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| During the Spring 2020 semester, I audited Ali Miller’s Intro to Stats course. She kicked off the first day with an activity she called “Being Human Together.” She introduced herself through a series of fun facts and then invited her students to do the same through an in-class survey. One of the questions asked for their “favorite musical artist.” |
Teaching, Tech, and Tidbits Digest
The posts below are from a bi-weekly digest that encapsulates a range of evidence-based best practices and cutting-edge insights on innovative teaching strategies, effective use of technology, student engagement techniques, and effective assessment, to name a few. The content, diligently curated or crafted by the director Dr. Lew Ludwig, is grounded in robust research and drawn from a wide array of innovative articles, books, and online resources. The goal is to support timely, ongoing faculty development with the most current and impactful knowledge in the field.
Teaching: We Can Help Students Think
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| In this article, John Warner, author of Why They Can’t Write, ruminates on what it means to think and what it means to teach students to think in the age of AI. He usefully points out that students have always turned to strategies and tools to help them think or to help them avoid thinking. |
Tech Tip from ETS: Slow down the information firehose and reap the rewards
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| Do you find the amount of information coming at you via email, text, and social media overwhelming? Consider silencing your emails and notifications to improve your ability to focus. Similarly, you can establish set times to respond to emails so that you are not constantly switching tasks, which decreases attention span and productivity. USA Today reviews nine apps designed to help improve your focus; the apps can block websites, apps, and emails. |
Teaching: The Thumb Swipe Distraction
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| “Are you smiling at your crotch?” This playful question is the final code in a series my students and I have developed to tactfully highlight when smartphones are distracting us. We collectively agreed on this humorous approach to maintaining focus in the classroom (full details below).
Now that the initial “honeymoon” phase of the first few weeks has passed, how has smartphone use been in your classes? |
Tech: Crafting Assessments that Matter in an AI World
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| Lisa Blue, Director of Artificial Intelligence Strategies at EKU, has developed this wonderful presentation and this useful set of handouts. It’s time to reconsider our assessment strategies in light of AI advancements like Strawberry. |
Tech: GPT-o1 aka Strawberry
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| Open AI just released a new model, GPT-o1, which some call strawberry. It lets the AI “think through” a problem before solving it. As someone once quipped, today’s AI is the dumbest it will ever be. |
Tidbit: What about us?
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| Okay, so we’ve explored the student mental health crisis in the teaching section, but what can we do for ourselves to do more than just survive another semester? In “When Disruption Is Perpetual, It’s Time to Think Differently About Work,” Beth McMurtrie highlights strategies for professors to thrive, such as setting boundaries based on scope-of-practice framework and finding community support through learning groups. |
Writing as Thinking vs. AI as Thinking
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| Alexis Hart, English Professor and Director of Writing at Allegheny College, shared this writing activity at the GLCA AI workshop in August:
According to writing professor and author of Why They Can’t Write, John Warner, “Writing is thinking” because “the basic…unit of writing” is the idea (144-145, emphasis added). However, in May 2023, a student at Columbia University, Owen Kichizo Terry, wrote an article in the The Chronicle of Higher Education claiming that when college students are given an essay assignment “it’s very easy to use AI to do the lion’s share of the thinking” and therefore, “writing is no longer much of an exercise in thinking.” |
Tech Tip from ETS: Show your students some love through Canvas
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Students appreciate accessible and well-designed Canvas courses. ETS is here to help you amp up your Canvas course through:
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Teaching: Student Mental Health
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| In a previous post, I shared insights from Bonni Stachowiak, host of the “Teaching in Higher Ed” podcast. As featured in the Chronicle, she highlighted a mental health crisis as one of the three significant changes in higher education. This week, I’d like to dive deeper into her concerns.
The Chronicle article, ‘Why Students Can’t Work on Their Own,’ addresses what many faculty members are likely already experiencing: a significant decline in students’ ability to complete substantial independent work since the pandemic. |