TYCA-MW  Chair Reflections

How are YOU doing?

In a recent conversation with my Provost in response to the simple question, “So how are you doing?” I responded with something along the lines of “Well… I find myself vacillating between burnout, existential angst, and inspired creativity.” All of these feelings are really rooted in my experience of adjusting to and dealing with the inescapable presence of GenAI in my day to day work. 

AI work has been on the docket as a topic of discussion for our field for quite some time now. In fact, last October at TYCA Midwest, Deb Bertsch from Columbus State Community College gave a keynote address on her recent work with AI in her classroom and offered inspired ideas about what it might look like to engage in forward thinking about AI in our field. Motivated by Deb’s talk, last weekend I spent a couple hours building a custom chat bot for students in both my composition one and composition two courses. One of them was designed to help students think through their thesis statement for the argumentative research paper… Another was an essay coach for the final assignment in my comp one class. 

I suppose my first observation about this experience was simply that it took me only two hours to develop these two tools and embed them in my LMS. And to be fair, I have no idea how well they will work, although the thesis coach did seem to come through with promising results this week when we tried it together in class. A second observation is that I recall sitting in the event space at College of DuPage last fall thinking to myself “how will I ever find the time to figure out something this complicated with all the other work on my plate right now, and to think that in six short months, this type of work has become so simple that you can do it with your feet up on the ottoman looking out the window. 

Things in the world are moving at a breathtaking pace right now. For me, the energy of our teaching context feels at turns frenetic, out of control, and ominous, and the responses of my colleagues to this moment feel similarly varied. With several people choosing to retire early, others pulling back and creating more time for themselves outside of work, and a few others more actively engaged in professional development than ever, we're all working to figure out what we can do to help our students (and ourselves) navigate these roiling waters. Similarly, our two-year college students are facing pressing realities — working full time and pursuing a full load of credits, balancing other responsibilities at home, navigating financial, social, and sometimes health struggles — all while just trying to get just one baby-step ahead. Can I really blame them for putting GenAI to work in pursuit of a better future that seems readily available to others who were dealt a more advantageous hand of cards?  

The thing I am appreciating as I work toward my own answers on the big questions is the community of educators out there who are engaging with the moment in meaningful ways. I’ve found myself leaning into scholarship in the field, with “The AI Reading Conundrum” by Christopher Eaton on my night stand helping me think about how students are using AI to help them with their reading, along with a copy of Reaching All Writers, by Joanne Giordano, et al., which is guiding me and my colleagues as we redesign our Composition 1 curriculum. I’ve been listening to Tea for Teaching episodes featuring Anna Mills on Authentic Voice and Flower Darby on how to bring joy to your online teaching. I was particularly compelled by a recent No Small Endeavor episode about the moral implications of Gen AI as well, and I’m now anxiously awaiting the publication this spring of The Science of Learning Meets AI, by Lewis Ludwig and Todd Zakrajsek after hearing an interview with them about their research. 

I imagine many of you are also just doing your best to get along, doing your best to make sure that students learn something in your classes that will mean something in the future, and doing your best to stay sane as you pass through an unprecedented time in our field.  We have, most of us, always found the work we do to be valuable, and most of us likely don’t think our work will ever be unnecessary, but in some ways we are being asked to consider what aspects of our work will actually stand the test of time. 

When I discuss that question with other educators, we tend to talk about getting back to the basics: critical thinking, rhetorical knowledge, and reading skills. Integrated reading and writing has long been the bedrock of strong developmental writing courses, but now perhaps it will become more fundamental to all composition courses, where at times it may have been supplanted by more extensive or complex writing tasks.  If nothing else, perhaps one of the best things that will come out of this AI revolution is broader clarity about the vitality of developing one’s mind through deep reading, open dialogue, and thoughtful consideration of others. Meanwhile, our work continues– and I applaud you for continuing to show up, think hard, and be there for your students.  

As I write this, I find myself thinking forward to October when TYCA Midwest will gather in Omaha for our annual conference. How far will we have come on all of this since last year? I feel confident that many things will look different. What will we be thinking and saying about AI then? Maybe, like me, you feel like your college has become a bit of an echo chamber clamoring with 100 big questions and very few answers: What does this mean for our jobs? Our students? Education? The broader world? Humanity!?!? I know that we’ll all benefit from the opportunity to connect with a different set of voices and perspectives as we try to keep our eyes ahead. I can’t wait to see you there!