Generative Artificial Intelligence and Teaching
If you are looking for teaching support around generative artificial intelligence (GenAI), you have come to the right place. We encourage you to explore our faculty guides and other Penn State resources that are available to aid instructors in navigating teaching in the age of GenAI. If you haven’t already, take some time to play with some of the GenAI tools and begin to develop a familiarity with them. If you would like to chat with an instructional designer, please feel free to reach out and schedule a 1:1 consultation.
Summer Challenge
Looking for a way to test out what AI can do for you? Join us for the Summer AI Prompt Challenge!
You’ll receive a weekly email (from May 6 through August 9) with a prompt to try out in CoPilot. You can pick and choose the prompts you’d like to try and have the option to share your responses with others! Our goal is to help you play with the tool to see what it can do.
Interested? Sign up here: https://bit.ly/PromptChallenge
Faculty Guides
We have created several guides to support faculty in their use of GenAI in teaching and learning.
Getting Started with AI
If you are getting started with artificial intelligence LLMs, such as ChatGPT, it can be helpful to experiment with these tools on your own. Penn State has access to Microsoft Copilot, which has user data protection for faculty, staff, and student accounts. You can access Copilot by visiting the Microsoft Copilot website and logging in with your Penn State credentials. Experimenting with Copilot and other GenAI tools can be helpful to you, whether you plan to teach with GenAI or not, because it can help us to see ways in which students may be using these tools.
An opening prompt to use could be:
- I teach a [describe your course – undergraduate/graduate, mode (face to face, hybrid, online), topic, title] and would like to [describe a teaching goal – include more interactive discussions, change my assessments, introduce AI]. Describe 4-5 ideas you would suggest to enhance my students’ learning.
This is just one idea for a prompt to try. There are many lists of prompts that faculty can look at to further explore. We suggest two resources for prompts related to teaching and learning.
GenAI in Teaching: Faculty Use Cases
George Buckbee – Code Comparison Analysis
Kyle Chalupczynski – Large Language Models as a CRM Tool
Stacey Corle & Leigh Ann Haefner – ChatGPT-assisted Lesson Plan Development
Other Penn State Resources
Check out other Penn State resources on artificial intelligence.
- AI Hub – This site has several sections to explore the university’s role in advancing the science of Artificial Intelligence and its practical or theoretical bearing upon our world.
- AI, Pedagogy, and Academic Integrity – This site has a syllabus statements related to AI and academic integrity, an AI glossary, a list of AI authoring tools, and FAQs.
- AI Literacy Modules for Students – Penn State has created several Canvas learning modules that you can import into your course to promote student AI Literacy.
- Generative AI: ChatGPT and Beyond – This LibGuide from Penn State University Libraries explains what LLMs are, links to interesting reads, and more details about some of the more widely used LLMs (like ChatGPT, Google Bard, Elicit, etc.).
Updated: April 23, 2024