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!

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Teaching: Helping students use ChatGPT to aid, not undermine, their learning process

A significant issue with students’ use of ChatGPT is their inability to craft effective prompts. Simply copying and pasting assignments into ChatGPT often leads to the tool providing solutions with minimal effort from the students, which can undermine their learning process.

To address this problem and turn ChatGPT into a productive learning tool, David Reher of Modern Languages creates specific prompts for his students.

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Teaching: Artificial Intelligence Disclosure (AID) Framework

The Association of College & Research Libraries published an “Artificial Intelligence Disclosure” (AID) framework by Dr. Kari Weaver that you might find useful if you are asking students to disclose AI use. Here is an example for student writing: 

Artificial Intelligence Tool: Microsoft Copilot (University of Waterloo institutional instance); Conceptualization: Microsoft Copilot was used to identify key motor-performance fitness tasks in the development of the research question; Information Collection: I used Microsoft Copilot to find relevant journal articles and other sources; Visualization: I used Microsoft Copilot to create a graph comparing the different motor-performance fitness tasks included in my paper; Writing—Review & Editing: I used Microsoft Copilot to help break down my paragraph-long draft sentences into clearer, shorter ones.

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Teaching: Midterm Check-In Do Your Students Know What They’re Learning?

What are your course learning goals? You’ve likely outlined them in your syllabus. Now, as we reach the sixth week of the semester, ask yourself: Do your students really know and understand these goals?

“Critical thinking” frequently appears in learning goal lists for a liberal arts education. In my current sophomore-level math class, I estimate we engage in critical thinking about 97.3% of the time.

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Teaching: Transparency, Dynamic Lecturing, & Review

I (Julie Dalke) am auditing Hoda Yousef’s class titled “The Making of the Modern Middle East,” and I am excited to share three teaching methodologies for this week’s “Caught in the Act” column. Her commitment to transparent instruction, dynamic lecturing, and effective review strategies significantly enhances student engagement and learning outcomes.

Hoda consistently employs the Transparency in Learning and Teaching (TILT) framework, ensuring that students understand the purpose behind their learning activities.

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Teaching: How should AI be used for creating personal stories?

During our recent Faculty Learning Community on AI, Laura Russell shared a novel way she engaged her 100-level personal storytelling class in considering writing in the age of AI. The exercise centered around two main questions:
  • How can we make use of AI in ways that maximize its benefits while minimizing (un)foreseen drawbacks, especially when it comes to writing personal stories?

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Teaching: Take a moment to dwell on the positive

The first batch of major writing assignments will come in soon (if it hasn’t already), so I want to take a moment to dwell on the positive. In my class last semester, it was clear that only a small minority of students were misusing AI. Participants in the November Teaching Matters session on AI in writing instruction reported similar experiences.

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Teaching: Sustaining Student Attention

I cannot give a professional talk or webinar without PowerPoint, but I never use it in my classroom. Nevertheless, the recent piece Effective Strategies for Sustaining Student Attention During PowerPoint Lectures offered some really helpful tips, regardless of whether you use this technology in your classroom or not. The article recommends three tried-and-true practices that I would classify as CATs—Classroom Assessment Techniques—small yet effective ways to check whether your students are actually picking up what you’re putting down.

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Teaching: Be Kind to Your Future Self

Lew Ludwig caught Susan Villarreal in the act of good teaching, he writes: Last Monday, as I scrambled to finish my notes for the first week of class, I was kicking myself. I’ve taught this course many times before, but it had been three semesters since the last round. I can barely remember what I had for lunch yesterday, much less the details of what worked- or didn’t- three semesters ago.

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Teaching: Student and Instructor Guides for Group Work

Group work is a vital component of college education. It is often challenging to execute effectively, and many students are predisposed to dislike it. Fortunately, our friend Tracie Addy, along with Wendy Hill, have developed valuable resources for both students and instructors to better navigate this essential pedagogical tool.

The student guide is crafted for groups to utilize collaboratively at the beginning of a long-term class project.

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