The UWGB Provost Office and the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning, on behalf of the UW System’s Office of Professional and Instructional Development (OPID), invite faculty and instructional academic staff to apply for the 2024-25 cohort of the Wisconsin Teaching Fellows and Scholars (WTFS) Program.
This program is designed to provide time (one year) to systematically reflect with peers in a supportive and open-minded community and, ultimately, to move from “scholarly teaching” to the “scholarship of teaching.” Administered by OPID and directed by UW faculty, the WTFS Program is grounded in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL).
The deadline for applications has been extended through Sunday, Nov. 26, 2023. Interested applicants should submit items 1-5 below as separate attachments to one email message. That email should be sent to CATL (CATL@uwgb.edu) with the subject line “WTFS Application.” The reference letter can be submitted directly to the CATL email by your Department Chair or Dean, but it is also due by Nov. 26. The full list of required materials is below:
The Instructional Development Council (IDC) is accepting applications for Teaching Enhancement Grants (TEGs) through support from the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) and the Office of the Provost. TEGs provide funding for professional development activities related to teaching or for projects that lead to the improvement of teaching skills or the development of innovative teaching strategies.
Faculty and instructional academic staff whose primary responsibility is teaching for the academic year in which the proposed project takes place are strongly encouraged to apply! Click the button below for full details.
Applications are due Tuesday, Nov. 28, 2023. If you have any questions about the application or TEGs, please email the Instructional Development Council at idc@uwgb.edu.
Generative Artificial Intelligence (GAI) and machine-generated content have become prominent in educational discussions. Amidst technical jargon and concerns about the impact of traditional learning, writing, and other facets, understanding what these tools are and what they can do can be overwhelming. This toolbox guide provides insights into some commonly used generative AI tools and explains how they are changing the landscape of higher education.
What is Generative AI?
CATL created a short video presentation in Fall 2023 that provides instructors with an introduction to generative AI tools. The video and the linked PowerPoint slides below can help you understand how generative AI tools work, their capabilities, and their limitations. Please note, minor parts of the tool identification in the video have been corrected below in the ‘Common Generative AI Tools’ section.
Microsoft Copilot is the recommended tool for UWGB instructors and students for safety, equity, and GBIT technical support. Using Microsoft Copilot with your UWGB account will bypass the need for individuals to create personal accounts which require providing personal information in the sign-up process. Learn more about Copilot below.
Copilot (Microsoft)
Microsoft has created its own AI called Copilot using a customized version of OpenAI’s large language model and many of the features of ChatGPT. Users can interact with the AI through a chatbot, compose feature, or the with Microsoft Edge search engine. Microsoft is also rolling out Copilot-powered features in many of its Office 365 products, but these features are currently only available for an additional subscription fee.
Faculty, staff, and students can access Copilot (which uses both ChatGPT 4.0 and Bing Chat) with their UWGB account. Visit www.copilot.microsoft.com to try out Copilot or watch our short video on how to log in using a different browser. By logging in with UWGB credentials, a green shield and “protected” should appear on the screen. The specifics of what is/is not protected can be complicated, but this Microsoft document is intended to provide guidance. Regardless of potential protections, FERPA and HIPPA-protected information (student or employee) should not be entered.
The Microsoft Copilot home page as of May 2024
Common Generative AI Tools
Since OpenAI released ChatGPT in November 2022, various companies have developed their own generative AI applications based on or in direct competition with OpenAI’s framework. Learn more about a few common, browser-based generative AI tools below.
ChatGPT previously required users to sign up for an account and verify with a phone number, but it can now be used without an account. Users can use the chatbot features of ChatGPT both with or without an account (currently version ChatGPT 3.5) or access more advanced models and features with a paid account (currently version ChatGPT 4.0). For more information or to try it yourself, visit chatgpt.com.
Gemini (Google)
Google has created their own AI tool called Gemini (formerly Google Bard). Similar to ChatGPT and Copilot, Gemini can generate content based on users’ inputs. Outputs may also include sources fetched from Google.
Using Gemini requires a free Google account. If you have a personal Google account, you can try out Gemini at gemini.google.com.
Note that we are also learning more about potential access to Adobe Express and Firefly (including their image generation features) with UWGB login credentials, at least for employees. Watch this space for additional details as they become available.
What Can Generative AI Tools Do?
The generative AI tools we’ve discussed so far are all trained on large datasets that produce outputs based on patterns in that dataset. User prompts and feedback can be used to improve their outputs and models, so these tools are constantly evolving. Explore below to learn about some use cases and limitations of text-based generative AI tools.
Use Cases
Generative AI tools can be used in a multitude of ways. Some common use cases for text-based generative AI tools include:
Language generation: Users can ask the AI to write essays, poems, emails, research papers, and Powerpoint presentations, or code snippets on a given topic.
Information retrieval: Users can ask the AI simple questions like “explain the rules of football to me” or “what is the correct way to use a semicolon?”.
Language translation: Users can use the AI to translate words or phrases into different languages.
Text summarization: Users can ask them to condense long texts, including lecture notes or entire books, into shorter summaries.
Idea generation: Users can use the AI to brainstorm and generate ideas for a story, research outline, email, or cover letter.
Editorial assistance: Users can input their own writing and then ask the AI to provide feedback or rewrite it to make it more concise or formal.
Code generation: Users can ask the AI to generate code snippets, scripts, or even full programs in various programming languages based on specific requirements or prompts.
Image generation: Users can ask the AI to create images or visual content from text descriptions, including illustrations, designs or conceptual art.
Limitations
These tools are constantly evolving and improving, but in their current state, many have the following limitations:
False or hallucinated responses: Most AI-powered text generators produce responses that they deem are likely answers based on complex algorithms and probability, which is not always the correct answer. As a result, AI may produce outputs that are misleading or incorrect. When asking AI complex questions, it may also generate an output that is grammatically correct but logically nonsensical or contradictory. These incorrect responses are sometimes called AI "hallucinations."
Limited frame of reference: Outputs are generated based on the user's input and the data that the AI has been trained on. When asking an AI about current events or information not widely circulated on the internet, it may produce outputs that are not accurate, relevant, or current because its frame of reference is limited to data that it has been trained on.
Citation: Although the idea behind generative AI is to generate unique responses, there have been documented cases in which an AI has produced outputs containing unchanged, copyrighted content from its dataset. Even when an AI produces a unique response, some are unable to verify the accuracy of their outputs or provide sources supporting their claims. Additionally, AI tools have been known to produce inaccurate information, citations, and can even hallucinate citations
Machine learning bias: AI tools may produce outputs that are discriminatory or harmful due to pre-existing bias in the data it has been trained.
The potential for GAI tools seems almost endless — writing complete essays, creating poetry, summarizing books and large texts, creating games, translating languages, analyzing data, and more. GAI tools can interpret and analyze language, similar to how human beings can. These tools have become more conversational and adaptive with each update, making it difficult to discern between what is generated by an AI and what is produced by a human, and the machine-learning models they are based upon imitate the way humans learn, so their accuracy and utility will only continue to improve over time.
What Does This Mean for Educators?
The existence of this technology raises questions about which tasks will be completed all or in part by machines in the future and what that means for our learning outcomes, assessments, and even disciplines. Some experts are discussing to what extent it should become part of the educational enterprise to teach students how to write effective AI prompts and use GAI tools to produce work that balances quality with efficiency. Other instructors are considering integrating lessons on AI ethics or information literacy into their teaching. Meanwhile, organizations like Inside Higher Ed have rushed to conduct research and surveys on current and prospective AI usage in higher ed to offer some benefits and challenges of using generative AI for leaders in higher education looking to make informed decisions about AI guidance and policy.
Next Steps for UWGB Instructors
The Universities of Wisconsin have issued official guidance on the use of generative AI, but the extent to which courses will engage with this technology is largely left up to the individual instructor. Instructors may wish to mitigate, support, or even elevate students’ use of generative AI depending on their discipline and courses.
Those interested in using these tools in the classroom should familiarize themselves with these considerations for using generative AI, especially regarding a tool’s accuracy, privacy, and security. As with any tool we incorporate into our teaching, we must be thoughtful about how and when to use AI and then provide students with proper scaffolding, framing, and guardrails to encourage responsible and effective usage.
If you have questions, concerns, or ideas specific to generative AI tools in education and the classroom, please email us at catl@uwgb.edu or set up a consultation!
Welcome to the UW-Green Bay Instructional Development Institute (IDI) registration and main information page! For quick access to conference details, use the table of contents below:
The Instructional Development Institute will take place on Tuesday, Jan. 9, 2024, and is hosted by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) and the Instructional Development Council. The 2024 IDI is a one-day, completely virtual and free teaching and learning conference that will feature live presentations by expert faculty, staff, and UWGB community members on the theme of “Thriving in Higher Education.” We are pleased to have Dr. Kevin Gannon as the conference keynote speaker, author of the bookRadical Hope. In addition to his address on the conference topic, Dr. Gannon will lead two workshops, one focused on sustainable online teaching practices and the other centered on fostering belonging in both virtual and face-to-face learning environments. The 2024 IDI has concluded and registration is closed. Please contact CATL (CATL@uwgb.edu) if you have any questions about accessing recorded conference materials available in the 2024 IDI Canvas course.
About the Conference Theme: Thriving in Higher Education
Higher education has witnessed substantial challenges in recent years. Instructors and students faced COVID-19, the ensuing dramatic shifting to pandemic pedagogy, and all that came with it. Institutions confronted budget, enrollment, and political pressures, and they are now grappling with emerging generative AI technologies and their impact on education. Amid such disruptions, it can be easy to approach our work with a mentality of survival. This year’s Instructional Development Institute instead challenges you to consider what it would mean not simply to survive, but to thrive in higher education. While there are no easy answers, we can work together as educators to set goals, support one another, surmount obstacles, and achieve at a high level, similar to the expectations we have for our students.
Keynote Speaker
Dr. Kevin Gannon is Director of the Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence (CAFÉ) and Professor of History at Queens University of Charlotte, in North Carolina. He is the author of Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto(West Virginia University Press, 2020), and his writing has also appeared in The Chronicle of Higher Education, Vox, CNN, and The Washington Post. In 2016, he appeared in the Oscar-nominated documentary 13th, directed by Ava DuVernay. He is currently working on a project centered around reimagining introductory and survey courses in higher education.
Keynote Address: Hopeful Teaching in Less-Than Hopeful Times
Let’s not mince words: these are almost overwhelmingly difficult times to be in higher education. After (barely?) surviving multiple years of “pandemic pedagogy,” we find ourselves on a landscape marked by faculty burnout, student disconnection, fiscal shenanigans, and an external climate that seems to get more foreboding by the day. How, then, is it possible to bring any meaningful sense of hope to our work in teaching and learning? And how might we imagine a context where we’re not simply surviving, but where we and our students are actually thriving? This session will not claim to provide all the answers, nor will it simply throw out empty inspirational quotes like one of those motivational page-a-day calendars. Rather, we’ll focus on agency as a foundation for hopeful teaching, and consider the ways in which we might help our students discover, develop, and value their own agency as learners. In doing so, we’ll look at some promising strategies which evidence suggests will be helpful in this work. Participants will leave this session with specific ideas which they can incorporate into their own teaching.
Keynote Workshop: Sustaining Our Students and Ourselves in Online Teaching and Learning
This session will explore strategies by which we can make the workload involved in online teaching both manageable and sustainable. We’ll use the idea of “presence” from the Community of Inquiry framework as a way to interrogate our own practices and consider what alternatives might exist. We’ll then look at examples of tools and practices which can both enhance presence in our courses and make our workflow more manageable.
Keynote Workshop: (Re) Connecting with Students after “Pandemic Pedagogy”
One of the most prevalent observations from faculty in recent months has been how difficult it is to connect (or reconnect) with students since the disruptions of the pandemic. What are the reasons for this attenuated sense of connection? Why does engagement seem so difficult now? How do we deepen student engagement in our courses without adding unsustainable amounts to our workload? This session will explore the sources of this disconnect, and consider some specific ways in which we can foster meaningful engagement from students—with both course material and one another.
Schedule
LIVE SESSIONS
8:45 – 9:00 a.m. | Welcome & Land Acknowledgement
Kate Burns (Provost and Vice Chancellor of Academic Affairs) and Kris Vespia (Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning Director)
9:00 – 10:00 a.m. | Keynote Address
Hopeful Teaching in Less-Than-Hopeful Times
Dr. Kevin Gannon (Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence Director, Queens University)
10:15 – 11:00 a.m. | Session #1
Concurrent Session Options:
Community-Based Learning: A Pillar of Thriving in College and Beyond
Katia Levintova (Professor), Isabel Gosse (UW-Green BayStudent), Ashley Heath (Academic Program Manager), Heather Kaminski (Assistant Professor), Grace Knudsen (Campus Compact AmeriCorps VISTA), Beth Kowalski (Director, Neville Public Museum), & Brady Reinhard (UW-Green Bay Student)
The Role of Resilience in Non-Clinical Case Management at UW-Green Bay
Erin A. Van Daalwyk (Dean of Students) & Katie Morois (Assistant Dean of Students)
Holistically Envisioning “Real-World” Applicability: A Conversation
David Voelker (Professor)
11:05 – 11:50 a.m. | Session #2
Concurrent Session Options:
Trust No One: Implementing Information Literacy in a First-Year Seminar
Clifton Ganyard (Associate Professor) & Renee Ettinger (Assistant Director, Library Research Services)
Thriving OER Projects at UWGB: A Roundtable Discussion
Carli Reinecke (OER Librarian), Joan Groessl (Associate Professor), Amy Kabrhel (Associate Professor), Kevin Kain (Teaching Professor), & Sawa Senzaki (Professor)
The Myth of Standard Language Ideology: Language Inclusivity in the Higher Education Classroom
Cory Mathieu (Assistant Professor) & Shara Cherniak (Assistant Teaching Professor)
11:55 a.m. – 12:25 p.m. | Lunch
Psychology and Stuff Podcast: Evidence-Based Strategies for Thriving in Academia
Alison Jane Martingano (Assistant Professor), Jason Cowell (Professor), Tom Gretton (Assistant Professor), Ryan Martin (Dean, College of Arts, Humanities, and Social Sciences), Abigail Nehrkorn-Bailey (Assistant Professor), Georjeanna Wilson-Doenges (Professor), & Chelsea Wooding (Assistant Professor)
12:30 – 1:30 p.m. | Keynote Workshop #1
Sustaining Our Students and Ourselves in Online Teaching and Learning
Dr. Kevin Gannon (Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence Director, Queens University)
1:45 – 2:30 p.m.| Session #3
Concurrent Session Options:
Foundations for the Thriving Student in the Age of ChatGPT
Jodi Pierre (Research Librarian) & Kristopher Purzycki (Assistant Professor)
What the Health? Strategies to Thrive in the Stressful World of Higher Education
Jared Dalberg (Associate Professor)
(Re) Connecting with Students After “Pandemic Pedagogy”
Dr. Kevin Gannon (Center for the Advancement of Faculty Excellence Director, Queens University)
3:45 – 4:00 p.m. | Wrap-Up
Kris Vespia (Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning Director)
ON-DEMAND SESSIONS
Combining Engineering Ethics and Information Literacy in a STEM First-Year Seminar
Nabila Rubaiya (Assistant Teaching Professor) & Jodi Pierre (Research Librarian)
Escape from the Chemistry Lab! Breeyawn Lybbert (Associate Professor)
Institute FAQs
Q: What types of sessions does this conference include?
A: The 2024 IDI is completely virtual and will be held through a Canvas course. The conference will feature a keynote address and two workshops led by Dr. Kevin Gannon. In addition to Dr. Gannon’s sessions, attendees will also be able to engage with a variety of live and one-demand presentations hosted by UWGB faculty, staff, and community partners.
Q: How do I join the IDI Canvas course?
A: Everyone who registers for the conference will be sent an email on January 2, 2024, with a link to self-enroll in the IDI Canvas course. Follow the steps in the email to set up a Canvas account (if applicable) and complete the self-enrollment process. By joining the IDI Canvas course, you will have full access to all the live and on-demand sessions, materials, and discussions. If you have any issues joining the course, please contact us at CATL@uwgb.edu.
Q: What are the live sessions and how can I access them?
A: All live conference sessions will be hosted through Zoom and links to each individual Zoom session will be made available within the IDI Canvas course at 8 a.m. on Tuesday, January 9, 2024.
Q: What are the on-demand sessions and how can I access them?
A: In addition to the live presentations, you can also explore a mix of on-demand sessions from pre-recorded presentations, podcasts, and online resources that explore concepts in teaching and learning. These sessions will be available in the IDI Canvas course and can be accessed after the conference as well.
Q: Will the live sessions be recorded?
A: Yes, all live sessions will be recorded and posted in the IDI Canvas course after the conference. We will post an announcement in the course once all session recordings have been made available. You will be able to watch the recordings at any time up to a year after the conference date.
Q: I don't work at UWGB - can I still attend this conference?
A: Yes! The 2024 IDI is free and open to all educators in the UW system and beyond.
Q: I have a conflict on Jan. 9 - can I still register to get access to the recordings?
A: Yes, we welcome those who are unable to attend live on Jan. 9 to still register for access to the session recordings after the conference.
Welcome to the UW-Green Bay Instructional Development Institute (IDI) Call for Proposals page!
The Instructional Development Institute takes place each January and is hosted by the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning (CATL) and the Instructional Development Council. Part of what contributes to the excitement surrounding the IDI is the active involvement and collaboration from UWGB faculty, staff, and community partners as conference presenters. Every fall, CATL and the Instructional Development Council (IDC) invite UWGB faculty and staff to submit proposals for the IDI, encouraging them to share their experiences, research, and instructional approaches with the broader educational community.
Introduction to IDI Theme
Higher education has witnessed substantial challenges in recent years. Instructors and students faced COVID-19, the ensuing dramatic shift to pandemic pedagogy, and all that came with it. Institutions confronted budget, enrollment, and political pressures, and they are now grappling with emerging generative AI technologies and their impact on education. Amid such disruptions, it can be easy to approach our work with a mentality of survival. This year’s Instructional Development Institute instead challenges you to consider what it would mean not simply to survive, but to thrive in higher education. While there are no easy answers, we can work together as educators to set goals, support one another, surmount obstacles, and achieve at a high level, similar to the expectations we have for our students. Join your colleagues and keynote speaker Dr. Kevin Gannon, author of the book Radical Hope, as we reflect on ways to thrive as educators and help students to do the same.
Call for Proposals
CATL and the Instructional Development Council at UW-Green Bay are now accepting applications for the all-virtual Instructional Development Institute (IDI) on January 9, 2024. This year’s theme is “Thriving in Higher Education.” We encourage submissions highlighting creative educational strategies and practices that correspond with the conference theme, such as supporting student access; teaching effectively with technology; using innovative pedagogies; building learning communities; promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion; managing instructor bandwidth, and more.
There are different ways to participate, so please apply for the session format that you believe is best for your proposed session. Collaborators from other institutions are welcome to join UW-Green Bay employees as proposal co-authors. Although the primary audience for session proposals should be fellow UWGB faculty and staff members, keep in mind that we will also open conference registration to other UW System schools and to all educators. We are pleased and fortunate that our keynote speaker, Dr. Kevin Gannon, will be leading two distinct workshops in addition to the keynote address. As a result, there will be fewer presentation slots available compared to previous years.
The Call for Proposals Closed on Monday, Nov. 6, 2023.
Questions?
If you have questions about proposals, submissions, or the IDI in general, please reach out to us at CATL@uwgb.edu!
