Artificial Intelligence

 Helping Faculty and Students Navigate the Use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) 

With the growth of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and it’s use in higher education, we, as educators, need to consider ways to educate students about the proper use of AI. Here are some ideas to consider. 

 

Create an AI Project  

Create a project that invites students to use AI. Have them state the benefits and drawbacks of using AI to complete the project. Or have students create two short papers, one using AI and one they have written. Have the students trade papers with another student to see if the student can identify the AI-generated text. Then discuss the benefits and drawbacks. 

 

Design Diverse Assignments  

Create assignments that go beyond memorization and encourage critical thinking. Assign projects, case studies, and personal essays. Include open-ended questions that relate to current events or that require an application of knowledge or an opinion, making it more difficult for students to rely solely on AI-generated content. 

 

Promote Ethical Use of Technology  

Include discussions on the ethical use of technology. Help students understand the implications of relying solely on AI and emphasize the long-term value of acquiring knowledge. Teach students how to use AI in a way that is beneficial, where it increases their knowledge and promotes creative thinking. 

 

Talk about Academic Integrity 

Communicate expectations regarding originality, proper citation, and the use of AI. Emphasize the importance of learning and critical thinking over the pursuit of grades. Offer clear and specific guidelines on the use of technology or create a statement that can be added to the course syllabus. This clarity will help students understand the boundaries and consequences of using AI. 

Use Varied Assessment Formats  

Employ a mix of assessment formats, including in-person exams, oral presentations, and group projects. Using a variety of assessment methods makes it challenging for students to find a one-size-fits-all AI solution. 

 

Keep it Real 

Talk to students about the use of AI in the workplace, the benefits, and the challenges. Discuss where AI is useful and how it can be used. AI isn’t a tool to be ignored, it’s a tool that’s here to stay. So, we need to do what we can to make sure students understand the benefits and drawbacks of using AI in education and in life. 

 

Want to know more? There are so many articles out there about the use of AI. Type a request in a search engine or use ChatGPT. 😉 Or read this article titled, Embracing the Inevitable Gen Z’s vision of AI and GPT in higher education 

 

Learning On-Demand

 The Canvas Training Services Portal 

Do you need training on Canvas? The Canvas Training Services Portal offers on-demand webinars that support and empower faculty. So, whether you need instruction on creating modules or help updating your gradebook, you’ll find a webinar that works for you when you need it. Here are some benefits of the Canvas Training Services Portal. 

 

24/7 Accessibility 

The Canvas Training Services Portal is available 24/7, which means you can access the platform anytime, and anywhere. This creates a flexible learning environment that’s available whenever it’s convenient for you, ensuring that professional development is always available. 

 

Customized Professional Development 

The Canvas Training Services Portal provides professional development courses tailored to your needs. You can take online live courses, or you can opt for recorded webinars. In the live webinars, faculty can learn together from a Canvas expert, participate in discussions, ask questions and get live answers.  Or you can choose recorded webinars, these allow you to pick the content that fits your needs. The choice is up to you.  

 

Repeatable Content 

The material can be revisited as many times as needed. This helps reinforce learning and allows you to review content whenever you have a need.  

 

Self-Paced Learning 

You can progress through the content at your own speed. This accommodates different learning styles and ensures that you can take the time you need to fully understand and internalize the material. 

 

The Canvas Training Services Portal offers many benefits that allow for personalized learning.  I hope you see this resource as a way to grow and enhance your knowledge of Canvas. To find out how to access the Canvas Training Services Portal you can read this knowledge article or watch this video.  

Resource: Preparing College Instructors to Teach Online

"As campuses remain closed during the coronavirus outbreak, college students aren't the only ones experiencing a learning curve with online education...In the quick switch from on-campus to remote learning that happened in response to COVID-19, most professors had about a week to prepare and deliver the remainder of their spring semester classes online..." (read more on best practices and relevant resources for teaching online)

Problems Uploading PowerPoint

Blackboard users with Windows 10 and Office 2016 are receiving the following message when attempting to upload PowerPoint files to the Whiteboard in Blackboard Collaborate for web conferencing:

                "Failure Calling PowerPoint to Process Presentation"

At this time, the following workarounds are available:

1. Download and use Apache OpenOffice to complete the PowerPoint upload process
2. Save and upload your PowerPoint slides as image files:

To Save the Slides as Images

·         Open PowerPoint

·         Open the presentation needed

·         Click File

·         Click Save as Pictures

·         Save the pictures to your Desktop for easy finding

·         Select Format: JPEG

·         Click Save

·         The images are now saved to a new folder on your Desktop

To Upload the Images to your Session

·         Open your Collaborate session

·         Click Load Content

·         Browse to the Desktop folder created above and select all of the images from the newly created folder by pressing Command + A

·         Click Open

·         Select: Import Images as Individual Pages > Load

·         The Page Explorer will open. This will allow you to move slides to different rooms and organize them.

Starting December 31, 2018, Blackboard Instant Messaging (BBIM) will no longer be available, as Blackboard has discontinued this service. It is recommended that Bb Collaborate be used in lieu of BBIM.  For more information on Bb Collaborate, click here.

For faculty who choose to use BBIM this fall 2018 semester, there is a known issue where new users cannot download the BBIM file to install the product on their laptop or computer from the Quicklinks, Course Tools area.  Faculty must invite unregistered users via the BBIM application on their computer by following these instructions:

1. Open BBIM on your computer or laptop. 
2. Go to the View menu and make sure that "Show unregistered classmates" is checked.

  

3.      Go to the Classmates tab and expand the "Without Blackboard IM" list for your course.  You can then click on the envelope to invite the unregistered users. 

4.      You can enter an optional message to send to the students in the “Your Message” box.

An email will be sent to students with a link to create an account and download BBIM to their computer.

Updates for Blackboard Learn: what it means for you

Blackboard will be upgraded to the Q4 2017 release on May 20, 2018.
During the upgrade, Blackboard will be unavailable beginning at 3:30 am on May 20th and may be unavailable for up to 20 hours. 

The new Q4 2017 release will provide new features and enhancements that may simplify some of your everyday tasks, offer a better mobile experience, and improve accessibility, assessment and grading. Here are some of the top highlights of this new version:

• Improved mobile experience. When accessing Learn on your mobile device, look for the new hamburger icon that makes navigating BbLearn even easier; plus, many tools are now mobile-friendly including blogs, journals and discussion boards.
• More efficient Grade Center cleanup. You can now delete multiple gradebook columns at once making managing the gradebook easier.
• Discussion board “Replies to me.” Keeping up with discussion posts is simpler with unread replies to your own posts called out.
• Collaborate for groups. Increase student group engagement by offering web conferencing tools. Synchronous collaboration, content sharing and whiteboarding are sure to get your students involved.

Here are a more resources you may find useful:

• Blackboard Innovative Teaching Series (BITS): Blackboard hosts BITS webinars to share strategies and best practices for increasing educator efficiency and improving learning outcomes. You can register for live webinars or watch recordings of past events.
• Blackboard Community Educator Group: Connect with other educators across the world that are using Blackboard through Blackboard’s Community Site.
• Blackboard Help Site: Find detailed documentation on all the features and functionality in Learn on Blackboard’s Help Site.