Teaching and Learning
The University of Portland has created a public-facing new Inclusive Teaching Database Dashboard to help faculty easily find and immediately access resources tailored to their own inclusive teaching or pedagogic research. Use keywords to search its 120+ indexed Web, journal, book/chapter, conference, and video resources, or narrow your resource search by its targeted discipline, academic division, particular teaching dilemma, or resource type.
Instead of Policing Students, We Need to Abolish Cheating (Jordan Alexander Stein, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 7, 2023): The best response to ChatGPT is to pay more attention to why students cheat in the first place.
These Office Hours Offer More Than Academic Support (Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 7, 2023): Why do so many students have the impression that they should attend office hours only if they’ve got a question? When professors say, “come to office hours if you have questions about…” and mean, “I’m here to help. Come talk to me,” students only hear “if you have a question.”
5 Touch Points Students Should Consider About AI (Naomi S. Baron, Inside Higher Ed, September 6, 2023): As the new academic year begins, we must rethink the issue and help students decide when programs like ChatGPT deserve a place in written work.
Exploring the Possibilities: Creating, Enhancing, and Editing with Artificial Intelligence (Faculty Focus – Episode 67 Podcast): Discover how AI can help with translation, image creation, slideshows, and audio or video support. Get ready to unlock the potential of AI in education. 16-minute podcast.
In Praise of Open-Note Exams (Carol E. Holstead, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 5, 2023): How allowing students to use their notes during tests can help them build an essential job skill.
The most recent issue of Currents in Teaching and Learning (Vol 15:1), coming out of Worcester State University, has just been published and is fully downloadable. Among other articles: “Teaching in an Era of Political Polarization” (Benjamin D. Jee), “Class Matters: Teaching about Class in U.S. Higher Education”) Joe Bandy and Brielle Harbin), and “Toward the Co-Construction of Assessment: Equity, Language Ideology and Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy at the Community College (Jason M. Leggett).
Meeting at the Intersection of Research and Education (Cindy Nebel and Sarah Oberle, Learning Scientists Podcast, August 31, 2023): Discussion of the benefits and challenges of classroom research and science communication (33-minute podcast).
A.I. and Higher Ed
Generative AI: Resources from the GLCA/GLAA CTL session of August 24: Here is the link to the resource folder, which includes:
- Slides from the session
- Video recording of the session
- Links (among others) to:
- Ryan Watkins, “Prepare Your Students for Using ChatGPT and Other AI”
- Links to the New York Times newsletter on AI
- the Google Crowdsource document on syllabus statements.
- NEW: Link to Cut and Paste AI prompts for instructors from Cynthia Alby at Georgia College
What Students Said About the Spring of ChatGPT (Ross Aikins and Albert Kuo, Inside Higher Ed, September 7, 2023): The growing adoption of AI by students is inevitable, and going to fall faculty will need to revisit their policies early and often.
Fabrication and Errors in the Bibliographic Citations Generated by ChatGPT (William H. Walters and Esther Isabelle Wilder, Scientific Reports 13, September 7, 2023): The study finds that while ChatGPT 4 is a “major improvement” over the 3.5 version, problems remain.
Webinars
The AI Revolution: Transforming Higher Education for the Workforce of Tomorrow (AAC&U, September 13, 2023, 2:00-3:00 ET): How can institutions of higher education adapt to meet the emerging needs of the workplace as AI becomes more commonly used? During this webinar, a panel of experts will examine the near-term effects of this rapidly developing technology on both the workforce and higher education. Free webinar; register here.
Politics in the Classroom: Who Decides? (Chronicle of Higher Education, September 14, 2023, 12 Noon ET). With senior reporter Emma Pettit and a panel of experts to discuss how this debate is affecting teaching, academic governance, and campus climates now, and what’s likely to happen next. Register here.
Extra Credit Reading
Propping Up Fictions (John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, September 7, 2023): Students should pursue intellectual growth…but what if we’re perpetuating a fiction?
Is All Truth Subjective? (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, September 6, 2023): Teaching about objectivity and veracity in the posttruth era.
What the Public Really Thinks About Higher Education (Eric Kelderman, Chronicle of Higher Education, September 5, 2023): College hasn’t lost the argument. But The Chronicle’s new national survey shows where people aren’t convinced. See, as well, Americans Are Losing Faith in the Value of College. Whose Fault Is That? (Paul Tough, New York Times, September 5, 2023): For most people, the new economics of higher ed make going to college a risky bet.
By Abandoning Civics, Colleges Helped Create the Culture Wars (Debra Satz and Dan Edelstein, New York Times, September 3, 2023): The authors argue that civics education at the heart of the college curriculum will strengthen free speech on campus.
The Top U.S. Colleges With the Greatest Economic Diversity (David Leonhardt and Ashley Wu, New York Times, September 7, 2023): A list of the country’s most selective universities and colleges ranked in order of economic diversity.
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 Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org) if you have colleagues who would like to receive this weekly report.
Steven Volk (steven.volk@oberlin.edu), Editor
GLCA/GLAA Consortium for Teaching and Learning
Co-Directors:
Lew Ludwig (ludwigl@denison.edu)
Colleen Monahan Smith (smith@glca.org)