Teaching

Housekeeping note: We won’t be publishing a newsletter next week because of Thanksgiving. Have a happy holiday!

This week, I:

• Describe what’s happening when AI joins the faculty.
• Ask you whether you are happy with how you grade.
• Wonder if there’s too much technology in teaching.

Are your colleagues using AI?

If you’re a faculty member and have been wondering how your peers across the country are using AI in their teaching, you may want to read my recent story, “AI Has Joined the Faculty.”

I spoke to professors from a range of fields — including chemistry, religious studies, and comparative literature — who have turned to AI in course design. Some used it to create tutors based on their textbooks and lecture notes. Others have experimented with feedback or grading. Still others use it to help align their learning goals with their assignments and assessments.

Results have been mixed so far. Some professors have found that AI helped them teach more effectively and engage students more deeply. Others came away disappointed or feeling as if the technology offered, at best, marginal value.

A few things jumped out at me as I dug into the topic. One is that many professors who use AI feel ambivalent about it. They see its value as a tool even as they’re aware of its dangers to society and to the process of learning. At Connecticut College, Susan Purrington is the college’s first generative-AI teaching and learning fellow. Her job is to help professors navigate this new landscape.

As I wrote in the story: “She understands the ambivalence many professors feel about AI, because she feels it herself. Some days she loves it and is ‘ready to shout from the rooftops’ about something positive it has done. ‘Then I turn around and get really mad that these companies even exist who are stealing our information, who are violating copyright laws.’”

Another through line is that there is a lot of discomfort around AI use. Faculty members may use it in secret because they believe they would be judged poorly by their colleagues. Yet speaking openly may be the only way academe can collectively wrestle with the complexity that AI has introduced to education. Is it possible to harness it in ways that are useful while minimizing, or addressing, the immediate dangers it presents to learning?

A third point that came through clearly is that professors often use AI because they lack time or support.

For the story I spoke to Lane Davis, a religion scholar who began experimenting with AI during his first full-time position, in which he taught five courses a semester at a small, cash-strapped college. He had read a lot on how to teach effectively but needed help putting those ideas into practice.

He would upload his syllabus, assignments, and learning goals and use AI to ensure that everything was in alignment and nothing was missing. AI also helped him think of clearer ways to describe complicated concepts or design more engaging class activities. As he told me: “I feel like I’m just using it in the same way that I could make use of a really smart colleague who is basically available 24/7 to me.”

Read the story for more on how faculty members are using AI. I’ll explore the use of AI in course design in future newsletters and include examples from readers. If you have thoughts or experiences to share, please write to me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com

Are you satisfied with how you grade?

In a recent report, “Re-Centering Academics at Harvard College: Update on Grading and Workload” Harvard College outlines a scenario that many in higher education would find familiar: Instructors feel that their grading practices are not aligned with student achievement. The report cites influences such as concerns over student course evaluations, messaging from the administration to be mindful of students’ life circumstances, and pandemic-fueled shifts toward frequent, low-stakes assessments that may not effectively test mastery or skill development.

I want to hear from you about your own experiences with grading. Do you feel that grading is “out of whack” as one Harvard professor said in the report? And if so, why? Do modern teaching practices place too much emphasis on effort and completion and not enough on content mastery and skill development? Or is something else going on? I also want to hear what you’d like to see happen.

Write to me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com or fill out this Google form. I want to hear from you.

Is technology stressing students out?

In a Chronicle Advice piece, “The Case for Slow Teaching,” Pamela Scully, an Emory professor, argues that classroom technologies are increasing students’ stress, not helping them manage it. Scully has moved to a low-tech approach in her teaching with good results.

Do you think technology — such as the learning-management system, online readings and assignments, and screens in general — is stressing your students out or encouraging passivity toward their coursework? Have you reduced technology in your classes? When students have accommodations that require screens, or if you are required to teach all or part of your course online, are there still ways to reduce tech stress?

Write to me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com or fill out this Google form. Your example may appear in a future newsletter.

Thanks for reading Teaching. If you have suggestions or ideas, please feel free to email me at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.

Learn more at our Teaching newsletter archive page.