What's Happening at FCTL

Are you interested in forming a Faculty Learning Community(FLC) for Fall?

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Proposal Deadline for Fall FLCs:  June 1, 2023

The FCTL is currently seeking faculty members who are interested in facilitating a faculty learning community(FLC).  FLCs are small groups of faculty (8-12) who gather together around a central purpose or interest related to teaching and learning.  FLCs meet regularly through a semester and/or across a year or longer based on the needs of the community and continued interest.

Key Goals of FLCs

  • Building Community
  • Engaging in scholarly (evidence-based) teaching, and
  • Advancing the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning

FLCs enable faculty to focus on specific issues or interests and provide a safe and supportive environment to investigate, challenge, assess, and adopt or change practices (Cox, 2001). Communities learn together and/or build towards collective action through shared interest, common goals, monitoring and evaluation of progress/impact. Current FLCs include the Women’s Writing Circle, the Shared Sisterhood, and the Faculty Writing Retreats.

Some Suggested FLC Topics Include:

  • Scholarship of Teaching & Learning
  • High Impact Practices
  • Contemporary Instructional Delivery
  • Active Learning
  • Student Centered Pedagogy
  • Meeting Student Needs
  • Building Relationships & Culture
  • Inclusive Teaching Practices
  • Developing a Reflective Teaching Practice

Communities selected by the FCTL will receive support for the group and facilitators will be provided with a stipend for their leadership of the community.  Visit the FCTL Faculty Learning Community Page to learn more.  If you are ready to submit a proposal for a community, visit Forming an FLC  for details and access to the application.  Contact the FCTL for more information.

Professional Development Opportunity: First Annual QM Missouri System Conference

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Friday, February 24, 2023, 8:45 am – 12:15 pm

Missouri State is now a Quality Matters institution and part of the QM Missouri System. The Quality Matters Missouri System is having our first annual member conference on Friday, February 24, 2023, from 8:45am-12:15pm. The conference is open to faculty and staff at QM Missouri System (QMo) member institutions, free of charge, and this year’s theme is Humanizing, Belonging, and Engaging in Online Learning.

The keynote speaker is Dr Catherine Ford, Program Director for Educational Development at Minnesota State who will be speaking about Empathy by Design: Intentional Integration into the Structure of Your Online Course. Dr Bethany Simunich, Director of Research & Innovation at Quality Matters, will speak about How the QM Standards Support Interaction and Engagement in Online Learning.

There will also be a Virtual Brunch with 10-minute presentations on Using Online Discussion Platforms to Create Belonging and Engagement (Amber Bell, Lincoln University), Mastery Paths in Canvas as a Remediation Tool (Kate Foster, St Charles Community College), and Engaging Students Though Anonymous Participation Opportunities (Elizabeth Dorssom, Lincoln University) as we brainstorm and share ideas related to our theme of humanizing, belonging, and engaging.

Please go to the QM Missouri System (QMo) Member Conference website to register for the conference. You will receive a confirmation email upon registering, and you will receive another email one week before the conference with the Zoom links to the sessions. These will go out the week of February 13.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Its Impact on the Classroom

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There has been quite a bit published recently since OpenAI’s release of their tool ChatGPT, which is marketed as a tool to revolutionize writing. Simply enter a prompt and “BAM” an essay is generated on the topic, varying in levels of quality based on information pulled from the internet.

This technology isn’t different than tools you may already using such as PackBack, a platform commonly used to promote student inquiry in discussion or improve writing skills by utilizing AI “conversation” to provide feedback to students to encourage deeper thinking about a topic. The AI technologies are trained to respond in a conversational tone, mimicking interaction with a human.

Should you worry?

I don’t think it is time to sound the alarm, but it is important that you are aware of these tools and what their capabilities are. Sure, AI can spit out a very convincing sample of writing based on information it gathers from the web. However, it cannot discern credible from non-credible information, nor can it evaluate level of importance in information.  It isn’t capable of the type of critical thinking and information synthesis we value and expect in our student’s writing. And if you’re worried you’ll be fooled by an AI generated paper, don’t worry, a student from Princeton University has already developed an app to help detect AI written content.

So, what do we do?

You know that old saying “if you can’t beat them, join them?” Unfortunately, these tools are out there, whether you are choosing to use the commercially packaged versions marketed to you as a tool to improve things like student engagement; or your students are accessing them on their own from platforms like ChatGPT. We could be leveraging them to support learning. Bringing the conversation to our students is one way to start. Having the conversation around the capability of these tools and their shortcomings is a great start. You might even include examples of what your students should be capable of producing versus what a tool like ChatGPT can produce. You could even go as far as having your students evaluate AI generated content to identify shortcomings. Students truly do want to learn; the more authentic your assessments are the more they learn and retain and the less impact an AI bot will have in your course.

Note: I have verified this post was not written by AI…
Summary of the analysis from the AI writing detection tool GPT Zero that summarizes this document was likely human generated.

Resources to Consider:

References

Bowers-Abbot, M. (2023). What are we doing about AI essays? Faculty Focus. Retrieved https://www.facultyfocus.com/articles/teaching-with-technology-articles/what-are-we-doing-about-ai-essays/?st=FFdaily%3Bsc%3DFF230104%3Butm_term%3DFF230104&mailingID=4320

Bowman, E. (2023). A college student created an app that can tell whether AI wrote and essay. NPR. Retrieved https://www.npr.org/2023/01/09/1147549845/gptzero-ai-chatgpt-edward-tian-plagiarism

D’Agostino, S. (2023). ChatGPT advice academics can use now. Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2023/01/12/academic-experts-offer-advice-chatgpt#.Y8HH5nHqtGg.link

McMurtrie, B. (2022). AI and the future of undergraduate writing: Teaching experts are concerned, but not for the reasons you think. Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved https://www.chronicle.com/article/ai-and-the-future-of-undergraduate-writing

 

National Distance Learning Week (November 7 – 11)

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This week (November 7th – 11th) is National Distance Learning Week. This year’s theme is “leadership across all aspects of distance learning”. In celebration, the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA) is hosting a week-long series of free webinars on the following topics:

  • generating greater awareness and appreciation for distance learning;
  • discussion on current issues and emerging trends;
  • best practices
  • recognizing leaders in the field of Distance Learning

To view the schedule and register for a session visit the USDLA National Distance Learning Week Event Schedule. For more detailed descriptions of the sessions view the NDLW Program.