Top AI Conferences and Virtual Events of 2023
Are You Ready To Use AI In Your Teaching?
AI (Artificial Intelligence) concept.
gettyCollege faculty are uncertain about the use of AI. Most talk related to AI among non-science faculty pertains to how students might be using it to cheat rather than how they can use it to streamline their own work or how to be innovative in their approaches to teaching. Anthology is hoping to simplify many of the components of teaching through the use of AI in its learning management system (LMS) — Blackboard Learn Ultra.
Nicolaas Matthijs, Anthology's Chief Product Officer
Photo Credit: AnthologyRecently I talked with Nicolaas Matthijs, Anthology's Chief Product Officer, to learn more about how faculty can use AI in college course design. He shared that Blackboard Learn Ultra will now provide faculty with AI tools to strengthen their courses. From Matthijs's perspective, AI can "Help instructors build out a class." However, he noted that the "Instructor is always in control of the course."
As a historian, I asked him how I might use the AI feature in Blackboard. Matthijs explained that once I load my syllabus into the LMS, the AI function will suggest course activities to help student better understand the topical areas I have delineated. It will also generate discussion questions based specifically on my readings. Creating activities and crafting discussion questions is something I spend hours doing prior to the beginning of a course. I typically revisit them the week before each class as there are many changes over the semester and the activities and discussion questions often need to be revised depending on the students in the class and the depth of the learning. The AI feature can help generate ideas or help you revise ideas.
AI-generated discussion questions
Photo Credit: AnthologyMoreover, the AI feature will offer visuals that represent the various topical areas and connect to the readings I am assigning. AI will also craft assessments that directly relate to the learning goals in my syllabus, and it will create a rubric for each assignment that helps students understand how they will be assessed. I must admit that I'm not a fan of rubrics so this kind of assistance would be especially helpful in helping students understand how I am assessing them for each assignment.
Rubric for assessment, generated by AI
Photo Credit: AnthologyWhen I expressed concern about AI sharing materials with students that I might not consider appropriate or relevant, Matthijs explained that Blackboard's AI support "doesn't create course content — the instructor is in charge — everything is based on the content provide by the instructor and the instructor approves everything." He added, "If the instructor is not in charge of the content, things will fall apart."
During our conversation, we also talked about the use of AI to cheat in courses as this is the main concern among faculty based on recent surveys and a review of conversations on X/Twitter. Matthijs believes that faculty should be less concerned with catching students using AI for cheating and more focused on how students can use AI to creatively complete assignments and assist them in their learning process. He cautioned that AI detectors often don't always work — there are many false positives — and a "detection" culture can feel alienating for students. Moreover, AI detectors are more likely to label non-English writers as AI-written. According to Jing Lei, a professor in Syracuse University's School of Education who specialized in technology integration, "A teacher's best tool in detecting any potential violation of academic integrity is their understanding of their own students."
Anthology has been thinking extensively about the issue of integrity and AI, releasing a white paper pertaining to the topic. AI, Academic Integrity, and Authentic Assessment: An Ethical Path Forward for Education focuses on four main ideas: 1.) AI is here to stay, and colleges and universities should focus on building on its benefits rather than merely restricting its threats; 2.) AI will bring about large changes just like other innovations in learning; 3.) AI necessitates flexible policies and practices; 4.) Empowering faculty in the use of AI is essential to its use and fostering integrity.
One of the most interesting — and perhaps controversial statements in the white paper — is: "Academic integrity, and related terms like plagiarism, have always been very clearly defined, with a shared understanding of what is considered ethical practice. AI changes this. It will no longer be possible to maintain strict, institution-wide policies, as the impact of AI will change for different study areas. While having clear guidelines is essential, instructors should also have autonomy to apply these relative to their subject matter." I'm sure there will be much debate among faculty around this particular issue, and there should be informed debate as colleges are learning environments.
Currently, nearly 500 colleges and universities have enabled the AI Design Assist feature in Blackboard, resulting in 350,000 unique uses of generative AI among faculty users in the last 9 months. I'm sure there will be many more to come.
Move Over, ChatGPT: Here Are 5 AI Education Tools Loved By Teachers
Move Over ChatGPT! Here Are 5 AI Education Tools Loved By Teachers
gettyArtificial Intelligence is inspiring educators all over the world.
I reached out to teachers on LinkedIn, X, and Facebook to find out which AI tools are having the most impact in classrooms. The overwhelming response is testament to how much educators are loving their new AI workmates. After exploring the first round of popular tools, let's take a look at five more.
While many educators are using leading AI chatbots such as ChatGPT and Google Gemini, platforms designed specifically for educators and students are offering more specialized functionality.
Here are five more AI tools making waves in classrooms worldwide:
With insights from educators who are leveraging their potential, let's explore them in more detail.
Five AI Tools For Educators MagicSchoolMagicSchool is a generative AI platform designed to assist educators with various tasks such as lesson planning, writing assessments and creating individualized education plans. It offers over 60 tools to streamline various processes and aims to save teachers significant amounts of time each week. The platform also offers a suite of tools specifically designed for students to enhance their AI literacy and learning experience.
Heather Brown, a K-5 math interventionist and STEAM teacher in Illinois, shared her enthusiasm: "I love that MagicSchool has so much of the prompting built in to help students truly engage with AI. The variety of ways it can be used is also incredible, from rap battles to research assistants to math review and beyond! The guidance it gives to students before proceeding into using AI is also a great starting point for teachers to talk about AI in a factual, unbiased way."
I use MagicSchool's tools when leading sessions with students to help them create AI bots for their own personal use. I'm constantly amazed by how they innovate, developing bots for themselves to help with studying, career guidance and even sleep management.
PoePoe is a versatile AI tool that allows students to create personal chatbots and explore different AI models. It allows customization of chatbot behavior and responses, providing a more tailored and interactive experience.
Jason Gulya, a professor of English at Berkeley College uses Poe in his classroom: "I currently teach my students to use Poe. It helps them to create their own personal chatbots. When they use it, they start to realize that AI isn't magic, but a technology that allows them to build useful solutions around their own problems and interests."
Chat For SchoolsI received a lot of replies mentioning this tool. Chat for Schools by Skill Struck is tailored for K-12 classrooms, allowing students to engage with AI chatbots. Teachers can create custom tutors, monitor chat history and control the AI's usage to prevent cheating and ensure appropriate interactions. The platform also integrates features like sentiment analysis and reading level adjustments to enhance the educational experience.
Devan Miller, a career and technical education teacher in Florida, praised Chat For Schools: "It allows me to create tutors for specific aspects of content that I would like my students to practice and learn while allowing me to monitor my students' queries. The management system also flags anything that could prove to be inappropriate for school. It's an amazing resource that I recommend be used by teachers!"
Magic Media in CanvaMagic Media, an app in the Canva platform, enables users to create images, graphics and videos from simple text prompts. Teachers can generate high-quality visual content without requiring extensive design skills. Users can further enhance their creations using Canva's editing tools, which offer options for adding animations, transitions and other effects to make the final product more dynamic and engaging.
Ainsley Messina, a technology integrator in New York City, shared her positive experience: "I love using Canva Magic Media tools with my 4th graders! These tools are fantastic for teaching students how AI can enhance photo editing and presentation creation. By using Magic Media, my students get an engaging introduction to the capabilities of AI, learning firsthand how it can be integrated into creative projects. It's also an excellent way to highlight the importance of detailed prompt writing, helping them understand how precise instructions can yield the best results. Overall, it's a fun and educational way to prepare them for the future of digital creativity."
Magic Media is just one of many AI tools in Canva. Educators can access these with a free premium account.
UdioUdio is a new AI platform designed to generate custom music tracks based on user preferences. You simply type in what kind of song you would like, select the genre of music and wait around 1 minute for a unique 30 second song. Advanced features allow users to create full length songs, include their own lyrics and even generate a song from an audio input.
Pravin Kaipa, an education specialist at an elementary school in California, uses Udio with his special needs students: "My students and I love using Udio because we generate songs to help us memorize concepts or understand new ones, and we have created everything from mnemonics to remember the prime numbers under 10 to the differences between potential and kinetic energy. They also loved using it to create positive self-image theme songs that I play when they finish a big presentation."
Important Considerations For EducatorsThese five tools are just a few of the many platforms shared by educators around the world. To search for other AI platforms being used in education, many educators use the AI Educator Tools repository.
Before integrating any digital platform into your classroom, it is crucial to follow your organization's procedures regarding data protection. Always seek guidance from the people responsible for this in your school, college, or university.
The teachers I spoke to are saving many hours per week using tools such as the ones above. When integrated in a safe way, AI has the potential to transform the practices of any teacher.
This could be you.
CSUF Symposium Examines The Use Of Artificial Intelligence In Higher Education
Educators from multiple universities shared their insights and research on expanding the use of artificial intelligence in higher education in a daylong symposium hosted by CSUF's Office of Academic Affairs
The April 30 seminar, "All AI 2024 – Envision Tomorrow: Exploring AI's Role in Higher Education," at the Pollak Library consisted of three tracks – AI Changes in the Curriculum, AI Pedagogy Changes and AI Knowledge Base – and was divided into 22 sessions with 31 speakers discussing all aspects of AI's impacts on teaching and learning.
Amir Dabirian, provost and vice president for academic affairs at CSUF, said integrated AI in ways that "genuinely enrich and ready our students for the future while advancing our educational objectives." is crucial for the university.
"It is really exciting to talk about AI and about our university moving forward," Dabirian said. "This is a very comprehensive AI conference."
With a rapidly changing landscape, equipping CSUF graduates with an understanding of AI technologies is a necessity, Dabirian said.
Over the course of one week leading up to the conference, 800 faculty members and 4,000 students responded to a survey related to AI technology.
The survey revealed that about 90% of faculty and students were concerned with AI's impact on ethics, privacy and long-term societal impacts.
A slightly lower percentage of students (67%) compared with faculty (78%) agree that AI will become an essential part of most professions.
More students than faculty are concerned about AI's impact on job security (74% of students compared with 65% of faculty).
Donna Budar-Turner and Emeline Yong, director and assistant director, respectively, of CSUF's Office of Student Conduct, led a session titled "When AI Collides with AI: The Intersection of the Use of Artificial Intelligence and University Standards for Academic Integrity."
The Office of Student Conduct investigates allegations of academic dishonesty.
According to its mission statement, the Office of Student Conduct supports student well-being and approaches misconduct as "an opportunity for holistic student development."
The office "fosters student learning, facilitates reparation of harm caused by a student's conduct."
The presentation from Budar-Turner and Yong juxtaposed technology accessed by students in 2020 that could potentially be used for cheating along with resources available to faculty to determine whether cheating had occurred, with the advanced AI technology available to students in 2024 and the challenges it presents to faculty for discerning academic integrity.
Budar-Turner and Yong said that student use of artificial intelligence to create or revise work submitted for evaluation can be "a slippery slope for scholarly communities to navigate."
"Can students use AI in preparing their assignments? Yes, they can, and they do," the presenters said. "May they use AI in preparing their assignments? That depends on you, the instructor, and the parameters you set in your courses."
Budar-Turner and Yong encouraged educators in attendance to respond to every breach of academic integrity, especially breaches perpetrated by AI, to ensure the integrity of a CSUF degree and maintain a level playing field for students.
Students should be made aware of the benefits of "researching, analyzing, critically thinking, and practicing the range of skills that academic assignments encourage students to exercise."
CSUF art professor Chen Wang delivered a presentation titled "AI Integration in Graphic Design Education."
Wang discussed the ways students can incorporate AI technology into their design process.
"By guiding students to critically evaluate AI-driven design solutions and consider ethical implications, we prepare them to navigate the complexities of the evolving digital landscape with confidence," Wang said. "This project demonstrates our efforts to harness AI's potential in creating effective design solutions."
AI is a tool to achieve design goals and meet users' specific needs, Wang said.
For children, AI can be used to create content suitable for children of all cognitive abilities and be used to design game elements to ensure learning through play, the professor said.
AI can be used to generate background music based on the user's music taste and preference, voice-based guides for breathing exercises, and yoga practice to help users relax, Wang said.
Other CSUF presenters included: Shelli Wynants, professor of Child and Adolescent Studies; Nicole Seymour English professor; Thomas May, assistant economics professor; Leslie Bruce, lecturer in the Department of English, Comparative Literature, and Linguistics; Bruce Swanlund, Writing Center supervisor; Nancy Watkins, director, Educational Doctorate Program and associate professor, Educational Leadership; Todd Taylor, Senior Strategic Development Manager for Higher Education.
Comments
Post a Comment