The Consortium for Teaching and Learning of the GLCA/GLAA will be holding a webinar on The Global Courses Connections Program – Connecting Courses Internationally: what it is, how it works, and how to participate, on Friday, February 10 at 9:00 AM (ET) (GMT/UTC-5). Three pairs of faculty who have taught a connected course will share their experience with the program. The panelists represent the American University in Nigeria, FLAME University, Forman Christian College, the Universidad de Quito San Francisco, Hope College, and Albion College. Register here.
Teaching and Learning
Ungrading (Faculty Focus, January 19, 2023): The misconceptions, the research, and the strategies. A 14-minute podcast.
Take Your Words from Lecture to Page (Rachel Toor, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 18, 2023): What compelling lecturers do, and how their techniques can translate into good writing.
Let’s Not Bring Back the F (Benjamin Rifkin, Inside Higher Ed, January 18, 2023): Responding to a recent article, “We Should Bring Back the F,” by Louis Haas, Rifkin argues that instead, we should do a better job of assigning authentic tasks that genuinely reflect the kind of work students will have to do after graduation.
The Murky Complexities of Cultural Appropriation (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, January 17, 2023): How to discuss cultural appropriation in the college classroom.
Pecha Kucha Is the Answer (Diane Shew, Faculty Focus, January 16, 2023): Pecha Kucha (“chit-chat” in Japanese) is a presentation style that uses imagery and efficient use of spoken word that can be a great aid in active learning.
Lots More on ChatGPT
Teaching Actual Student Writing in an AI World (Kevin Jacob Kelley, Inside Higher Ed, January 19, 2023): Kelley writes that he may incorporate ChatGPT in future courses, but for now, he’s developed 10 strategies to prevent students’ use of such technologies.
Seeing Past the Dazzle of ChatGPT (Anna Mills, Inside Higher Ed, January 19, 2023): To help put text generators in the proper perspective, the author suggests turning toward each other to determine guidelines for the use of such tools.
Why I’m Not Scared of ChatGPT (Christopher Grobe, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 18, 2023): The limits of the technology are where real writing begins.
Coping With ChatGPT (Tracy Mitrano, Inside Higher Ed, January 17, 2023): Includes some language Mitrano has now inserted in her course syllabi. [Also this tweet from Chris Marsicano with his syllabus guidelines.]
Chat GPT Has Arrived – And Nothing Has Changed (Danny Oppenheimer, Times Higher Education, January 17, 2023): ChatGPT may make it a little easier for students to cheat, but the best ways of thwarting cheating have never been focused on policing and enforcement.
Chat GPT Both Is and Is Not Like a Calculator (John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2023): Still talking about ChatGPT because there’s a lot at stake to getting this right.
ChatGPT: Threat or Menace? (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, January 16, 2023): Are fears about generative AI warranted?
Alarmed by A.I. Chatbots, Universities Start Revamping How They Teach (Kalley Huang, New York Times, January 16, 2023): With the rise of the popular new chatbot ChatGPT, colleges are restructuring some courses and taking preventive measures.
ChatGPT, Chatbots and Artificial Intelligence in Education (Matt Miller, Ditch That Textbook, December 17, 2022): A handy guide to AI, implications for the classroom, 20 ways to use it as a tool for teaching and learning, among other things.
Practical Responses to ChatGPT (Montclair State University Office for Faculty Excellence): A variety of resources and explanations offered on this website.
ChatGPT Assignment (Morton Ann Gernsbacher, University of Wisconsin-Madison): Shared her assignment in a course on the Psychological Effects of the Internet, to help students learn about ChatGPT.
Diversity, Inclusion, Equity
A Compelling Interest (Lynn Pasquerella, Liberal Education, Fall 2022): The president of the AAC&U weighs in on the inextricable link between equity and excellence.
The Liberal Arts
How the Liberal Arts Can Save Higher Education (Gayle Greene, Big Think, January 17 2023): computerized, job-focused learning undercuts the true value of higher education. Liberal arts should be our model for the future.
Academic Freedom and the Hamline Case
Blasphemy is Not a DEI Issue (Joan Scott, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 17, 2023): The Hamline case does not illustrate a tension between diversity and academic freedom, but of the confusion between fair treatment of minority students (respect and care for their well-being) and capitulation to religious censorship. The one does not require the other.
Webinars
The Teagle Foundation has been sponsoring a series of workshops on “Teaching with Transformative Texts.” The next will feature Swati Srivastava, assistant professor of political science at Purdue University, on teaching Orwell’s 1984 in a manner that is accessible and engaging to first-year students and non-humanities majors. The workshop will take place on Thursday, February 2, at 12:30 PM EST. Register here.
What Works Conference at Kenyon
The Center for Innovative Pedagogy at Kenyon College invites presentations on teaching and learning for the 2023 What Works virtual conference, to be held the week of May 30-June 2, 2023. They are considering all proposals that would apply to undergraduate education at a small college or university, but we especially want to encourage proposals in three areas:
- collaboration between faculty and staff to support student learning
- new applications of educational technology
- courses that employ pedagogies of diversity, equity and inclusion
Proposals are being accepted at https://forms.gle/C7rRj9aQutzRQMWV6 . The deadline to submit is Wednesday, March 1. Please feel free to contact Joe Murphy (murphyjm@kenyon.edu) or Alex Alderman (alderman1@kenyon.edu) to discuss your ideas for a session!
What’s On Your Bookshelf? Are you reading something (higher ed related or not) that you would like to recommend to your colleagues? Let us know!
Have a short article or some news related to teaching and learning at your institution that you’d like to share with colleagues? Send your contribution along to us. Also, please email Charla White (white@glca.org) if you have colleagues who would like to receive this weekly report.
GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning
Co-Directors:
Steven Volk (steven.Volk@oberlin.edu)
Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org)
Charla White (white@glca.org)