Category Archives: Artificial Intelligence

Exploring Teaching and Leaning Technology at CIT 2024

Artificial Intelligence, Assessment, Classroom Technology, Creativity, Educational Technologies, Innovative Technology, Instructional Design, Learning Outcomes, Online Learning, Research, Student Experience, Uncategorized, Virtual Reality, VR

By Luis Colon
Instructional Designer
luis.colon@stonybrook.edu

Last month, members of CELT traveled to Buffalo, New York to attend the SUNY Conference on Instructional Technology (CIT) hosted by the University at Buffalo to participate in the event as well as present some of the work that we have been doing. The CIT conference started in 1992 and since has provided faculty and instructional support professionals a space to share their experiences, delve into common issues, work towards finding solutions, and explore the many innovative avenues that allow instructors to enhance the learning environment through the use of technology. 

The theme of this year’s conference was: Creating Inclusive Innovation in Higher Education, and showcased engaging sessions from faculty and instructional support professionals focusing on topics such as course design, assessment strategies, artificial intelligence (AI), immersive technologies, and more. In addition to these sessions, there were also exhibits from sponsors including D2L, Lumen Learning, and Respondus, as well as other exhibitors showcasing products and other technologies that could be used in the classroom to enhance the learning experience as well as increase engagement.

The University at Buffalo sign and some trees.
The University at Buffalo was a great location for this year’s CIT 2024 conference.

During the conference, we presented at two different sessions. Our first session, Critical Conversation on Generative AI, focused on our response to the boom of AI tools to support teaching and learning in college classes at Stony Brook University. The session opened with the CELT AI Timeline, illustrating how CELT started with collaborations with the academic integrity office. CELT proactively communicated to the SBU faculty about the best practices on generative AI in their classrooms and provided ongoing support and training sessions. We stay abreast on the latest AI tools and explore the benefits, challenges, and potential use cases with interested faculty members at Stony Brook University. During the past one-and-a-half-year period, CELT hosted 22 AI events with 1,110 Attendees. The AI panel discussion series covers topics like academic integrity, AI best practices, AI ethics, student perspectives, creative AI in art education, AI, and research. Monthly AI talk sessions allow faculty to ask questions and share their experience. Generative AI in Higher Education workshop series focuses on AI tools training, AI guidelines, assessment redesign, and ethical and practical AI usage for teaching and learning. 

Ultimately, as AI tools continued to develop and become more capable it became clear that we would need to expand our offerings to meet the needs and demands of interested stakeholders which we have done over the past year.

During the second half of the session, we opened up the floor to respond to questions for the audience to join the discussion and share their thoughts. The audience shared both valuable insights and ideas regarding AI usage as well as valid concerns regarding the capabilities and rapid growth of the technology. We shared resources at the end of the session and were able to speak to some of the audience members who had additional questions or were interested in continuing the conversation.

Our second session, Exploring VR Applications in College Classes – An SBU Showcase, focused on the applications of virtual reality (VR) of faculty members at Stony Brook University.  They explored the capabilities of these types of tools and how they can fit into their course goals and enhance their overall instruction. We began by discussing how the effective utilization of VR can positively impact teaching and learning and discussed specific tools that provide diverse experiences in VR that can be incorporated into any course. This included 360° photo and video, WebXR tools such as FrameVR, and immersive VR tools used in simulation-based learning. We then discussed our collaborations with faculty and staff members at the university and how they are currently using or planning to utilize VR in their courses. This included the work of Mark Lang from the School of Marine and Atmospheric Science (SoMAS), Dr. Guleed Ali from the Department of Geosciences, Dr. Carol Carter from the Department of Microbiology and Immunology, and Dr. Gary Marr from the Department of Philosophy in collaboration with Paul St. Dennis from the Department of Information Technology (DoIT). Then Dr. Guleed Ali presented via Zoom on VR virtual field trips as an inclusive pedagogy strategy  in his Geoscience class. 

The second part of our session was a hands-on immersive showcase, audience members could try on some of the VR applications we discussed. We set up three stations with Meta Quest headsets where audience members could see firsthand the diverse use cases of VR technology in the higher ed learning environment and familiarize themselves with working in VR. This also allowed us the opportunity to speak with audience members about their experiences with VR in the classroom, how they may be using VR in innovative and exciting new ways, and how they would like to be using VR in the classroom in the future. 

Members of CELT at the CIT 2024 conference.
CIT2024 was a great opportunity to gather insights and explore technology in teaching and learning!

The experience of attending and presenting sessions at CIT in Buffalo this year was an exciting and informative experience for our team. It was great to network and collaborate with other colleagues in teaching and learning more about the future of technology in our discipline. Our team returned with many great ideas and approaches that we are excited to implement in our own work.

2024 CELT Teaching and Learning Symposium – Focusing on Innovative Pedagogy

Artificial Intelligence, Assessment, Classroom Technology, Creativity, Educational Technologies, Equity and Inclusion, Innovative Technology, Instructional Design, Learning Outcomes, Online Learning, Student Experience, Uncategorized, Virtual Reality, VR,

By Luis Colon
Instructional Designer
luis.colon@stonybrook.edu

On April 12th, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching held their annual Teaching and Learning Symposium. Over the years, the event has allowed educators, researchers, administrators, and more to come together to discuss various aspects of teaching and learning as well as celebrate teaching and learning practices and initiatives at Stony Brook University. The central theme of the day was Innovative Pedagogy which was at the center of conversations and various learning experiences held throughout the day. The theme illustrates the importance of finding new and exciting ways to engage with and include students in the academic environment as well as empowering students to pursue lifelong learning. Close to 100 faculty members, graduate students, staff, and administrators attended the day-long event held in Ballroom A of the Student Activities Center.

The event opened with words from Dr. Carl Lejuez, Provost and Executive Vice President for Academic Affairs, and then led into the keynote event of the day. Dr. Marsha Lovett presented an interactive workshop on innovative teaching and how practice and feedback can be an impactful practice in the classroom. Dr. Lovett is the Vice Provost for Teaching & Learning Innovation at Carnegie Mellon University as well as a Teaching Professor of Psychology and former director of the Eberly Center for Teaching Excellence and Educational Innovation. Her passion for combining teaching and research is illustrated in the book How Learning Works, which has been translated into multiple languages and is now in its second edition with the new subtitle: How Learning Works: Eight Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching. 

Attendees at the 2024 CELT Symposium during the keynote workshop.
Dr. Marsha Lovett delivered an informative and engaging keynote workshop.

The workshop focused on the importance of incorporating opportunities for students to engage in “deliberate practice” where they are challenged appropriately and focus on clear and specific goals. These opportunities allow for observed performance where students would be able to receive targeted feedback that they would be able to use to improve their skills and apply in further practice. To provide targeted feedback, Dr. Lovett recommended incorporating rubrics into assignments as a grading tool where criteria for success is outlined and to remind students to utilize the rubric before, during, and after working on the assignment. 

To address the concern of allowing students to practice often without having a huge amount of grading, Dr. Lovett suggested incorporating opportunities for students to engage in active learning. She touched on many different examples of active learning strategies from shorter tasks to whole-class activities which provide students the opportunity to not only practice applying important skills but also allows students to receive feedback through the explanations of concepts and discussions that spark from active learning in the classroom.

Dr. Lovett closed with a discussion on how to provide effective SPACE (Specific, Prioritized, Actionable, Constructive, Expedient) feedback in a manner that is not only easy but also efficient and applicable to courses of all types and sizes. Her suggestions included framing your feedback in relation to your overall learning goals, highlighting priorities in the work, providing class-wide feedback on common pitfalls and errors, and developing a “key” or collection of frequently used comments to use during grading.

Following the keynote session were breakout sessions where Stony Brook University faculty and staff delivered sessions focusing on four different tracks highlighting major topics in teaching and learning today including Course Design, Student Engagement, Virtual Experiences, and Artificial Intelligence (AI). There were three breakout sessions where attendants had the opportunity to either stick to one particular track or attend sessions on different topics of interest. Faculty presenters from across both campuses discussed practical approaches and strategies to implement in classes and recounted their own observations with these innovative teaching practices.

Attendees at the CELT Learning Symposium 2024.
Faculty and staff participated in learning sessions and activities throughout the all-day event.

The 2024 Teaching and Learning Symposium was an exciting event that provided an open forum for faculty, TAs, and staff to engage in discourse related to teaching and learning with their colleagues. From using generative AI as a “junk generator” and having students critique its outputs to effective practices to foster inclusivity in the classroom environment, this event addressed many facets of teaching and learning to help students feel welcomed, engaged, and appropriately challenged in their coursework and overall experience at Stony Brook University. 

If you would like to learn more about how to make your courses effective, engaging, relevant, and inclusive, you can purchase a copy of How Learning Works: Eight Research-Based Principles for Smart Teaching by Dr. Marsha Lovett at this Amazon link. Linked below is the Google Collaborative Note-Taking Document from the day’s events to catch up with session materials and notes from the various sessions offered.

Are You Creative?

Artificial Intelligence, Creativity, Instructional Design, STEM

By Carol Hernandez, Ed.D.
Senior Instructional Designer
carol.hernandez@stonybrook.edu

A coffee cup in a analog clock display
Is creativity a skill you want to increase in your teaching practice?

Perhaps we all in some way, strive to be creative and to use creativity in our teaching and learning practices. But have you stopped to think about how creativity is defined and measured? How is it  taught?

Creativity is a critical skill as identified by the 21st Century Skills Framework, which focuses on a comprehensive list of abilities, skills, and attitudes that young people around the world will need to be successful in their personal, professional, and civic lives. This is becoming increasingly important as each day we are witnessing artificial intelligence and other technologies showing up to help us do our work.  While at the same time, there is no end to the number of wicked problems we are faced with in every aspect of our lives, which may feel increasingly complex.

Complexity on its own, is not inherently good or bad. But it does present us with an opportunity to be creative in our teaching practice. In the 30s and 40s, Ellis Paul Torrance was a teacher in Georgia who noticed that some of his students had off-beat ideas, but were not necessarily fitting into the traditional classroom structure. He believed that creativity and standard intelligence tests were not measuring the same thing. He wanted to explore and measure creativity on its own, which led him to create the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking. He is now considered the Father of Creativity Research. And you can learn more about his ideas here. As defined by Torrance, creativity is (1966, p. 6):

  • A process of becoming sensitive to problems, deficiencies, gaps in knowledge, missing elements, disharmonies, and so on;
  • identifying the difficulty;
  • searching for solutions, making guesses, or formulating hypotheses about the deficiencies;
  • testing and retesting these hypotheses and possible modifying and retesting them;
  • and finally communicating the results.

Using this definition, how could you adjust your teaching practice to help your students be more creative? If you’d like to test your own creativity, there are a number of free tests online. Here is one offered by AULIVE, an online resource for creativity and innovation.

References

Alabbasi, A. M. A., Paek, S. H., Kim, D., & Cramond, B. (2022). What do educators need to know about the Torrance Tests of Creative Thinking: A comprehensive review. Frontiers in Psychology, 13. 

Torrance, E. P. (1966). Torrance tests of creative thinking—norms technical manual research edition—verbal tests, forms A and B—figural tests, forms A and B. Princeton: Personnel Pres. Inc.

ChatGPT: Friend or Foe?

Artificial Intelligence, Assessment, Classroom Technology, Educational Technologies, Equity and Inclusion, Virtual Reality

By Yiren Kong, Ph.D.
Postdoctoral Associate
yiren.kong@stonybrook.edu

A robot hand reaches out to a human hand.
How will human beings ultimately choose to harness the power of ChatGPT and AI?

You have probably heard the word ChatGPT thrown around recently. It is the new trending artificial intelligence (AI) tool that can do a lot of things. One of the most well known features of ChatGPT is to produce content based on the prompt you give to it. As an example, I asked ChatGPT to write a poem about Stony Brook University and here is what it composed:

Beneath the sun and sky so blue,
Stands Stony Brook, a sight to see.
Where knowledge grows, and dreams take flight,
A place where students shine so bright.

With halls of learning, and fields of green,
A place where one’s true self is seen.
Where diversity and inclusivity thrive,
And the future is shaped by those who arrive.

From science to arts, and engineering too,
Stony Brook has something for me and you.
With professors who inspire and guide,
And opportunities that cannot be denied.

A place of growth, and a place of pride,
Stony Brook is where we reside.
With memories made and friendships true,
Stony Brook, we’ll always carry you.

Pretty impressive, right? So what is ChatGPT exactly? ChatGPT is an AI Chatbot developed by the company OpenAI. It was released in November 2022. GPT stands for Generative Pre-training Transformer. Essentially, ChatGPT is a large language model (LLM) which relies on the probability distribution of word sequences. Simply put, ChatGPT is trained with a large amount of text inputs, as explained in this video. It summarizes, predicts, and generates new information based on the information that was given. It is smart enough to not use nonsensical or grammatically incorrect word sequences (due to low probability) and instead to produce content that is more human-like. 

ChatGPT is indeed a critical step forward for AI and technology. However, what does it mean for higher education? Is it easier for students to cheat on assignments and exams now? I believe a lot of us are worried about the impact of ChatGPT and AI on education. 

A recent study published by professor Christian Terwiesch at the University of Pennsylvania Wharton School documented how well GPT-3, an earlier version of ChatGPT, could do in the final exam for one of the courses in the school’s MBA program. It turned out that GPT-3 performed pretty well on certain questions and not so well on others. Surprisingly, GPT-3 made mistakes on simple calculations while perfectly answering more complex questions such as those on process analysis. In the meantime, GPT-3 showed the ability to learn and adapt. Once GPT-3 was given more hints by the instructors, it was able to rectify the once incorrect answers. In the end, GPT-3 was able to receive a B to B- grade on this exam.

Surely, there is a sense of uncertainty and fear when we face something that seems so shiny and powerful. But do educators need to panic yet? In my honest opinion, probably not. As we have learned so far, ChatGPT relies heavily on learned information. It can produce “original” content but that does not equal “original” thoughts. If we grow more mindful towards the assignments and exams that we design, asking questions that elicit more meaningful and sophisticated answers, it will be very difficult for ChatGPT or AI in general (in its current form) to follow. Meanwhile, the anti-cheating AI technology to detect what is created by AI is also developing and that will greatly help combat the misuse of technology like ChatGPT. In addition, having more learning activities that require personal communication (i.e., presentations, group work) will also offset the potential negative effects on learning that may be brought by AI technology. 

On the other hand, the power of ChatGPT can also be used by instructors in various ways to enhance their teaching strategies. For example, ChatGPT can answer straightforward questions about basic course requirements for the instructors so they have more time to answer content questions. In other instances, instructors can use ChatGPT to generate prompts for classroom activities or use it with students to brainstorm. 

So-called new technologies can push us to reassess what we are doing and why. For example, there is an interesting quote by Socrates in the Phaedrus (274b-277a). Plato mentioned that his teacher once said, “[writing] will implant forgetfulness in their souls. They will cease to exercise memory because they rely on that which is written, calling things to remembrance no longer from within themselves, but by means of external marks.” But today, writing has become a routine and indispensable part of our life and helps us in numerous different ways. Similarly, let’s take a deep breath and take some time to truly understand what ChatGPT and AI means to us. After all, the most important thing is how we, the human beings, ultimately choose to harness the power of ChatGPT and AI. 

Do you want to find out more? Do you have ideas for how to embrace or deter the use of ChatGPT as part of your teaching practice? Sign up for the CELT panel discussion: Trends and Tips: Assessment in the Classroom. Email CELT@StonyBrook.edu to sign up for our listserv and get the latest updates about this and more!