Bloom's Sixth

By Doug WardA few eye-popping statistics help demonstrate the growing reach of generative AI:Use of ChatGPT has quadrupled in the past year, to 700 million weekly users. It has become the fifth-most-visited website.ChatGPT accounts for more than 80…

By Doug WardAdapting colleges and universities to generative artificial intelligence was never going to be easy. Surveys released over the past two weeks provide evidence of just how difficult that adaptation will be, though.Here’s a summary of what I'm seeing in the results:Faculty: We lack the time, understanding, and resources to revamp classes to an AI age. A few of us have been experimenting, but many of us don’t see a need to change.Administrators: We think generative AI will allow our institutions to customize learning and improve students' research skills, but we need to make…

By Doug Ward Kansas ranks near the bottom in the percentage of schools offering foundational computer science education, according to a study by Code.org, the Computer Science Teacher Association, and the Expanding Computing Education Pathways Alliance. Nationwide, 57.5% of schools offered a computer science class in 2023. Kansas was more than 20 percentage points below that average, with 36% of schools offering a foundational course. Only three states had lower percentages: Louisiana (35%), Montana (34%) and Minnesota (28%). That has…

By Doug Ward As I prepared to speak to undergraduates about generative artificial intelligence last October, I struggled with analogies to explain large language models. Those models are central to the abilities of generative AI. They have analyzed billions of words, billions of lines of code, and hundreds of millions of images. That training allows them to predict sequences of words, generate computer code and images, and create coherent narratives at speeds humans cannot match. Even programmers don’t fully…

By Doug Ward Canvas will soon be absorbed by KKR, one of the world’s largest investment firms. That is unlikely to have any immediate effect on Canvas users. The longer-term effects – and costs – are impossible to predict, though. Instructure, the company behind Canvas, has agreed to be acquired by KKR for $4.8 billion. KKR and similar companies…

By Doug Ward The future of colleges and universities is neither clear nor certain. The current model fails far too many students, and creating a better one will require sometimes painful change. As I’ve written before, though, many of us have approached change with a sense of urgency, providing ideas for the future…

By Doug Ward Colleges and universities in Kansas will receive more than $100 million this year from congressional earmarks in the federal budget, according to an analysis by Inside Higher Ed. That places Kansas second among states in the amount earmarked for higher education, according to Inside Higher Ed. Those statistics don't include $22 million for the Kansas…

By Doug Ward We need to talk. Yes, the conversation will make you uncomfortable. It’s important, though. Your students need your guidance, and if you avoid talking about this, they will act anyway – usually in unsafe ways that could have embarrassing and potentially harmful consequences. So yes, we need to talk about generative artificial intelligence. Consider the conversation analogous to a parent’s conversation with a teenager about sex. Susan Marshall, a teaching professor in psychology, made that wonderful analogy recently in the CTE Online Working Group, and it seems to perfectly…

A year after the release of a know-it-all chatbot, educators have yet to find a satisfying answer to a nagging question: What are we supposed to do with generative artificial intelligence? One reason generative AI has been so perplexing to educators is that there is no single step that all instructors can take to make things easier. Here are a few things what we do know, though: The sudden rise of generative AI has felt like the opening of a Pandora’s box Students are using generative AI in far larger numbers than faculty, and some are using it to complete all or parts of assignments…

When Turnitin activated its artificial intelligence detector this month, it provided a substantial amount of nuanced guidance. Trying to keep ahead of artificial intelligence is like playing a bizarre game of whack-a-mole. The company did a laudable job of explaining the strengths and the weaknesses of its new tool, saying that it would rather be cautious and have its tool miss some questionable material than to falsely accuse someone of unethical behavior. It will make mistakes, though, and “…