Teaching and Scholarship Hub News

As we near the midpoint of the semester, we hope all is going well. Midterm can be a good time to gather feedback from your students about their experiences in your courses so far. See our tipsheet on “Gathering Feedback from Students” for ideas, formats, and resources for doing so! You can also reach out to the Faculty Hub to schedule a one-on-one consultation about designing a feedback survey for your particular goals and teaching context.

Keep reading about more happenings here.

We are glad everyone made their way back! We hope you will join us for our Welcome Back Breakfast on January 19 from 8:30 to 10:30 a.m. to reconnect with colleagues and enjoy some back-to-school sustenance here in the Faculty Hub on the third floor of Boatwright Library. We’ll have breakfast goodies, coffee, and door prizes.

Read more about our spring offerings here!

You don’t have to face those end-of-semester tasks alone! Join us for a writing and grading retreat here in the Faculty Hub on Tuesday, December 12. We’ll provide all participants with lunch, seasonal goodies, and beverages (coffee, tea, hot chocolate, and more) all day long. Come on by and get cozy. Stay for any amount of time that works for you between the hours of 9 a.m. and 3 p.m.

Please also note that the Pedagogy and Generative AI Faculty Exchange date was incorrect in this newsletter. It is on Wednesday, January 10. 

As we approach the end of the semester, a time when our students start turning in final projects and we begin to plan for the spring, I’d like to share a few opportunities for you to learn more about generative AI tools like ChatGPT and how they might affect your teaching and scholarship. I invite you to make an appointment with me to chat about your immediate needs and concerns relating to generative AI.

We are also offering several programs on December 14 and January 10. The programs are designed to provide flexibility for your schedule. Attend the half-day professional development opportunity or come to one or two events. Hopefully, you’ll find something that will help you navigate this new generative AI wave. To register for the events below visit this site and let us know which event(s) you’d like to attend. 

Introduction to Generative AI (Two Offerings)

This 90-minute workshop (December 14, 9 to 10:30 a.m. or January 10, 10 to 11:30 a.m.) is a dive into the world of generative AI designed for both beginners and those seeking a refresher. Understand the basics of AI tools (like ChatGPT) and their emerging role in the academic landscape.

Generative AI as a Tool for Scholarship (December 14) 

Finding a Role for Generative AI in Your Writing Workflow – December 14, 10:30 to 11:20 a.m.

Explore how generative AI can become a pivotal part of your writing process, enhancing creativity and efficiency. Learn to leverage AI for drafting, editing, and refining your academic manuscripts.

Supercharge Your Research with a Hundred Research Assistants (Lunch Provided) – December 14, 11:30 a.m. to 12:20 p.m.

Experience the efficiency of employing generative AI as if you had an army of research assistants at your disposal. This session, co-hosted with Social Science Librarian, Kyle Jenkins, will show you how to accelerate literature reviews and data analysis, complete with a lunch break to network and discuss insights.

Hands-On Workshop for Using Generative AI Tools (Scholarship Focus) – December 14, 12:30 to 1:30 p.m.

Conclude the workshop with a practical hands-on workshop to help you identify the right AI tools that fit your unique research needs. Personalize your academic toolkit with AI technologies that can elevate your research productivity to new levels.

Pedagogy and Generative AI Faculty Exchange (January 10)  

Faculty Panel Lunch – January 10, 11:45 a.m. to 1:00 p.m.

Join fellow faculty members, Stephen Brauer, Visiting Associate Professor of English (A&S), Megan Driscoll, Assistant Professor of Art History (A&S), Sara Hanson, Associate Professor of Marketing (RSB), Saif Mehkari, Associate Professor of Economics (RSB) and Lionel Mew, Assistant Professor of Information Systems (SPCS), in this interactive panel discussion over lunch facilitated by Linda Boland, Associate Provost for Faculty and Professor of Biology. Hear firsthand experiences from colleagues who have been intentionally integrating generative AI tools into their curriculum. This is a great opportunity to gain insights into the challenges, success stories, and institutional policies surrounding generative AI in education. Plus, it’s a chance to network and share your thoughts in an open forum.

Hands-On Workshop for Using Generative AI Tools (Pedagogy Focus) – January 10, 1:30 to 3:00 p.m.

This session, co-hosted with Andrew Ilnicki, Director of Experiential Education & Emerging Technology, promises to be both enlightening and interactive. Attendees will get the opportunity to work directly with some of the most advanced generative AI tools available in the market. Under the guidance of expert trainers, explore the functionalities of ChatGPT (based on the GPT-4 architecture), the innovative capabilities of Claude.AI, and the design potential of Adobe’s Firefly. Whether you’re planning to integrate these tools into your teaching methods or just curious about their capabilities, this session is tailored to provide a rich, hands-on experience.

We here at the Faculty Hub are grateful to be working with so many engaged and committed faculty, staff, and administration members here at UR. We’re sending you best wishes as we head into the last part of the semester and the end of the calendar year.

Greetings, everyone! We hope you had a restful Fall Break. We’re excited to co-host a campus visit (October 25-27) by Michael Reder, Director of the Joy Shechtman Mankoff Center for Teaching & Learning at Connecticut College, an expert in using writing and active teaching to support student learning. Michael’s visit will allow faculty and instructional staff to reflect on the upcoming launch of the new General Education curriculum in Fall 2024. If you’ve been part of the FYS program for the past few years, you likely already know Michael as a longstanding collaborator and partner with the University of Richmond. If you haven’t yet met Michael, we hope you will make the most of his time on campus by attending an event or scheduling a one-on-one consultation with him. We’d especially like to call your attention to Michael’s keynote on October 26 from 3 to 4:30 p.m., entitled Reinventing Your Courses — and Reanimating Your Teaching — in Richmond’s New GE Program, a talk intended to bring us all together to consider the importance of this moment. Many of the events surrounding Michael’s visit will count for the required professional development under the new General Education curriculum. Read on to learn more!

Howdy,

I’m Andrew Bell, the Technology Consultant at the Faculty Hub. I’m excited to kick off a new monthly series around digital tools. I’m going to share information, links, videos, papers… some related to pedagogy and scholarship, some might not be… All of it will be related to concepts, tools, and ideas that have helped me better understand the ever changing digital landscape. I hope you find it worth your time!

10 things worth sharing this October:

1. Someone something to talk to… You can now talk with chatGPT. ChatGPT can now see, hear, and speak

2. Ben Thompson on how the emergence of generative AI is redefining the meaning of ‘virtual reality’. 

3. Ezra Klein suggests the Internet both enhances and distracts the mind. In this NYTimes article, Erza speculates on the impact AI will have on the mind.

4. Will Generative AI make us more productive? This paper suggests it might (for some of us)…

5. “When the people at the New Yorker can’t concentrate long enough to listen to a song all the way through, how are books to survive?” Why can’t we read anymore?

6. Walking around campus, it’s hard not to wonder: what did we do before smartphones? Ian Bogost, a columnist for The Atlantic, explores leisure time, boredom, and what we used to do to pass time.

7. Remember, even the widely-used digital pedagogy tool, Powerpoint, hasn’t been around forever.  A (brief) History of Powerpoint from the MIT Technology Review.

8. Developing concept maps as an exam review is one of my favorite learning activities for students. They also have a long history in storytelling. Walt Disney was famous for distributing corporate strategy in the form a a concept map.

9. I once gave my UR job talk using the note-taking app, Evernote 😬, so this topic resonates with me. Why note-taking apps don’t make us smarter

10. While note taking apps may not make us smarter, notebooks can be a great tool for capturing ideas… The Notebooks of Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Notebooks

Thanks for reading!

Andrew

We hope everyone is back into the swing of things and enjoying the last days of warmer weather. Keep reading for some new AI resources and information about some exciting talks, including one with Matthew R. Kay, the author of Not Light, but Fire: How To Lead Meaningful Race Conversations in the Classroom.

Learn more here!