Community and Connection at the CAT

by Stephanie Fiore, PhD

One of my favorite parts about the start of the new semester is seeing students, their families, and faculty colleagues return for fall classes. The energy on campus changes from summer sleepiness to the sparkle of a new semester. The feeling of promise is palpable and the sense of anticipation almost physical. I draw strength from this yearly renewal, even as I (like you) enter one of the busiest times of the year because the community is again brought back together and connections are reforged (or perhaps newly forged). I truly enjoy connecting with the new faculty and teaching assistants at New Faculty Orientation and TA Orientation. And I feel a deep joy at seeing our faculty friends as they return to our workshops or when I run into them on campus. There is something powerful about a handshake, hug, or bright smile upon seeing someone you haven’t seen in a while. 

In fact, it is that sense of community and connection that underpins everything we do at the CAT because it is only through discussions and brainstorming with our colleagues that we come to more elegant or more creative strategies for teaching our students (those new bright pennies that just arrived perhaps, or the ones who have already been with us) so that they all succeed. In fact, very busy faculty who put aside time to engage with what we offer at the CAT often comment that the time invested at the CAT re-energized them and made them feel supported by a community of colleagues. So while we all have responsibilities that get in the way of making time for connection and community, I encourage you to find at least one opportunity to join us for a workshop, drop into our spaces to work, or just sit in our lounge with a colleague and enjoy a chat and a coffee. 

This semester promises to be filled with opportunities for collaboration, connection and growth. The Center for the Advancement of Teaching is here to support you with a range of resources and programs designed to enhance your teaching practices, enrich the learning experience for your students, and increase your joy in teaching. We invite you to check out our in-person and virtual workshop offerings for the semester, where you will have the opportunity to broaden your teaching skills in conversation with colleagues from across the university. If you need assistance with Canvas, Zoom, or any other educational technology tools, please drop into one of our faculty workspaces, where our expert staffers are available (no appointment needed). For extended conversations about your teaching, both our pedagogy and educational technology experts are available for one-on-one consultations.

As higher education continues to evolve its response to the challenges and opportunities afforded by generative AI tools, the CAT continues to support you in this endeavor. Now might be a good time to review our Faculty Guide to AI, our blog series on the topic, as well as our AI syllabus advice and our guidance on AI notetakers in Zoom sessions. We’ll continue to update these offerings as well as provide AI-related workshops throughout the semester. The other major challenge of the semester is the upcoming elections. We will be rolling out a series of advice and programming aimed at how to handle hot moments and difficult conversations in your classroom. Please consider checking out our 2024 election resource guide and/or signing up for one of our Can We Really Talk? series of events.

We are committed to fostering an environment where faculty feel they have a community they can connect with at the CAT. So come find us, join us, call us, email us….we are here for you!

Regards,

Stephanie

    Stephanie Laggini Fiore, PhD is Associate Vice Provost & Senior Director of Temple’s Center for the Advancement of Teaching.

    Set for the Semester: Essential CAT Resources for Fall Teaching

    As you ready yourself and your courses for the start of the fall semester, we offer this resource round-up to help get you rolling.

    Preparing Your Syllabus

    The Fall 2024 Syllabus Guidance has been posted and includes sections on generative AI and the recording and distribution of recordings of class sessions. 

    Using Canvas

    Drop into one of our upcoming workshops on teaching with Canvas. If you’re new to Canvas, take our self-paced Ready, Set, Canvas course to get you up to speed. 

    Getting Ready for the Election

    Plan ahead by creating discussion guidelines and preparing for hot moments in the classroom with our Election Resource Guide.

    Teaching and Learning with Generative A.I.

    Visit our Faculty Guide to AI webpage.

    This EDvice Exchange blog post rounds up past posts on teaching and generative AI. Sample syllabus statements outlining ideas for your policy on generative AI can be found here. 

    CAT Services

    The Center for the Advancement of Teaching (CAT) offers an array of services and resources that are tailored to your teaching. Whether you teach in person or online, undergraduate or graduate students, small classes or large lectures, we are here to support your instructional needs. As you begin the 2024-2025 academic year, know that the CAT is here to help.

    CAT Technology Labs and Workspaces

    Visit us at the following locations for:

    • Drop-in expert assistance with your teaching and educational technology questions (no appointment necessary)
    • Quiet workspaces
    • Access to computers, scanners, and printers
    • Comfortable lounge area with complimentary coffee for informal discussions with colleagues

    Main Campus CAT: TECH Center (Bell Building), Suite 112

    Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30am-5:00pm

    Health Sciences Campus CAT: Student Faculty Center, Room 200

    Hours: Monday through Friday: 8:30am-5:00pm 

    Ambler Campus CAT: Ambler Learning Center, Room 301

    Hours: Monday through Thursday: 8:30am-10:00pm; Friday: 8:30am-5:00pm

    Note: This self-service lab and workspace is for faculty use only. No CAT consultants are on site.

    Virtual Drop-in EdTech Lab: available online via Zoom. The virtual lab is staffed by our Educational Technology Specialists during our regular business hours. Visit our Educational Technology Labs and Workspaces page for access. 

    Hours: Monday through Friday, 8:30am-5:00pm.

    For more information about our locations, see our website. 

    Room Reservations

    The CAT offers meeting spaces for faculty and staff at our Main Campus location. Visit CATbooking to reserve time in one of the following spaces:

    • Room 107: Breakout Room (Capacity: 12)
    • Room 110A: Collaboration Room (Capacity: 5)
    • Room 112G: Consult Room (Capacity: 2)

    One-on-One Consultation Appointments

    If you would like uninterrupted, dedicated time with a CAT pedagogy or educational technology specialist, please visit CATbooking to schedule a one-hour in-person or virtual consultation. When making an appointment with a consultant, you will have the option to choose an in-person meeting at the Main Campus CAT or Health Sciences Campus CAT, or a virtual (Zoom) meeting. Within the locations, appointment times are categorized by consultation topics offered at the CAT. If the hours available in the booking system are not feasible for you, please email cat@temple.edu to arrange an alternate time. 

    Teaching Observations

    Whether you are implementing a new teaching strategy, trying to solve a teaching challenge, or simply would like to check in with a colleague in order to reflect on your teaching, the CAT offers a variety of services. 

    • Classroom Observations: Set up an observation of your in-person or virtual class
    • Mid-semester Instructional Diagnosis: A CAT specialist visits your class to gain student consensus on their learning experience, and deliver that feedback to you 
    • Course Design: Work with a pedagogy specialist to design a course using evidence-based principles for delivering significant learning opportunities to your students.
    • Curriculum Mapping and Program Assessment: Get assistance designing and assessing a programmatic curriculum that will provide a pathway for student achievement of your program’s goals. 

    Please visit our Consultations and Observations web page for more information.

    Get in touch with us!

    We’re here to help! If you need anything as you begin your semester, please email us at cat@temple.edu or call our main campus office at 215-204-8761.

    Get Ready for Fall! A Course Design Round-Up

    By Jeff Rients

    Can you believe it is August again?!? If you are anything like me, then you already feel behind in prepping for the fall semester. But the CAT is here to help! We’ve got a wide variety of resources to help you start the new semester off right. 

    If you are building a new course or substantially revising one, our Course Design blog series may be of assistance. Design Your Course for Significant Learning! provides a big picture overview of the design process, while Context Matters: Considering Situational Factors in Course Design can help you think about the specific challenges and key details in your course. (The big situational factor we’re all facing right now is generative artificial intelligence.) Our post Learning Goals: Dream Big! provides a framework for formulating learning goals that motivate students for success, while Aligning Assessments with Goals connects those goals with how you will assess and provide feedback. The post The Heart of the Course: Learning Activities! reviews the importance of providing students with the appropriate content and opportunities for practice before you assess them. And finally, Houston, We Have Liftoff! Successfully Implementing Your Course Design helps you put it all together.

    Finally, if you want to do some thinking about alternative assessment plans, try our post A Brief Introduction to Ungrading.

    You don’t have to design or redesign your course by yourself! You can make an appointment for a one-on-one consultation or visit any of our Ed Tech labs for drop-in assistance. Please join us for any of the many workshops the CAT is offering this fall. And if you need any other support in your mission teaching our wonderful Temple students, just let us know!

    Navigating AI: Essential EDvice Exchange Reads for Fall

    by Dana Dawson, Ph. D.

    With the beginning of the fall semester steadily approaching, you may be pondering how you will address the use of generative AI in your courses. To help with your decision making, AI student guideline drafting as well as activity and assessment designing, we encourage you to take a look back at EDvice Exchange posts on the topic of planning for AI use in your classes. 

    A Survival Guide to AI and Teaching

    Our series “A Survival Guide To AI and Teaching” featured posts on everything from what generative AI is to the ways these tools will impact equity in education. 

    Faculty Adventures in the AI Learning Frontier

    Our spring 2024 series “Faculty Adventures in the AI Learning Frontier” showcased how Temple faculty members used and talked about AI in their classrooms during the previous semester.

    In the final post in the series, Michael Schirmer, who teaches in the Fox School of Business, shared his experiences with generative AI both with his students and as part of his personal scholarly practice.

    Using PI to Manage AI

    Our series “Using PI to Manage AI” considered the most fundamental element of addressing AI in our courses: sound pedagogy. Posts in this series focused on evidence-based ways of designing assessments of student learning that encourage academic honesty, motivation, and a desire to learn.

    CAT Tips Season 5 – Generative AI Tools

    Finally, our most recent series of CAT Tips, short videos offering teaching tips and suggestions, focused on how generative A.I. tools can be used to support student learning.

    CAT staff are available for consultation throughout the summer. To schedule an appointment, visit our consultation booking page. The CAT’s Ed Tech labs are also open Monday through Friday, 8:30-5 if you’d like to drop in and chat with a staff person about AI tools (or any other educational technology question). 

    Our Faculty Guide to A.I. webpage features helpful information and resources, including information on Temple’s policy. 

    We also welcome you to sign up for one of our pre-semester AI workshops.

    AI or Nay? Deciding the Role of Generative AI in Your Classroom

    Thursday, August 8, 2024, 11:00AM-12:00PM via Zoom

    Register for this workshop

    Generative AI tools to help with research, writing, ideation and creative work are now part of our educational landscape and cannot be ignored, but you may be feeling unsure how to address them in your classes. Should you encourage their use but place parameters on how they are used? Will allowing students to use AI tools reduce the efficacy of your classes? Or is AI use now an essential skill for our students? In this workshop, we will explore the implications of allowing students to use generative AI tools and help you work through the question of whether and how you will permit their use in your classes.

    AI Assignment Re-Do Bootcamp

    Register for this workshop

    Monday, August 12, 2024 and Wednesday, August 14, 2024, 1:00PM-4:00PM, Tech 109

    We have been learning more about generative AI tools such as ChatGPT and what it means to teach in a world where generative AI is available to us and our students. In this 2-day intensive workshop, faculty will collaborate to revise and/or develop assignments for the AI era. You will learn how to intentionally leverage AI tools for learning and development as well as how to modify assignments to make them more AI resistant. You will also learn a framework for discussing the assignment and the role of AI in your classroom with students. This is an opportunity for you to develop the best assignments you’ve ever used in your classroom. Bring an assignment you already use and stride boldly into the future with us!

    AI Sandbox

    Register for this workshop

    Wednesday, August 14, 2024, 12:00PM-1:00PM, Tech 109

    Have you been putting off familiarizing yourself with AI tools? Or have you tried some of the more commonly available apps but would like to learn more about the wide variety of tools that are available? Join us for a hands-on exploration of the AI tools that are changing the way we live, work and study.

    An End-of-Year Message From Me (and ChatGPT)

    Stephanie Fiore, Ph.D.

    As I faced the blank page in writing this blog post, I struggled to decide what I could say to you, my dear colleagues, that would express both a sense of gratitude for the work you have done this (not so easy) year, a reminder to take some restful time for yourself that will recharge your batteries, but at the same time, urge you to prepare more fully for teaching in the era of generative artificial intelligence. So I went to ChatGPT and asked it to help me. I chuckled as I did it because I love to write and I still find it amusing to play with GenAI tools, but also, I kid you not, it was helpful in getting me started. So I will pull out some of the words it suggested to craft for you a heartfelt message of gratitude, care, and support.

    Celebrate our shared achievements and the resilience that defines our community. Each of you has played a crucial role in fostering an environment of inquiry and excellence. ChatGPT isn’t wrong that you have yet again shown great resilience as we cope with shrinking budgets, a changing student body that poses new challenges, and the advent of generative AI tools in the teaching and learning landscape. And yet, the excellence of what you provide for our students is still intact, a testament to the care you demonstrate in the teaching work you do. Temple has recently admitted the most diverse student body we have ever had, which required faculty to discover new ways of teaching that can better support all students to meet their potential. I have been impressed with how many of you have responded by engaging with us to rethink your teaching and retool your practices. And, of course, there’s generative AI. So many of you sought our answers to whether and how you might harness the power of AI or simply think about teaching when AI is readily available. Students at Temple are fortunate to have caring and resilient faculty who continue to navigate these new challenges in order to meet our mission of educational excellence.

    Rest and recharge. Wellness is integral to our professional effectiveness and personal happiness. You’re so right, ChatGPT! The time you take to rest and engage in restorative activities is time wisely spent. Having spent the majority of my career as faculty, I know all too well the never-ending work. My hairdresser once jokingly asked where my grading work was when I showed up once without a red pen and papers to grade in hand. I took my work with me to my kids’ swim practices, on longer car drives, and anywhere I thought I could squeeze in some stuff. And summer is sometimes the only time available to get research or creative work done when your teaching load is heavy. We are so wired for productive energy that we sometimes forget that rest is productive too. Enjoyment is restorative and gives us the oomph to keep working later on. So please do take some time to rest, recharge, and find your happiness. Resist the urge to fill every moment with chores.

    Let’s dedicate some time to exploring AI tools and platforms. I agree wholeheartedly, ChatGPT! When you are again restored and ready to explore directions for the fall semester, I believe it is essential to do the proactive work in preparing ourselves and our students for what it means to teach and learn in the age of AI. Rather than taking a reactive stance that requires us to deal with cheating that is hard to detect–and therefore can erode the trust between students and faculty that is essential for learning to flourish–let’s grapple with the AI beast head-on. Even if you have a firm belief that you will never allow its use in your courses, it is essential that you learn about GenAI’s capabilities and test your assignments and assessments to discover how vulnerable they are to its power. Only from an educated point of view can you know best how to manage teaching and learning in the age of AI. Let us help you! We’re here all summer and happy to help. And, when you are ready to integrate AI in teaching and learning, we’re here for that too. Look for workshops and resources coming this summer, or make an appointment with one of our team.

    I would like to thank my team for adjusting magnificently to meeting faculty’s needs despite having to do so with a smaller team (we too have been dealing with the budgetary realities). I feel so lucky to have my wonderful team – couldn’t do it without them! 

    Thank you for your hard work, your dedication, and your inspiring commitment to our students and each other. Well said, ChatGPT! In addition, dear colleagues, I am sending you warmest gratitude for your engagement with the CAT. Best wishes for a restful and enjoyable summer

    Mindful Management of AI During Finals

    by Dana Dawson

    As we near the end of the semester, it’s important to carefully consider your plan of action should you suspect students have used generative AI in a manner that you explicitly prohibited. In past blog posts, we strongly encouraged faculty members to begin by meeting with the student in cases where you suspect unacceptable use of AI and to start with a conversation. However, in the case of final exams and projects, you may feel you don’t have time for that course of action. In this post, we offer some suggestions for how to prepare for and address AI use during the finals period.

    Ensure Guidelines Are Clear

    Review your final exams and final project instructions to determine whether you have clearly outlined where the use of generative AI is and is not allowed. Build guidelines into assignments as well as the syllabus to ensure students have it readily available. Have a conversation with your classes to ensure they understand the limitations of acceptable generative AI use and state the steps that will be taken if you suspect students have used generative AI (more on that below). 

    Test Your Final Exams and Final Projects Using Generative AI

    Run final exam questions or final project prompts through tools such as ChatGPT and Claude.AI and prompt the tools to take the exam or complete the project. Note that in ChatGPT, you can simply copy and paste the entire exam or project prompt and rubric into the tool and ask it to generate a response. Claude.AI allows you to upload a pdf and enter a prompt. If you find that the tools can successfully complete your exams or assignments, reconsider the questions and prompts. Can you link questions or project prompts to in-class work that will draw on students’ past experiences? Can you add reflective or metacognitive questions that are difficult to replicate using generative AI? See this EDvice Exchange blog post for assessment ideas that are less prone to AI use.

    Be Wary of AI Detectors

    It has been well-established that AI detectors are not reliably able to differentiate between human- and AI-written text. Assessments we conducted of Turnitin’s AI detector, and four other applications available for free online, show that these detectors are prone to false positives (identifying human-written text as generated by AI) and false negatives (identifying AI-written text as generated by humans). AI detectors should never be used as the sole basis for a judgment on whether a student has used AI; companies such as Turnitin acknowledge this, for example, saying in their own explanatory materials that detector predictions should be taken with a grain of salt and that the instructor must ultimately make their own interpretations. Notably, TurnItIn also indicates that a score of 20% or less AI-created should not be considered valid. As you assess AI detector reports, keep in mind that there are currently no completely reliable detectors of generative AI use in writing available to instructors.

    Step on the Brakes

    Confronting possible cheating is always stress-inducing. We see a block of text or a pattern of answers that seem unlikely to have been generated by a student and the stress response kicks in. This is not the optimal time to make a decision. Take a breath, step away. Consider factors that might be influencing your assessment of the student’s work or your willingness to accept the results of an AI detector. Talk to a colleague or a CAT consultant and carefully consider all factors before making a determination as to your course of action.

    You Can Still Have a Conversation with Students

    If you strongly suspect a student of using generative AI in a manner you have stated is not acceptable, ask the student to meet, by Zoom if they are already off campus. If they are not able to meet prior to the end of the grading period, issue an Incomplete for the course and do not grade the final exam or project until you have met with the student. 

    Have a Back-Up Plan

    If you speak with the student and they do not admit to using generative AI, have an actionable plan for how to proceed. Consider how you might replicate the element you suspect they used AI to complete. Can you conduct an oral exam? Can they write an essay or a reflective statement on their process of solving the exam question or completing the project in-person? To talk over your plan for considering possible AI use in these final weeks of the semester, don’t hesitate to reach out to schedule a consultation with a CAT specialist. 

    Err On the Side of Caution

    The suspicion that a student may be taking shortcuts can be upsetting and we are all struggling to manage course design and delivery in the age of AI but the risk of falsely accusing a student should be taken very seriously. A false accusation can derail a student’s entire educational trajectory and not only because of the possible impact on their GPA; more importantly, it can shake their trust in their faculty members, their experience with higher education and their motivation to continue, particularly where their sense of belonging is tenuous. Turnitin has acknowledged that their detector is more likely to generate a false positive in the case of English language learners or developing writers as some of the writing patterns more common among these populations are the same patterns AI detectors look for in identifying AI-generated text. We must exercise the utmost caution in accusing any student and be sure to give them the benefit of the doubt when engaging in these conversations. 

    Plan for Next Semester

    Finally, once finals are over and your grades are in, make an appointment with a CAT specialist to explore how to revise assignments that are particularly vulnerable to AI use. We can often avoid these problems in the future by revising our current assessments into ones that work better in the age of AI.

    Faculty Adventures in the AI Learning Frontier: One Professor’s Take

    by Jeff Rients, Ph.D.

    Title card: Faculty Adventurers in the AI Learning Frontier

    This week we’re happy to share a video featuring Michael L. Schirmer, who teaches the course Integrative Business Practices in the Fox School of Business. Michael shares his experiences with generative AI both with his students and as part of his personal scholarly practice.

    Thank you so much for your insights, Michael!

    If you’d like more guidance on exploring how to use AI tools in your class or assistance running your assignments through GenAI to better assess the value of using it, please visit our Faculty Guide to A.I. or book an appointment for a one-on-one consultation.

    2024 STEM Educators’ Lecture Recap

    By Cliff Rouder, Ph.D.

    The CAT’s STEM Educators’ Lecture, held on April 10, 2024, featured guest speakers Dr. Tara Nkrumah and Cornelio “Coky” Aguilera. Dr. Nkrumah is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Teacher Preparation, Mary Lou Fulton Teachers College at Arizona State University. Her research is on equitable teaching practices for anti-oppressive discourse in education and science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM). Coky Aguilera studied as an Acting Specialist at UW Madison, works professionally with Tampa-area theater companies, and along with Dr. Nkrumah and colleagues have brought the Theatre of the Oppressed to different universities to engage academic audiences in critical investigations of inequities. Check out this Youtube video to learn more about the historical roots of Theatre of the Oppressed.

    We were delighted to have their colleagues Dr. Vonzell Agosto, Dr. Deirdre Cobb-Roberts, and doctoral candidate Maria Migueliz Valcarlos join as they engaged Temple STEM and theater faculty in an interactive and engaging session titled, Unmasking the “Isms” in STEM Education to Promote Equitable Teaching and Learning. The speakers began by introducing a framework for the session–Iris Marion Young’s Five Faces of Oppression. They used this framework to help us think about how “isms” such as racism, ableism or genderism can manifest through the five faces of oppression, which are 

    • Exploitation
    • Marginalization
    • Powerlessness
    • Cultural Imperialism
    • Violence
    • For a more in-depth look at this framework, see Young’s “Five Faces of Oppression” in Geographic Thought: A Praxis Perspective.

    As participants worked through definitions of these facets of oppression and shared examples of how they can manifest in our disciplines, departments, and classrooms, the speakers then engaged participants in a series of theater-based exercises that encouraged them to use mimicry and the creation of human tableaus to explore and address physical and emotional aspects of oppression.

    For more on Dr. Nkrumah’s research, check out these recent publications:

    • Nkrumah, T. (2023). The Inequities Embedded in Measures of Engagement in Science Education for African American Learners from a Culturally Relevant Science Pedagogy Lens. Education Sciences, 13(7), 739.
    • Nkrumah, T., & Scott, K. A. (2022). Mentoring in STEM higher education: a synthesis of the literature to (re) present the excluded women of color. International Journal of STEM Education, 9(1), 1-23.
    • Nkrumah, T., & Mutegi, J. (2022). Exploring racial equity in the science education journal review process. Science Education, 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1002/sce.21719

    As always, our CAT staff is ready to help you! To explore how to incorporate this work into your STEM courses or how to design and implement classroom-based research in this area, book a consultation appointment or email a CAT staff member directly.

    Faculty Adventures in the AI Learning Frontier: Assignments and Activities that Address Ethical Considerations of Generative AI Use

    by Benjamin Brock, Ph.D and Dana Dawson, Ph.D

    Title card: Faculty Adventurers in the AI Learning Frontier

    In response to our fall 2023 survey on the use of generative AI (GenAI) in the classroom, we received a number of assignments and activities faculty members have designed to tackle the ethical issues raised by GenAI. Ethical concerns related to GenAI include such considerations as the implications for privacy when these tools are used, the possibility of over-reliance on GenAI for analytics and decision making, and exposure to inaccurate or biased information (Brown & Klein, 2020; Masters, 2023; Memarian & Doleck, 2023). The following activities and assignments equip students with the capacity to critically evaluate when and how it is appropriate to use GenAI tools and to protect themselves against possible risks of AI use.

    Sherri Hope Culver, Media Studies and Production faculty member and Director of the Center for Media and Information Literacy (CMIL) at Temple University, asks students in her GenEd course, Media in a Hyper-Mediated World, to complete a reflection on the implications of AI use. She first asks them to listen to an episode of the podcast Hard Fork centered on data privacy and image manipulation and to read the Wired article “The Call to Halt ‘Dangerous’ AI Research Ignores a Simple Truth” (Luccione, 2023). Students are then instructed to write a 300-word reflection referencing the assigned material that addresses both concerns they have about use of AI and ways in which it could make their lives or society better. Professor Culver provides the following prompts to help students’ thinking:

    • What does critical thinking mean in a tech-centric, AI world?    
    • How might AI affect your free will?    
    • How might AI affect your concerns about privacy or surveillance?    
    • How should we prepare ourselves for an increasingly AI world?    
    • How might AI influence the notion of a public good?   
    • How might AI influence K-12 education?    
    • How might AI influence family life?    
    • What worries you about AI?    
    • What excites you about AI?    
    • What is our responsibility as media creators when we use AI?    
    • It has been said that AI will make life more “fast, free and frictionless.” Should everything first be “fast, free and frictionless”? Should that be the aim?
    • Is AI the end of truth?

    In a dynamic, interactive, reflection-oriented honors course aimed at exploring the four pillars of Temple’s Honors Program (inclusive community, intellectual curiosity, integrity in leadership, and social courage), Dr. Amanda Neuber, Director of the Honors Program, is using AI as the discussion anchor for their unit on “integrity in leadership.” By way of multiple media modalities, students delve into the ethical and unethical uses of AI in academia. Students are asked to read “How to Use ChatGPT and Still Be a Good Person” and watch a related video exploring the meaning of integrity. Students then discuss whether or not AI can be used with integrity, how academic culture might frame one’s decision to use AI, and the “peaks and pitfalls” of AI use. Beyond the many important conversations focused on AI itself, the technology is used as a reference point as to what it means to lead with integrity and how to promote said quality in teams and organizations.

    In another interactive, thought-based classroom initiative, mechanical engineer Dr. Philip Dames is bringing ethics and AI to Temple’s College of Engineering. Having reimagined for a modern era the “trolley problem” philosophical exercise in which one is faced with an ethical dilemma, students in Dr. Dames’ class consider having AI make decisions using autonomous cars as the basis for deliberation. They are prompted to think about how a vehicle should be programmed to respond to different scenarios by using examples from MIT Media Lab’s Moral Machine website. Students then reflect upon their scenario-based activities and experiences and engage in prompt-guided written reflection. Prompts include questions such as: 

    • How does the ownership model of autonomous vehicles affect how they should behave? For example, does it make a difference if a vehicle is owned by a single private citizen vs. publicly owned by the city and hired by individuals? 
    • What surprised you about the aggregated responses from different people shown to you at the end of the exercise? 
    • Are there other factors that you feel are important but were not considered in Moral Machine?

    In this way, students not only explore elements to consider when designing autonomous vehicles, but make concrete what was once only abstract via critical thinking and hands-on engagement.

    If you’d like more guidance on exploring how to use AI tools in your class, please visit our Faculty Guide to A.I. and/or book an appointment for a one-on-one consultation.

    Brown, M., & Klein, C. (2020). Whose data? Which rights? Whose power? A policy discourse analysis of student privacy policy documents. The Journal of Higher Education, 91(7), 1149–1178. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.2020.1770045  

    Masters, K. (2023). Ethical use of artificial intelligence in health professions education: AMEE Guide No. 158. Medical Teacher, 45(6), 574–584. https://doi.org/10.1080/0142159X.2023.2186203  

    Memarian, B., & Doleck, T. (2023). Fairness, accountability, transparency, and ethics (FATE) in artificial intelligence (AI) and higher education: A systematic review. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 5 (2023), 1-12. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.caeai.2023.100152

    Faculty Adventures in the AI Learning Frontier: Teaching with Generative AI in Health Sciences Education 

    by Jonah Chambers, MA and Cliff Rouder, EdD 

    Title card: Faculty Adventurers in the AI Learning Frontier

    As part of our fall 2023 survey on generative AI (GenAI) in the classroom, we heard back from a wide variety of Temple faculty who teach a broad range of courses. In this installment, we’re going to take a look at how three health science instructors are incorporating GenAI tools like ChatGPT into their teaching.

    Scott Burns, Professor of Instruction in the Department of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences, had his graduate physical therapy students prompt ChatGPT to create a generic plan of care for a specific health condition and then provide a detailed explanation of how the exercises it prescribes may or may not properly address the condition described in the scenario under consideration. In addition to having students demonstrate their knowledge of what constitutes a good plan of care by evaluating and critiquing the AI-generated plan, Professor Burns explains that the goal of the activity is to highlight that while generative AI may be useful for broad recommendations, it “currently lacks the ability to provide decision-making and rationale backed by anatomy, neuroscience, motor control/learning, and physiology.” 

    Before he launched the assignment, Dr. Burns surveyed his class about their experiences with and perceptions of GenAI. He also wanted to gauge the level of anxiety surrounding it, given that there is concern in health-related fields that AI could replace the human provider. Students reported that they appreciated the opportunity to interact with AI, since the experience level with AI varied, and some had never even used it before. Dr. Burns plans to administer a more formal survey for the end of the semester to see if student perceptions of AI have shifted.

    Alissa Smethers, Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, had her nutrition students prompt ChatGPT to create a 1-day, 2,000 kcal dietary pattern for a popular diet of their choice (Keto, Paleo, Atkins, etc.) and then submit the outputs to an established dietary analysis program and answer the following questions:

    • Does the plan provide 2000 kcal? If not, how far off was it?
    • Does the macronutrient composition and food choices reflect the popular diet you chose? If not, what foods would you add/remove?

    Her students were surprised at how far off ChatGPT was at times, in some cases generating plans that differed by over 800 kcal from what the dietary analysis program provided. The goal was not only to ensure that students are learning the correct information but also that they develop critical thinking and research skills crucial to their work as nutrition professionals. In the future, she is considering having students evaluate how well ChatGPT is able to tailor the dietary patterns based on culture, income level, or other more personalized factors as well as reflect on the limitations of using a generative AI tool to create dietary patterns vs. working with a nutrition professional like a Registered Dietitian.

    Leah Schumacher, Assistant Professor in the Department of Social and Behavioral Sciences, invited Health Science and Human Behavior students to roleplay as someone who either wants to avoid or already has a chronic disease and has turned to ChatGPT to provide answers or advice. She first asked students to pick one of the diseases they covered in her class and then pose questions about it to ChatGPT such as “Why did I have a stroke?” or “How do I avoid getting cancer?” She then had students prepare a submission for the assignment that included: 

    1. The full prompt they submitted to ChatGPT
    2. The full response ChatGPT provided
    3. A short 5-7-sentence reflection that compared the ChatGPT response to what they had learned in class through textbook readings, lectures, videos, etc. Specifically, she asked students to reflect upon the extent to which ChatGPT’s response hit upon aspects of the biopsychosocial model they studied in class, whether it touched upon major risk factors they covered, and if ChatGPT presented any information that was new to them.

    Dr. Schumacher was careful to have students clearly distinguish between text generated by ChatGPT and their own written work in their submission. Not only did this assignment have students apply their understanding of the biopsychosocial model to a diverse set of cases, it also gave them the opportunity to reflect upon (and illuminate problematic aspects of) how people may use ChatGPT in their everyday lives.

    Each of these professors has illuminated one of the most powerful ways of using GenAI in teaching: instead of taking its outputs at face value, they have their students question, evaluate, analyze and verify them using a variety of methods. Not only does this provide students an opportunity to apply their knowledge (a proven way to promote deep learning), but it also helps them sharpen their critical thinking skills surrounding the use of GenAI. These skills will likely not only prove helpful to them now but also in their future professional lives.

    In the next installment, we’ll be looking at ethics in AI. In the meantime, if you’d like more guidance on exploring how to use AI tools in your class or assistance running your assignments through GenAI to better assess the value of using it, please visit our Faculty Guide to A.I., attend a workshop on using generative AI for teaching and learning, or book an appointment for a one-on-one consultation.