Mark Your Calendars for More GLCA Opportunities
Friday, November 15 (12:30-1:30 Eastern): Empowering Learning with Integrity in the Age of AI with Tricia Bertram Gallant, Director of Academic Integrity Office and Triton Testing Center at the University of California San Diego.
Are Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) tools a threat to academic integrity or an opportunity for us to evolve teaching, learning, and assessment? The answer is both, of course!
This session will focus on understanding the threats and opportunities and then identifying the options that faculty have for minimizing the threat and amplifying the opportunities of AI. In thinking about one thing we can do next week, next term and next year, participants will leave the session empowered to craft their GenAI and AI policy while creating a culture of integrity within their classes.
Tricia Bertram Gallant, Ph.D. is the Director of Academic Integrity Office and Triton Testing Center at the University of California San Diego (UCSD), Board Emeritus of the International Center for Academic Integrity, and former lecturer for both UCSD and the University of San Diego. Tricia has authored, co-authored, or edited numerous articles, blogs, guides, book chapters/sections, and books on academic integrity, artificial intelligence, and ethical decision-making. Most recently, Tricia authored Crafting Your GenAI & AI Policy: A Guide for Instructors. which has been shared widely within and beyond UCSD as a helpful tool for faculty struggling with the impact of artificial intelligence on teaching, learning and assessment. Tricia has a forthcoming book (University of Oklahoma Press, 2024), co-authored with David Rettinger, entitled “The Opposite of Cheating: Teaching for Integrity in the Age of AI. Tricia regularly consults with and trains faculty, staff and students around the world, on academic integrity, artificial intelligence, and ethical decision-making.
Sign up here for this online event (a Zoom link will be sent the day before). The session will be recorded.
Tuesday Is Election Day, Wednesday is “The Day After”: How to Prepare
Colleagues have been writing in to answer a query posted on the small colleges POD about their plans or suggestions for the aftermath of the coming election. Here are a few of the responses. Please vote and good luck to us all:
Jennifer Ross-Wolff at Carleton College pointed to this link: What to do in the days following the 2024 election, focusing largely on helping faculty and staff thing ahead.
Jeffrey Bernstein at Eastern Michigan University’s Bruce K. Nelson Faculty Development Center posted a link to “Teaching in Turbulent Times,” which came from a program they offered.
Joan Ostrove at Macalester College’s Jan Serie Center for Scholarship and Teaching wrote that the colleges teaching and learning center will be offering a session on November 4 for faculty to share a conversation about challenges or dilemmas, triumphs and highlights, as they prepare for the election.
Josh Bookin at Harvard’s Graduate School of Education, sends a variety of resources, including the facilitator’s agenda for a session on “Preparing to Teach After the 2024 Election,” a guide on Facilitating Challenging Conversations: Frameworks and Resources, “Advanced Prep for Different Types of Challenging Conversations,” a Guided Reflection Slide for individual journaling about things to think about as you plan for your class, and a set of resources and actionable ideas on Teaching in Times of Strife & Trauma.
Teaching and Learning
College Is Worth It to Black, Latino and Indigenous Students (Ashley Mowreader, Inside Higher Ed, October 31, 2024): New research from the Pell Institute finds that, despite challenges and setbacks students of color face in pursuit of a college degree, BIPOC learners see value in higher education. The report offers 13 recommendations to improve success for these learners.
When Students Say ‘Thanks’ (Beckie Supiano, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 31, 2024): Some examples of collecting and sharing praise for your colleagues’ teaching.
Mental Health Disrupts Studying for Most Students (Johanna Alonso, Inside Higher Ed, October 30, 2024): Students were also more likely to feel negative emotions than positive ones while studying and completing their assignments, according to data collected by Kahoot!
Creating an Inclusive Campus Through Universal Design for Learning (Steven Mintz, Inside Higher Ed, October 29, 2024): Empowering students with disabilities for success.
How to Help Students Debate Constructively (Jessica Blake, Inside Higher Ed, October 28, 2024): Students gathered at George Washington University to debate U.S.-Israel policy and to learn how to have peaceful discussions about tense and nuanced topics.
Professors Should Discuss Elections in Class (Clarissa Unger, Inside Higher Ed, October 28, 2024): The author finds it troubling that survey results show that most professors don’t plan to discuss the upcoming election in the classroom.
All Things AI
5 Small Steps for AI Skeptics (Flower Darby, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 30, 2024): Getting academics to teach with tools like ChatGPT is proving to be a tough nut to crack. [See, as well, Darby’s earlier article, Why You Should Rethink Your Resistance to ChatGPT.]
How Creativity May Just Save Us All (Bonni Stachowiak, Teaching in Higher Ed, October 31, 2024): A 39-minute podcast featuring Rob Morgan discussing AI and creativity.
AI Detectors Falsely Accuse Students of Cheating – With Big Consequences (Jackie Davalos and Leon Yin, Bloomberg, October 18, 2024): About two-thirds of teachers report regularly using tools for detecting AI-generated content. At that scale, even tiny error rates can add up quickly.
Affirmative Action and DEI
Reagan Was Right, and Rufo Is Wrong (Suzanne Nossel, Inside Higher Ed, October 29, 2024): The attack on DEI flies in the face of traditional conservative principles.
Academic Freedom and Student Speech Issues
Judge Greenlights Pro-Palestinian Students’ Free Speech Lawsuit Against Texas Colleges (Laura Spitalniak, October 31, 2024): The ruling said plaintiffs were “likely to succeed” in their arguments but dismissed several defendants, including the state’s governor, from the case.
Defending Academic Freedom Means Defending Amy Wax (Alex Morey, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 29, 2024): A response to the article by Richard Amesbury and Catherine O’Donnell arguing that she shouldn’t be defended.
Extra Credit Reading and Listening
Defending Democracy, Defending the University (Michael S. Roth, Inside Higher Ed, November 1, 2024): Attacks on higher ed and democracy this election season threaten to sweep away 100-plus years of progress.
Why We Need the Department of Education (Reid Setzer, EdTrust, October 29, 2024): Here are several reasons why eliminating the Department of Education is a foolish and destructive idea.
Harris, Trump, and Higher Ed (Jack Stripling, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 29, 2024): From the economy to immigration, the major issues of this presidential campaign have big implications for colleges and universities. (34-minute podcast + transcript)
Sharp Decrease in Visas to Indian Students Alarms U.S. Colleges (Karin Fischer and Dan Bauman, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 28, 2024): India has been the engine of post-pandemic growth in international enrollments at American colleges, but the number of visas issued to Indian students plunged by a third this fall, according to a Chronicle analysis of U.S. Department of State data.
What Today’s Activists Can Learn from 1968 (Franklin Eccher, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 28, 2024): The Port Huron Statement still offers a pathway to the university as utopia.
Why Progressives Should Question Their Favorite Scientific Findings (Paul Bloom, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 25, 2024): Academic journals are not immune from ideological bias.
The Spectre of Insecurity (Jennifer M. Morton, Aeon, October 18, 2024): Liberals have forgotten that in order for our lives not to be nasty, brutish and short, we need stability. Enter Hobbes.
How the Human Brain Contends With the Strangeness of Zero (Yasemin Saplakoglu, Quanta, October 18, 2024): Because you need to read about something other than all our other strangenesses!
Future Imperfect
A Second Trump Term Could Devastate Higher Ed (Brendan Cantwell, Chronicle of Higher Education, October 31, 2024): Trump’s first term landed a glancing blow. A second could yield a direct hit.
A Clash Over Core Curriculum at New College of Florida (Josh Moody, Inside Higher Ed, October 29, 2024): Faculty say administrators at the public liberal arts institution are changing core course offerings in a way that is ideologically driven and harmful to students.
Project 2025 and Education (Rachel M. Perera, Jon Valant, and Katharine Meyer, Brookings Institution, August 12, 2024): A lot of bad ideas, some more actionable than others.
On the Bookshelf
Thriving at Small Colleges and Small Centers: A Centers for Teaching and Learning Guidebook (Tracie Addy, Lew Ludwig, and Chris Hakala for the POD Small Colleges and Small Centers network, October 2024). A new, open resource for faculty engaged in teaching and learning centers.
Conferences and Workshops
Associated Colleges of the Midwest: Addressing the Hidden Curriculum on Campus: Supporting First-Generation and Low-Income Students as They Navigate College: Friday, November 8, 1:00-2:00 Eastern
In this workshop, Rachel Gable will introduce current research on supporting first-generation and low-income students in a range of college contexts. She will offer concrete data, personal vignettes from students, and specific advice for faculty and staff as they engage with first-generation and low-income students on their campuses. The emphasis of the workshop is on supporting all students to thrive, with a focus on those who have less familiarity with the college-going process. This event will be held on First-Generation College Student Celebration Day (November 8).
Rachel Gable is a higher education researcher and practitioner who is passionate about helping students find their best fit educational pathway, one that maximizes their academic strengths, intellectual curiosity, and personal fulfillment. Over the past two decades, she has taught and worked with students from middle school through college and from an array of institutional types, including highly selective private universities, small liberal arts colleges, and large less-selective public institutions. Her first book, The Hidden Curriculum: First Generation Students at Legacy Institutions, details the academic, social, and personal experiences of first-generation college students attending two of our nation’s most selective universities to uncover the unwritten rules for success in college. Gable works with faculty and university stakeholders at William & Mary on academic program development and modification to meet the needs of all students. REGISTER HERE FOR THIS WORKSHOP
How AI May Change Student Engagement (November 13, 2:00 Eastern, Chronicle of Higher Education): How is AI transforming higher-ed practices? In this virtual forum, a panel of experts will discuss concerns about these fast-evolving technologies and findings from The Chronicle’s recent survey on AI in higher education. Register here.
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)