By Amanda Pacheco, Ed.D.
GEP Instructional Specialist
College of Undergraduate Studies
In the last edition of our newsletter, I mentioned the Teaching and Learning with AI conference, along with the names of six GEP faculty members who attended with funding from the College of Undergraduate Studies. This newsletter will publish their takeaways from the event for the next two months. It was a transformational experience to be with so many educators from around the world who embraced, albeit with various degrees of trepidation, this new technology known as generative AI (GenAI). The overwhelming vibe was cautious optimism and a sense of needing to teach our students how to use it appropriately.
Perhaps the most personally impactful was a session in which we partnered to discern the origin of a historical quote using ChatGPT. As I dutifully entered it on my laptop, the professor sitting next to me entered it into hers. Within seconds of one another, the same bot produced well-written, plausible, and completely different answers! As it turns out, the quote was fictional, but ChatGPT certainly didn’t let on. It struck me as an excellent activity for our students, demonstrating the importance of human intervention, traditional research, and knowledge when using GenAI, and showcasing the reason a copy-and-paste approach is risky.
Issues aside, eschewing AI altogether seems unwise, given the number of students using it already (with or without our knowledge) and its impact on industry. A recent Resume Builder poll showed a significant number of companies seeking individuals knowledgeable in ChatGPT and the like, with new job titles like Prompt Engineer commanding salaries upwards of $200,000 in some cases. In short order, it seems little experience with the tool will put our students at a disadvantage, though blind reliance clearly hampers them as well. As with most complex issues, finding the nuanced middle ground is essential, and it may look different for each of us.
As the school year continues, the Faculty Center for Teaching and Learning will provide additional opportunities to explore the implications of GenAI and discuss ways to harness it in our classes for student and faculty benefit. If you are interested in learning more, mark your calendars for their Holiday Retreat on December 14 (the day after grades are due). Until then, I hope you enjoy reading insights from some of our GEP faculty who attended last month’s conference.