Navigating AI’s Evolving Role in Teaching and Learning

Although artificial intelligence has been part of higher education for a couple of years now, faculty are still struggling with what this development means for themselves, their students, their courses—and especially their assessments.

Notre Dame Learning recently launched the Lab for AI in Teaching & Learning (LAITL), led by Alex Ambrose of our Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence, to help instructors navigate this terrain. Alex is an eloquent spokesperson for the argument that by building their AI literacy and taking advantage of the opportunities it provides, faculty can expand student learning and even make it more equitable.

But are faculty buying it? And a deeper question: Does everyone need to embrace AI? Or are there times and places where we shouldn’t be welcoming it into our lives and our courses?

Fresh off hosting several campus AI workshops together, host Jim Lang and Alex discuss these issues, AI at Notre Dame, and a variety of helpful resources for faculty.

Key Topics Discussed:

• The experiences that have led Alex to become a cautious optimist/power user of AI, a path informed by his long-standing concern over technology’s impact on student learning
• What’s happening right now at Notre Dame with respect to AI in teaching and learning, including the availability of Google Gemini to all faculty, staff, and students and an AI academy for faculty
• The case Alex would make to a skeptical colleague about AI, one that is centered around empathy, literacy—and a very practical example
• The relationship of the two AIs, artificial intelligence and academic integrity, and the results from a survey of Notre Dame students
• Resources to help instructors articulate AI policies for their courses and assignments (see “Resources Mentioned” section for links)
• Imagining next-generation assessments that push students to go beyond just creating a final product
• An example of how Alex is starting to see AI assist faculty with assessments

Guest Bio: G. Alex Ambrose is a professor of the practice in Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence, where he serves as program director of assessment and analytics and leads the new Lab for AI in Teaching & Learning (LAITL). His work has been published in a range of academic and technology-based journals and earned him the 2015 Campus Technology Innovator Award as well as recognition by Google, IBM, USAID, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and the National Science Foundation.

Resources Mentioned:

• Generative AI Acceptable Use Scale (aka the traffic light)
• The AI Menu
• Student AI Acknowledgment Form
• Notre Dame Learning’s AI Hub: learning.nd.edu/ai 
• Book: Next Generation Genres: Teaching Writing for Civic and Academic Engagement (Norton Professional Books)
  
  

Designed for Learning is hosted by Jim Lang, a professor of the practice in Notre Dame Learning’s Kaneb Center for Teaching Excellence and the author of several influential books on teaching. The podcast is produced by Notre Dame Learning’s Office of Digital Learning. For more, visit learning.nd.edu. You can also follow Notre Dame Learning on LinkedIn.