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| It is safe to say I have tumbled way down the AI rabbit hole. Since January, I have developed and led 15 workshops locally, regionally, and nationally. However, I still don’t know where our faculty at Denison stands concerning AI.
To be clear, the CfLT and ETS have run a series of workshops around AI. The attendees were very engaged but few in number. |
Tech Tip – TTT
A quick technology tip to help you engage your students whether in the classroom or remotely.
Tech: A picture tells a thousand words- unique images for your course
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Tech: Utilizing the Canvas Calendar
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| Students gave us positive feedback on the Canvas calendar last spring! As an instructor, you are able to add events that will appear on your students’ calendars and “to do” lists. This is a great way to communicate and remind students of important events and deadlines! These guides will quickly walk you through adding an event and adding an assignment on your course calendars. |
Tech- Revisiting weighted grades in Canvas
Many of us may have course grade categories that contribute different percentages to the final grade. For example, essays are 25%, quizzes are 30%, exams are 30%, and student contribution (aka “participation”) is 15%.
In Canvas, you assign category weights via the “Assignments” section in the left menu bar (the menu bar will show once you click the three red horizontal lines in the upper left).
Tech – Canvas
As the start of fall semester approaches, it’s time to dust off your old Canvas notes and get courses ready. Take a look at these beginning and end of term checklists from Canvas. They are a great way to get started with course planning and preparation.
Warming up to the power of ChatGPT
Traditionally, the TTT goes on summer break until August, but I couldn’t help doing a quick check-in on ChatGPT. I am eager to return to the classroom after my sabbatical, but I need to figure out how to navigate this new technology. A lot has developed in the past few months, and I am curious to see how you will address this AI in the fall.
Tech- How to Become an Expert on A.I.
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Seriously, the New York Times has created an EXCELLENT resource that will bring you up to speed on ChatGPT, large language models, and all those other A.I. terms you’ve heard about. The five-part series, On Tech: Become an expert on ChatGPT and other cutting-edge chatbots in just five days, is written at an understandable level and only takes about 10 minutes to read.
Tech – Create a “testlet” in Canvas
If you want to try incorporating testlets into your own courses, you can do that right in Canavs by using the quizzes feature. Check out this Canvas Basics Guide on Quizzes to learn more about them. There’s also this video on how to get started with quizzes in Canvas.
Tech – Canvas Grading Tips
This week’s Canvas related tip focuses on grading. After scouring the internet for helpful tips from those who have used Canvas a lot longer than those of us at Denison, ETS found a great video to share. Watch the video Top 5 Canvas Grading Tips for more on using rubrics, setting default grades, and more!
Do you have a Canvas tip you would like to share with colleagues?
ChatGPT, two weeks in
Hopefully, your initial shock of ChatGPT has subsided. Now how to navigate teaching in this brave new world? While an outright prohibition on this technology could quickly devolve into a game of whack-a-mole, there are some things we can do this semester to circumvent nefarious applications of this technology. In his article Embrace the Bot: Designing Writing Assignments in the Face of AI, Eric Prochaska suggests several ways to adjust our assignments to lessen the impact of ChatGPT.