Considering the historical context can help address concerns and pave the way for positive engagement with AI in higher education.
Incorporating good course design can mitigate concerns involving chat GPT and cheating.
Deep dives
The Impact of Moral Panic on AI Technologies in Higher Education
The podcast discusses the concept of moral panic in the context of new generative AI technologies like chat GPT. The hosts highlight parallels between the current response to AI technologies and the discourse on digital technologies discussed in Michelle D. Miller's book. They suggest that taking a step back and considering the historical context can help address concerns and pave the way for positive and productive engagement with AI in higher education.
The Role of Good Course Design in Minimizing Academic Dishonesty
The podcast explores the findings from Jim Lane's book, 'Cheating Lessons,' which emphasizes the significance of good course design in minimizing academic dishonesty. Lane suggests that lowering assessment stakes, emphasizing revision, and fostering intrinsic motivation can deter students from cheating. The conversation relates this to the current moral panic over AI technologies in higher education and proposes that similarly, incorporating good course design can mitigate concerns involving chat GPT and cheating.
Unbundling Assessment Strategies and the Importance of Context
The podcast delves into the significance of unbundling assessment strategies when incorporating AI tools like chat GPT in the classroom. It suggests that recognizing the components of specific assessments that promote growth and understanding the skills that should be cultivated can inform effective integration. The hosts endorse a contextual approach, taking into consideration the discipline, course, and level of student expertise. They also emphasize the need for targeted and individualized feedback that AI tools cannot provide.
Exploring the Role of Chat GPT in Memory Offloading and Skill Development
The podcast examines the potential benefits and limitations of chat GPT in learning and memory. It highlights the concept of offloading, explaining how humans naturally offload information to external tools like search engines. The hosts ponder how chat GPT might be used as a tool for learning and skill development, such as APA formatting in research methods courses. They also discuss the importance of human connection in teaching and learning, emphasizing the value of a teacher-student relationship rooted in shared experiences and individualized guidance.
In her 2022 book Remembering and Forgetting in the Age of Technology, Michelle D. Miller writes about the "moral panics" that often happen in response to new technologies. In his 2013 book Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty, James M. Lang argues that the best way to reduce cheating is through better course design. What do these authors have to say about teaching in an age of generative AI tools like ChatGPT? Lots!
I asked Jim and Michelle on the podcast to discuss generative AI from their different perspectives, and the three of us had a wide-ranging conversation about how faculty and other instructors might respond to these new tools. Michelle is a professor of psychological sciences at Northern Arizona University and a prolific writer and speaker on teaching and learning in higher ed. Jim is a former professor of English at Assumption College and also a prolific writer and speaker on teaching and learning in higher ed. In the conversation, they raise some important questions for educators to consider this summer as we retool courses and assignments for the fall to account for AI technology.
