You’re heard some buzz about generative AI, but you’ve also heard about some of the concerns. Specifically, you’re worried that students in your courses are going to use generative AI to cheat on your assignments. A 2023 survey showed that students using generative AI to cheat is the #1 concern of higher education instructors. Well,… Read more »
Entries by Eric Brinkman (they/them)
Using Social Annotation to Fact-Check Generative AI
As has now been widely discussed, generative AI is a productivity tool that can be used in various ways in our classrooms with a wide range of success and failure. Generative AI programs can be quite effective at various repetitive tasks or work such as summarizing, but can also “hallucinate”—that is, provide incorrect or misleading… Read more »
Generative AI in the Classroom: A Primer (Part 1)
So you’ve heard some buzz about generative AI: maybe you’re worried about student academic misconduct in your course, or maybe you are wondering how you would ever get started learning a new technology with all the demands you already have on your time. Never fear! There are easy ways to get started if you have… Read more »
Improving Student Reading Engagement (or How to Avoid Blank Stares)
Do you live in dread of blank stares from students when beginning a classroom discussion on a new topic? There are many reasons for this, one of which being that students can struggle completing pre-class reading assignments. A recent study by Jae-eun Russell et.al. (2023) found that if students are not supported through the process… Read more »
Quick Tip: Adding Students to Your Top Hat Course
This summer, IU moved to a new version of Top Hat, which offers new functionality such as automatic syncing and deep links. One of the changes required by this new version, however, is how you add students. Where formerly you might have just provided students with a join code, this version requires students to log… Read more »
Activities for the First Day of Class
Our previous blog post talked about ways to ensure your students feel welcomed and included in your course from day one. However, welcoming students to class and establishing course goals are only the first steps. As James M. Lang has argued, “On that first day…your students are forming a lasting impression not just of you… Read more »