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| Do you need a post-Thanksgiving energy boost and reminder of the crucial value of our work as educators moving into an AI-infused future? Nazrul Islam, of the University of East London, makes the case that if we are to ensure that AI lives up to its beneficial potential, it’s more important than ever for human workers to have the kinds of liberal arts skills that are core to Denison’s mission. |
Down the AI Rabbit Hole
Dr. Lew Ludwig shares resources about Generative Artificial Intelligence.
AI Anxieties and Trust in Our Classrooms
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| Way back before Thanksgiving, after an academic integrity board hearing, I chatted with the student board members about their sense of AI issues in daily student life. They said it feels like there is a growing gulf between classes that use AI regularly and don’t identify any significant limits to AI use vs. classes where AI use is strictly prohibited across the board. |
Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI
The following articles are helpful for thinking about the challenges and opportunities that large language models (LLMs) bring to teaching and learning:
- Want to Engage Students and Strengthen Your Teaching in the Age of AI? Start with this simple strategy by Brielle Harbin
- How AI is Changing- Not Killing- College by Colleen Flaherty
- Teaching in the Age of AI by Nana Lee
- The Importance of Connection in the Age of AI by Jennifer Smith
- Stop assigning traditional essays by Scott Carlson
- Artificial Intelligence and Critical Thinking in Higher Education: Fostering a Transformative Learning Experience for Students by Dr.
AI Symposium Handbook
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| Did you miss the Fall Faculty Symposium? One of our resources was this Faculty Handbook for AI in Teaching and Learning. It includes information from the different interactive sessions. Please keep in mind, this isn’t a rule book. It’s meant to spark ideas and open conversations about how AI might fit into your teaching. Inside, you’ll find examples and considerations to help you reflect, adapt, and experiment as you see fit. |
AI Literacy
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| In the spirit of continuing conversations from today’s (August 18, 2025) Fall Faculty Symposium, here’s some food for thought from Michael G. Wagner: “AI literacy isn’t a new subject to be squeezed into our curriculum; it is a modern expression of our timeless goal as educators: to empower students to think for themselves, question the world around them, and make discerning choices about the powerful tools they encounter.” |
Teaching: This Just Happened
Lately, I’ve been saying that keeping up with AI feels a bit like being stuck on a treadmill that only speeds up. Just when I think I’m catching my breath, something new barrels in. In the past few weeks alone, I’ve heard about “vibecoding”—the emerging ability to speak complex code into existence like some kind of techno-conjuring spell—and OpenAI’s latest image tools, which have taken deepfakes from disconcerting to downright uncanny. |
Teaching: Magic School AI
Despite Sydney Green’s proficiency with AI prompting, she often finds extracting specific tasks from advanced models like ChatGPT or Gemini to be time-consuming and sometimes unproductive. To address this, she turned to Magic School AI, a platform offering over 80 AI-powered tools designed to assist educators with lesson planning, assignment creation, and material generation. It’s user-friendly, click-based interface allows users to interact without the need for specialized prompts.
Tidbit: Adopt or Resist? Beyond the AI Culture Wars
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| I was talking with Matt Kretchmar after our recent session with Leon Furze on “Understanding GenAI in Education: AI and Assessment.” He was very excited about Leon’s approach to move beyond merely moralizing about students cheating and focusing on how to productively live with this new reality. In particular, Leon emphasized a shift in perspective:
In Validity matters more than cheating the authors argue convincingly that the concept of cheating is an unproductive frame for academic integrity, and we should instead re-centre the concept of “validity” in assessment. |
Teaching: Marc Watkins Beyond ChatGPT
Marc Watkins, Assistant Director of Academic Innovation & Lecturer of Writing and Rhetoric at Ole Miss University presented to Denison Faculty online on January 13th, 2025. Here is a link to a recording of his presentation:
Beyond ChatGPT- Developing a Framework for AI Literacy in Writing Courses
Click here to see the additional resources he provided including the slides for the presentation as well as activities for faculty to practice with Lex, Gamma, and Notebook LM as well as activities for students on prompt engineering, Chatbot Arena, and Quick, Draw!
I’m familiar with AI. Now what?
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Are you already pretty familiar with generative AI? Ready to try more advanced prompting? Our friends at the UCF’s Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning, led by Kevin Yee, have created a terrific resource: AI Hacks for Educators. Kevin and his group offer more than 50+ AI uses with detailed prompts that you can copy and edit for your purposes. |