Conversation on Ungrading: Nearly 80 colleagues from around the GLCA and the GLAA joined us on Wednesday, December 14, for our virtual conversation on “ungrading.” They heard short presentations from faculty at Denison (Jordan Fantini and Rebecca Futo Kennedy) and Oberlin (Jenny Fraser, Jan Miyake and Lynn Powell). You can find more about the conversation, see their handouts, and find resources on “ungrading” on the CTL Website.
Teaching and Learning
Should Class Participation Be Graded? (Susan D’Agostino, Inside Higher Ed, January 4, 2023): The pandemic laid bare course policies and practices that disadvantage some students. Now, some say that professors should cool it with awarding participation points.
Tackling Students’ Mental Health in the Classroom (Rachel Goldsmith Turow, Inside Higher Ed, January 4, 2023): Infusing practicable skills into academic classes can give students a greater sense of self-efficacy in managing challenging thoughts and feelings.
The Power of Relationships in Undergraduate Education (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, January 2, 2023): How to cultivate the rich relationships that are central to academic success and student well-being.
Flipping Faculty from Guide on the Side to Mentor in the Center (Erica Blumenstock, Faculty Focus, December 19, 2022): Faculty members have shifted their location in the classroom from behind the lectern to the room’s periphery. While this is a positive evolution, it fails to recognize the importance of building a positive relationship with students and creating a pathway for two-way communication between the student and instructor.
The Challenge of A.I. and ChatGPT
The Denison Center for Learning and Teaching is hosting a webinar by Dr. Tim Laquintano, Associate Professor of English and Director of the College Writing Program at Lafayette College, on ChatGPT, Artificial Intelligence, and our classrooms, focusing on areas in which the media coverage of AI has been misdirected as well as future concerns to watch for. The webinar, on Tuesday, January 10, at 3:00 PM EST, while intended for Denison faculty, is open to others as well. If you would like to attend, please complete this form (https://forms.gle/hx9etoJXjqZ5DFu17) by noon on Monday, January 9. We will send the Zoom webinar link to registrants Monday afternoon. The webinar won’t be recorded.
A Skeptical Take on the A.I. Revolution (Gary Marcus, The Ezra Klein Show, January 6, 2023): The A.I. Expert Gary Marcus asks: What if ChatGPT isn’t as intelligent as it seems? (A 74 minute podcast via the New York Times)
Will ChatGPT Change the Way You Teach? (Beth McMurtrie, Chronicle of Higher Education, January 5, 2023): Summarizing some conversations she’s had with educators and providing some useful resources.
A College Student Created an App to Detect If Essays Were Written by ChatGPT (Lucas Ropek, Gizmodo, January 4, 2023): Did a human or an algorithm write that? For the answer, just ask this algorithm.
How About We Put Learning at the Center? (John Warner, Inside Higher Ed, January 4, 2023): The ongoing freak-out about ChatGPT sent him back to considering the fundamentals.
What Are We Doing About AI Essays? (Miriam Bowers-Abbott, Faculty Focus, January 4, 2023): A few experiments with online AI software services suggest some ways to address AI essay cheating, and interventions will require refining and revisiting course prompts.
Could an A.I. Chatbot Rewrite My Novel? (Jay Caspian Kang, The New Yorker, December 9, 2022): As a young fiction writer, Kang dreamed of a technology that would tell him how to get his characters from point A to point B. Could ChatGPT be it?
The State of Higher Ed
Universities Can’t Do Everything (Barbara R. Snyder and Holden Thorp, Chronicle of Higher Education, December 15, 2022): They’re pulled in many directions. A refocus on teaching is in order.
Part of the Solution (Shirley A. Mullen, AAC&U Liberal Education, November 2, 2022): The tradition of liberal education offers a powerful undercurrent of hope for democracy.
Webinars
The Chronicle of Higher Education’s “Teaching” newsletter is hosting some webinars. The first session, on January 20 and open to anyone, considers how to make class time meaningful. Read more about the series and sign up 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)