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AI & GPT: Faculty Perspectives

WPI Faculty Perspectives

The Next Wave: Artificial Intelligence in Project-Based Learning at WPI

Two WPI professors reveal the future role of AI in engineering education at exclusive workshop. 11/22/2024

Use of Generative AI Tools

At WPI, the Morgan Teaching and Learning Center has created a space in Canvas where WPI professors can share a variety of perspectives on using AI and GPT in their courses, including use of AI in creating images.

Professional Learning Community, AY23-24: Investigating the Role of GPT in the Curriculum

A group of five WPI faculty and staff was awarded a grant to "explore the applications and implications of recent advances in artificial intelligence (such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT or DALL-E) in higher ed. Merging perspectives on pedagogies of literacy, metacognition, ungrading, ethics, and workforce development, this PLC’s members will implement curricular changes in courses, and collaborate to develop 1) a course materials repository and 2) a multimedia essay on pedagogical approaches in this next age of AI." 

ChatGPT: Revolutionary Tech or Pandora’s Box? (WPI Journal 8-7-23)

"Five WPI experts weigh in on the current and future impact of ChatGPT—in society in general and in the classroom in particular—as the world adjusts to this new landscape." Faculty contributing include Professors Xiaozhong Liu, Jacob Whitehill, Gillian Smith, Kenny Ching, and Yunus Telliel.

How ChatGPT's New Memory Feature Can Help You Get Things Done Faster - Sascha Brodsky (LifeWire) 7/24/23

WPI Researcher on New AI feature: "A dialogue with AI should not happen just one time," Xiaozhong Liu, a professor of computer science at Worcester Polytechnic Institute, told Lifewire in an email interview. "Instead, the chat model should understand the context or discourse of the conversation."

Resources for Teachers & Educators

Considerations for using and addressing advanced automated tools in coursework and assignments (U Delaware)

"This website provides context and practical suggestions for faculty who are addressing the use of advanced automated tools in their course(s). Should students be allowed to use these tools? What are the most pressing issues – practical, pedagogical, and ethical – related to the use of these tools? How can we support their learning about these tools and the many complex, interesting, and rapidly-developing issues that surround them?"

Harvard College of Undergraduate Education: AI Guidance and FAQs (8/23)

"Harvard supports responsible experimentation with generative AI tools, but there are important considerations to keep in mind when using these tools, including information security and data privacy, compliance, copyright, and academic integrity. The Office of Undergraduate Education has compiled ... resources for instructors regarding appropriate use of generative AI in courses," including sample language and options for course policies on AI. 

Chat GPT Assignments to Use in Your Classroom Today, Kevin Yee et al., University of Central Florida, 2023

"Teachers and faculty everywhere first need to adopt a mindset that acknowledges the availability of AI and the likelihood that students will use it. As a result, we need to adjust our expectations of students.....If we adopt the idea that the mindsets of instructors and students alike must change and accept that some form of AI fluency is a necessary desirable component of the curriculum, then their greatest need is assistance with the implementation of these concepts. Thus, we provide extensive examples of assignments that can be used in class or as homework."

Why You Should Rethink Your Resistance to Chat GPT, Flower Darby (Chronicle of Higher Ed), 11/13/23

"How to teach with AI tools in ways that meet faculty concerns about ethics and equity."

AI and the Future of Undergraduate Writing, Beth McMurtrie (Chronicle of Higher Ed), 12/13/22

"Is the college essay dead? Are hordes of students going to use artificial intelligence to cheat on their writing assignments? Has machine learning reached the point where auto-generated text looks like what a typical first-year student might produce? And what does it mean for professors if the answer to those questions is “yes”?"

Effective assessment practices for a ChatGPT-enabled world, Jonna Lee (Times Higher Ed), 5/8/23

Assessment methods that require students to produce authentic, novel and personalised responses can help educators stay ahead of the uncertainty and workload that AI writers create

ChatGPT in Education: The Pros, Cons and Unknowns of Generative AI, Suchi Rudra, EdTech, 3/30/23

"The remarkable language modeler took the world by storm late last year, but how will it really change things in education?

Teaching and Thinking with Technology, Vladimir Bratic (Faculty Focus), 7/10/23

Thoughtful short essay on GPT and AI in the broader context of technology change:  "The launch of ChatGPT has seemingly accelerated the need for a question: What does the higher education system look like in a future dominated by technology? One safe answer is that we ought to do things differently, though, there is no consensus on what “doing things differently” means."

Artificial Intelligence is the Future of Teaching and Learning (Fierce Education), Susan Fourtané, 6/9/23

Brief article pointing to other sources to sketch the range of ways that AI is changing teaching and learning. 

How Can Generative AI Be Used in Higher Ed? Suchi Rudra (EdTech), 1/23/23  

"Machine learning that generates images and video could find use cases in higher education....Text prompts...are only one possible input or “condition” for generative AI content. Other inputs include sketches, other images or randomly sampled vectors, which follow a process called “unconditional generation.”