St. Louis Sunset
I attended my first USDLA conference in St. Louis this week. The conference has yet to finish but posting my day 1 and 2 notes.
Day 1
I presented a short workshop on “Educators Guide to Artificial Intelligence (AI).” Enjoyed the questions and suggestions from the group.
Day 2
Morning
Early start at 7, but there was an even earlier option to join “Morning Stretch – Yoga in the Gym” at 6…
Robbie Melton (Acting Interim Vice President for Academic Affairs, Tennessee State University) provided a fun and dynamic featured session to kick-off the day (with some cool use of AI-enhanced tools, including Sendsteps.ai. There was an incredible vibe between Robbie Melton and John Chen (Engaging Virtual Meeting), who was running the audio and livestream. He used foley effects and music to create a cool interplay during the session. Never seen anything like this at a conference before. Made for a great start to the day. Will have to check out their SMART Innovative Technologies Division website later.
Generative AI and Students Learning Experience: An Empirical Review
I had decided to try and use AI to make myself more productive at the conference. I recorded the audio of each session with Voice Memos on my iPhone, transcribed with Whisper, and then used ChatGPT 4-o to summarize. Here is what I got from the first session:
Dr. Samia Tweneboah-Koduah, a professor in higher education at Gannon University, initiates a discussion on the impact of AI on higher education over the next 5, 10, and 15 years. He expresses concerns about the future of his job and the broader implications of AI for higher education. The presentation includes research conducted with two students and aims to explore ideas and gather feedback on this critical topic.
Dr. Tweneboah-Koduah provides a historical overview of technological innovation, highlighting AI as the latest in a series of transformative technologies. He references a Pearson Research study to illustrate how innovation evolves in waves, with AI currently being a major focus. He compares AI to earlier technologies like calculators, which faced initial resistance but eventually became accepted.
The presentation delves into the definition of generative AI, a subset of AI that generates new content from training data, such as text, images, and audio. Dr. Tweneboah-Koduah explains the technical aspects of generative AI, including the importance of input data, latent space representation, and prompting.
He discusses various use cases of AI, including synthetic data generation, large language models, and natural language processing tools like illicit, which aid in literature review and research. He also mentions applications in biomedical research, storytelling, music composition, video game design, product prototyping, and more.
The presentation addresses the ethical dilemmas and challenges associated with AI in education, such as plagiarism, data biases, and the potential for AI to replace human educators. Dr. Tweneboah-Koduah emphasizes the importance of responsible AI use and the need for clear guidelines and policies.
He highlights the benefits of AI in education, including personalized learning, simulation environments, support for independent learning, adaptive testing, predictive analytics, and intelligent tutoring systems. He shares practical examples of how AI can enhance teaching and administrative tasks, such as lesson planning, syllabus design, and student engagement.
Dr. Tweneboah-Koduah stresses the need for institutions to develop AI governance policies and address legal and ethical concerns. He concludes with a call to action for educators to rethink assessment methods, embrace problem-based learning, and stay informed about AI developments.
The presentation ends with an invitation for feedback and questions, emphasizing the collaborative nature of this ongoing research and the importance of collective engagement in addressing the challenges and opportunities presented by AI in higher education.
AI Unleashed in the Classroom: Building the Foundations for Relevant and Engaging Learning Adventures
Same setup (Voice Memos, Whisper, ChatGPT 4-o). Here is what the AI summarized:
Emmalyn Green, a PhD candidate at Florida Atlantic University and Director of Learning Design at Junior Achievement (J.A.) Worldwide, introduces herself and shares her excitement and nerves about presenting live for the first time as a PhD candidate. She humorously recounts her first day as a middle school teacher, emphasizing the importance of human connection and vulnerability.
The presentation is structured into several 25-minute segments over a 75-minute session, focusing on the integration of AI in education. Emmalyn plans to cover what AI is, its importance in the classroom, how educators can use it, and how to teach students to use AI responsibly. She also includes real-world examples and group discussions.
Emmalyn outlines the evolution of AI, from its beginnings in the 1950s and 60s as a subfield of computer science aimed at creating machines that learn and make decisions, to today’s generative AI, which can process vast amounts of data and interact in natural language. She discusses the rapid advancements in AI and its applications in education, noting the potential for AI to augment human cognitive work rather than replace it.
Key points include the importance of maintaining uniquely human skills such as creative and innovative thinking, emotional intelligence, and ethical judgment. Emmalyn highlights how AI can free up educators’ time from mundane tasks, allowing them to focus on these human-centric skills.
She encourages participants to think about aspects of their job they love and those they would delegate to an AI assistant. Emmalyn shares examples of how AI can support various educational tasks, such as using Perplexity.ai for quick research summaries and Descript for audio and video editing.
The session emphasizes the need for AI literacy, which involves understanding, evaluating, and using AI responsibly. Emmalyn advocates for integrating AI education into existing curricula and using real-world examples to make AI relevant to students’ future careers.
She also addresses ethical considerations, such as the importance of using closed systems to protect student data and intellectual property. Emmalyn suggests ways to incorporate AI into classroom activities, using frameworks like the red, yellow, green light system to guide students’ AI usage.
In conclusion, Emmalyn provides resources like AI for Education and Teach AI for further learning and policy development. She encourages participants to explore AI tools and think about how they can integrate AI into their teaching practices. The session ends with a Q&A, where Emmalyn offers to share her slides and stay connected with attendees.
Keynote
I skipped, as was preparing for my afternoon session…
Presented a session on “Flexing HyFlex- A holistic guide for successfully implementing HyFlex.” Finished on time. Great questions from the audience.