In this episode, Rob and Jared continue their chat about the use of generative AI in Higher Education with faculty from Tiffin University. They focus on how instructors can employ Generative AI in their day-to-day teaching practices. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources.

The rapid changes of generative AI tools such as ChatGPT makes keeping up with them challenging. To combat this challenge, instructors learn how to use these tools better through training in prompt engineering. At Tiffin, they have recently hired someone to assist faculty in incorporating AI tools into teaching.

The Tiffin faculty also shared about an upcoming webinar on using AI in courses and course design that they are hosting for faculty and graduate design students. AI has a wide variety of uses that range from getting ideas to create lesson plans to uploading a student paper and rubric and having it generate initial feedback that the instructor then reviews and revises before giving it back to the student.

They also talk about how generative AI is well-suited for academic work and course design because of its origins. It can help to write content for online courses in a neutral way. And it can be used for specific activities as well – revising assignments to be more authentic or creating better discussion questions.

Even with all these benefits, the introduction of generative AI can cause instructors to think, “what am I needed for?” It’s important to remember that AI is just a tool. These kinds of tools can help faculty focus on higher order issues and let the AI make initial evaluations on things such as grammar, spelling, and low-level content. Additionally, ChatGPT can create a good lesson, but the human input of an instructor is still needed to question its validity, relevance, and alignment to courses. And that element of humanity is still needed in education for the personal connection between educator and student. ChatGPT doesn’t have the experience and personality that an instructor would and cannot foster those kinds of relationships.

Resources

Design Statements - Tiffin University
The Ethics of Using Generative AI Tools - Tiffin University

How Can You Use Generative AI Tools at Tiffin University

In this episode, Rob and Jared chat with two faculty members from Tiffin University about the use of Generative AI. Dr. Michelle L. Meadows, Associate Professor of Education, and Dr. Dan Clark, Vice Provost & Dean for the School of Education & Extended Learning, share about how Tiffin equips students and faculty to use AI well. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources.

Tiffin University’s approach to Generative AI is marked with innovation. They start with being transparent about how  Generative AI should be used, giving students an AI “toolkit” so they are aware of AI’s limitations and are able to use it ethically. Dr. Meadows, Dr. Clark, and Tiffin introduced design statements (statement that students include into assignments describing how they used AI to aid in completion) into their courses to monitor and guide student use of Generative AI tools. These design statements are a way for students to share their metacognitive processes and explain how they completed assignments, including their use of AI. The design statements encourage transparency and provide instructors with insight into how students use these tools.

As Tiffin University implemented these ideas, their faculty members have generally been supportive of incorporating design statements in their courses, but more training is needed for both faculty and students to effectively implement and assess the statements. They also highlight the importance of building trust between students and faculty when it comes to using AI, since some students were reluctant to disclose their use of AI tools.

In this episode, we celebrate the 50th episode of Transform Your Teaching with a live Q&A. Listen as Jared and Rob answer teaching and learning-related questions from our live audience. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources.

In this episode, Rob and Jared chat with Dr. Jules White who has a Ph.D. in Computer Science and serves as Senior Advisor to the Chancellor for Generative AI in Education and Enterprise Solutions at Vanderbilt University. They discuss how instructors can help students become comfortable with generative AI and use it effectively. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources.

Dr. Jules White is excited about generative AI and sees it as a “new medium”—fundamentally transformative to how people live their daily lives. More specifically, Dr. White has seen AI’s impact in education. In his current position, he has been able to explore how to use it effectively in higher education through teaching prompt engineering. In these classes, he has seen others become comfortable using generative AI as they have found personal applications, such as analyzing data for lab reports. What would typically take days to do, ChatGPT could do in hours. All it took for those people to become comfortable with using generative AI was the personal connection and creative thought to apply it.

To use generative AI effectively:

1. Find ways of amplifying your own creativity (augmented intelligence), then practice.
2. Ask ChatGPT for three options, then choose one for yourself. This requires you to thoroughly engage with its responses.  
3. Improve on what ChatGPT gives you. Consider everything from it as a “draft.”

Dr. White understands the hesitation around generative AI, but he recommends you deeply understand it before you dismiss it. It’s not beneficial to develop a culture of fear surrounding AI in education. Shape the conversation about how to use it effectively so students are prepared for the future where generative AI is widely integrated. Find examples and methods of using generative AI to make that personal connection with your students.

Resources 

Prompt Engineering for ChatGPT

Innovative Teaching with ChatGPT

In this episode, Rob and Jared explore a generative AI tool called “Whisper.” Whisper plays the role of “guest,” and they ask it to provide helpful strategies for teaching and learning. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources.

Jared and Rob explore the capabilities of a generative AI tool created by OpenAI called “Whisper.” According to OpenAI, it is “an automatic speech recognition (ASR) system trained on 680,000 hours of multilingual and multitask supervised data collected from the web.” To showcase its capabilities, Rob and Jared create a prompt for Whisper to act as a guest on the show. As the “guest” throughout the episode, Whisper provides insights and perspectives on incorporating AI into teaching.

Jared and Rob ask Whisper for practical strategies that teachers can integrate into their teaching practices. Whisper suggests starting with a small, manageable application and familiarizing yourself with Chat GPT's capabilities and limitations. Instructors can experiment with having Chat GPT perform various tasks such as generating quiz questions, explaining complex concepts, or providing supplementary explanations. Whisper also highlights the learning curve involved in integrating new technologies. If instructors encounter struggles or hesitations in their experience with using generative AI in their teaching, Whisper suggests reflecting on what didn't work and making small tweaks or seeking advice from peers.

Resources

Whisper

In this episode, Rob and Jared start a new series on generative AI and its practical usage in higher education. They provide a general overview of generative AI models and discuss possible ways that instructors can begin using these models in their teaching. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources.

Generative AI Language models are designed to process large amounts of information and are trained to understand and generate text like a human through a vast amount of data, including books, websites, and articles.  In many ways, OpenAI's ChatGPT has become synonymous with generative AI, however, a wide variety of generative AI models have been created by different companies. Regardless of the company, it's important for the user to understand which model is being used because each of them has different capabilities. Some AI models provide the opportunity to create and train models on a certain set of information. This would enable educators to design chatbots that can assist students in learning class-specific material. An AI model can even be trained to function as a tutor which uses questions to help guide students to solutions.

Helpful next steps for instructors:

• Explore the various generative AI models (see resources below)  
• Practice prompt engineering: think about the desired outcomes, and design a foundation for the AI’s responses  
• Use a sample prompt like this one: Ask ChatGPT to use the Socratic method to train students on a specific area of your content (like writing paragraphs). Ask it to emphasize asking reflective questions, instead of giving answers. 

Resources 

• Bing Chat 
• OpenAI’s ChatGPT 
• Google Bard 
• Anthropic Claude 2 
• Llama 2 

In this coffee drop, Rob and Jared reflect on their first year of doing the podcast and share their big takeaways. If you have questions or comments, contact us at [email protected]. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources.

In this episode, Rob and Jared discuss communication with Dr. Sandra Yang who has a Ph.D. from the University of California, Los Angeles, and serves as a professor of Music History at Cedarville University. They discuss the importance of communication with students and instructors. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources. We would love to get your feedback! Please fill out our survey to help improve our podcast and serve you better.

Dr. Yang discusses the importance of communication with her students in both face-to-face and virtual environments. She emphasizes the need for clear communication and establishing guidelines at the beginning of a course for both students and instructors. In her syllabi, she addresses her own responsibility as a teacher to be punctual, prepared, and respectful; and she holds her students to the same standards. In online discussions, she reminds students to be respectful of one another, especially when discussing sensitive topics.

As part of her responsibilities as the Introduction to Humanities course coordinator, Dr. Yang maintains communication with a large network of adjunct instructors. To do this, Dr. Yang regularly sends out announcements and updates through an instructors-only course on Canvas. Through this tool, she encourages instructors to provide feedback and suggestions for improvement, making them active participants in the ongoing development of the course. 

In this episode, Rob and Jared discuss instructional management with Dr. Kevin Jones who has an Ed.D. from Spalding University and serves as the Dean of the School of Education and Social Work at Cedarville University. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources. We would love to get your feedback! Please fill out our survey to help improve our podcast and serve you better.

Dr. Jones emphasizes the importance of planning and preparation in teaching. As he prepares to teach, he focuses on key tasks such as identifying essential questions and learning objectives, and then he utilizes backward planning to ensure students achieve the intended goals. This kind of preparation enables him to be more effective at meeting the students’ needs.

Dr. Jones also emphasizes the need for teachers to recognize and embrace their own giftings and weaknesses, as well as the importance of showing compassion and praise to students. He encourages instructors to model and teach students about interconnectedness and the value of their unique gifts. Dr. Jones discusses how to handle hard conversations with students while maintaining an encouraging relationship. He emphasizes the importance of grace and provides the students with opportunities for growth and learning.

In this episode, Rob and Jared revisit content delivery with the return of the podcast’s first guest, Dr. Quentin Schultze. Contact us at [email protected] with any questions. You can also visit our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog for additional resources. We would love to get your feedback! Please fill out our survey to help improve our podcast and serve you better. 

Dr. Schultze approaches course content delivery carefully, knowing that content can easily be perceived as “boring.” He wants to make sure the content is the best while still ensuring that the delivery of that content is engaging and inspiring and that students walk away motivated. He does so by using narrative to show the content’s relevancy. In a face-to-face (or ‘incarnate,’ as Dr. Q likes to say) course, this content delivery approach is handled with various pedagogical strategies. In an online course, the delivery is shorter and focuses just on the essentials. 

The basics of Dr. Schultze’s narrative approach to content delivery are anticipation (“what’s going to happen?”) and identification (relevancy, helping students identify with the story). Instructors can pull narratives from different places: their own lives and background of the content itself. The important thing to remember is making the content relevant and personal for the students. 

Resources 

Quentin Schultze’s website