everything following OpenAI’s public release of ChatGPT in November 2022. All of this points to an “AI inevitability” in academia in terms of students assuming its fair use. The way students see it, many jobs and industries don’t care as much about the process—as opposed to the product—as we do in academia. Whether they are correct or not, students who believe this are likely to value AI-aware class environments that provide them opportunities to better learn how to responsibly use tools that could enable their promotion and professional advancement in postgraduate careers. Anything that makes college easier in the meantime is a bonus.
Khanmigo, your AI guide - Salman Khan, Khan Academy
By leveraging AI, we can bring the benefits of one-on-one tutoring—deep understanding, confidence, clarity, and empowerment—to all students. Take your teaching to the next level with AI-guided lesson planning and insightful student feedback. Khanmigo frees up our educators’ most limited resource—time. Khanmigo mimics a writing coach by giving prompts and suggestions to move students forward as they write, debate, and collaborate in exciting new ways. Learning to code has never been more accessible. Khanmigo’s interactive experiences and real-time feedback will help learners hone their computer science skills.
Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education: Benefits and Ethics - Susan Fourtané, Fierce Education 12/16/2022
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is one of the most prevalent technology trends in higher education going into 2023. AI can be used to improve and enhance the educational experience for students, providing personalized learning tailored for each student as well as offering novel ways of accessibility. AI can help to improve student engagement with course materials contributing to a successful outcome. However, there are also potential ethical concerns which need to be addressed including fairness, bias, and the potential for AI to replace human teachers in the future.
AI Literacy is a Fundamental Pillar in Higher Education - Susan Fourtané, Fierce Education 8/11/2023
Artificial Intelligence literacy skills must be incorporated in university curriculums to prepare students for in-demand graduate-level jobs. AI-based technologies have now become an integral part of every industry as well as our daily life. New graduates who are not AI literate will find it hard to find graduate-level jobs. AI is influencing and transforming the workplace. Graduates need to be prepared to face the world in the AI era. For this reason, universities must be ready to adapt and provide AI literacy training to their students in all disciplines.
Will ChatGPT transform research? It already has, say Nobelists - Jack Grove, Times Higher Education 9/17/2023
Nobel-winning scientists are now using large language models, but experts say their impact on research is only just starting. “I think ChatGPT can make anyone 30 per cent smarter – that’s impressive,” reflected Michael Levitt, the South Africa-born biophysicist who took the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2013. “It’s a conversational partner that makes you think outside the box or a research team who have read a million books and many million journal papers.” A pioneer of the computer modelling of molecules, Professor Levitt is not easily dazzled by technological wizardry but admits he has been impressed by the large language models (LLMs) that have emerged over the past year. “I didn’t expect to this kind of stuff in my lifetime – they’re a very powerful tool. I still write code every day but ChatGPT also writes programmes very well,” he said.
OpenAI Turns ChatGPT into a Voice Assistant That Can See and Understand Images and Speech - ERIC HAL SCHWARTZ, Voicebot 9/30/2023
The most notable change to ChatGPT is its new ability to understand speech and respond in kind. A new text-to-speech model that mimics human voices after hearing just seconds of sample audio lets users hear ChatGPT’s ‘voice’ respond to their input. OpenAI’s speech recognition system Whisper transcribes users’ spoken words. The conversation, as seen above, essentially turns ChatGPT into a voice assistant like Alexa or Google Assistant, albeit one with the benefits and limits of the generative AI chatbot. ChatGPT can converse using any of five available voices, synthesized from professional voice actors into models like the one heard in the video.
Ray's current favorite GenAI apps
ChatGPT https://chat.openai.com/
How to: https://zapier.com/blog/how-to-use-chatgpt/
Google Bard https://bard.google.com/
How to: https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-use-google-bard/Bing AI Chat https://www.bing.com/new
How to: https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/bingPerplexity https://www.perplexity.ai/
How to: medium.com/@entrustech/perplexity-ai-what-you-need-to-know-and-how-to-use-it-82ee6ce1fbd
Claude 2 https://claude.ai/chat/
Note Anthropic paid plans for Claude 2? https://www.searchenginejournal.com/anthropic-to-launch-paid-plans-for-access-to-claude/494867/
How to: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ClrLJPsBJ9E
Pi chat https://heypi.com/talk
How to: https://digitalpilgrim.io/it/ai/inflection-ai-chatbot-pi/
ChatPDF https://www.chatpdf.com/
How to Write AI Prompts: The Key to Better Outputs from Generative AI - Laura Starita, the Content Strategist
Consider these elements of an effective prompt:
Describe your goal output. Tell the AI what output you’re hoping to see. If you want an email subject line and body copy, say that. If you want it to be less than 100 words, say that, too. A blog post of 1,000 words or less? Specify it.
Describe the audience and style. Tell the AI who you’re talking to and what tone you want to take with them. Are they nature enthusiasts? Practicing physicians? Newly certified accountants? Do you want conversational prose, technical writing, or sector-specific terminology? Provide those details.
Include keywords or phrases you want the AI to incorporate. This is clearly helpful for SEO purposes but also to communicate preferences about the terms you’d like it to use.
Ask for special formatting. The AI can format your output as paragraphs, a numbered list, a table with content you can input to Microsoft Excel or Google Sheets, and so on.
Provide source material or examples. A prompt that includes a content source can help the AI understand what facts or details you want it to use and what tone or key message you’d like it to focus on.
Revise. If you don’t get what you expect from the AI, try again. If it is totally wrong, try a new prompt. If you find some of what it produced useful, tell it what you liked and provide instructions for revising the rest of it.
https://contently.com/2023/04/13/how-to-write-ai-prompts-for-generative-ai/
GenAI Chatbot Prompt Library for Educators - AI for Education 9/22/2023
We have a variety of prompts to help you lesson plan and do adminstrative tasks with GenAI chatbots like ChatGPT, Claude, Bard, and Perplexity.
Prompt and Process with Ethan Mollick [AI miniseries] - POSSIBLE 7/5/2023
So, let’s take that from the very high level to the very specific. What kind of prompt or sequence of prompts would you suggest for – and I’m going to give all three, but let’s answer each three separately – a completely new user of ChatGPT (or, you know, pick your favorite AI system) moderate user of ChatGPT, and then a power user. And by the way, I’ve done variations of this when I was looking at showing how these things can work in education, I said, “explain quantum mechanics to a six-year-old, 12-year-old college student, college professor.” And it was interesting how you got the different answers in doing this. So what would be a new user, a moderate user and a power user?
Two Top Action Items for All Higher Ed Institutions
PRIORITY! Preparing Students for the GenAI Enhanced Workforce - Ray Schroeder, Inside Higher Ed 9/15/2023
So, how do we implement practices that will best enable our students to compete for entry level and advanced jobs that require GenAI knowledge and skills? And, how do we assure that we are providing them with the latest information that is relevant in the positions that they are most likely to seek?
We need a coordinated and streamlined process to implement as soon as possible. Some steps that will be important to include are:
First, we need to identify baseline information and skills that are relevant in most every field. We should test the list of these skills with our own university HR department as well as HR offices at local and regional employers of our graduates and certificate completers. These will include familiarity with how GenAI works and basic experience in formulating effective prompts for a range of bots and apps that are most common at the time. These topics could be integrated into a self-paced, non-credit series of modules that comprise a basic Introduction to Generative AI. Ideally, these would begin to be offered this fall semester so that upcoming completers would be able to finish the modules before they apply for jobs. The program should include a portfolio of the learner’s work that would be associated with a badge or certification. The portfolio will enable prospective employers samples to examine in order to make informed hiring decisions. It is important that annual or semi-annual module updates are provided, and that learners be permitted to complete the updates in order to keep their certificate relevant and up-to-date. They could be provided as stand-alone electives or integrated into relevant courses.
Each college and in many cases, each academic department, should invite HR personnel from local and regional employers of their graduates and certificate completers to campus meetings. Relevant national employers could be invited to Zoom sessions. In these meetings, the university personnel can establish common practices and expectations for GenAI knowledge and skills tied to specified ranges of positions. These can then be used to create customized modules for learners seeking employment in those positions. A validated portfolio of the learners’ work can be associated with the activities.
In some cases, it may make sense to integrate such GenAI learning modules into existing senior capstone classes that will assure that the material is as relevant and timely as possible to be taken immediately before students pursue employment interviews.
The modules that comprise a certificate in this area should be reviewed and updated at least annually to ensure they are tied to the latest practices and software.
Review committee meetings should be held with the local, regional and national employers every semester or year to ensure that the practices, skills and knowledge that are captured in the learning outcomes are still relevant and to-the-point. Such an approach may be adapted to meet evolving departmental and institutional needs.
What is your institution doing to ensure that learners are qualified to optimally use GenAI in the workplace? This is a top priority for students and employers; is it a top priority for your university? What can you do to help to advance this initiative?
PRIORITY! Supporting the Faculty Member Fearing GenAI - Ray Schroeder Inside Higher Ed 8/30/2023
These concerns and the resulting anxiety have affected senior, mid-career, and new faculty members alike. The anxieties are shared by many staff and administrators. As we open the university doors this fall, we need to address the anxiety and help resolve the very real and the imagined fears. We must not understate the importance, scope and relevance of the advent of GenAI. Among the concerns today are:
Will this be the end of my career? Will I be able to learn enough about this technology to use it effectively? Will my students know more about this than I do? Does this mean that I must now trash decades of developing syllabi and lesson plans? Where will I find the time to learn about GenAI? Who will help me?
So, what should we do?
We should implement a university-wide study this semester to determine how genAI will impact faculty and staff positions in every college and department. Will fewer faculty and staff be needed? Will fewer or different staffing and curricula be required? This must be done in an open and transparent process.
We should provide training to deans, directors, chairs, and staff in our health services units to prepare them to discuss these issues with our employees. Services should be cultivated for a range of responses from panic and depression to even more serious reactions.
Our Human Resources department should prepare workshops and associated materials for examining career futures as well as opportunities for upskilling and reskilling for employees who will likely be impacted.
The clock is ticking. What is your institution doing to prepare to address employee anxieties and impending shifts in staffing?
PONDER THIS CLOSING THOUGHT:
What OpenAI Really Wants - Steven Levy, Wired
For Altman and his company, ChatGPT and GPT-4 are merely stepping stones along the way to achieving a simple and seismic mission, one these technologists may as well have branded on their flesh. That mission is to build artificial general intelligence—a concept that’s so far been grounded more in science fiction than science—and to make it safe for humanity. The people who work at OpenAI are fanatical in their pursuit of that goal. (Though, as any number of conversations in the office café will confirm, the “build AGI” bit of the mission seems to offer up more raw excitement to its researchers than the “make it safe” bit.) These are people who do not shy from casually using the term “super-intelligence.” They assume that AI’s trajectory will surpass whatever peak biology can attain. The company’s financial documents even stipulate a kind of exit contingency for when AI wipes away our whole economic system.
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How can you keep up with daily developments & trends?
Ray's Daily Curated Reading Lists and Social Media.
Inside Higher Education - "Online: Trending Now" https://www.insidehighered.com/opinion/blogs/online-trending-now
UPCEA Professional, Continuing and Online Education Update http://continuingedupdate.blogspot.com/
Economics and Change in Higher Education by UPCEA http://recessionreality.blogspot.com/
OER Update by UPCEA https://oerupdate.blogspot.com/
Ray's Curation by UPCEA https://rayscuration.blogspot.com/
Alternative Credentials in Higher Ed by UPCEA https://altcred.blogspot.com
Twitter https://twitter.com/rayschroeder
Contact Ray
rschr1@uis.edu ~ rayschroeder@gmail.com
ray@upcea.edu
Senior Fellow, UPCEA
Professor Emeritus, University of Illinois Springfield