Bloom's Sixth

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…

If you are sitting on the fence, wondering whether to jump into the land of generative AI, take a look at some recent news – and then jump. Three recently released studies say that workers who used generative AI were substantially more productive than those who didn’t. In two of the studies, the quality of work also improved. The consulting company McKinsey said that a…

Not surprisingly, tools for detecting material written by artificial intelligence have created as much confusion as clarity. Students at several universities say they have been falsely accused of cheating, with accusations delaying graduation for some. Faculty members, chairs, and administrators have said they aren’t sure how to interpret or use the results of AI detectors. Doug Ward, via Bing Image Creator…

Since its release late last year, ChatGPT has reverberated through the academic mind like an orchestral crescendo in a Strauss symphonic movement. It has amazing abilities, and even greater potential. Even so, it delivers many of its responses in a monotone reminiscent of HAL 9000, the rogue artificial intelligence system in 2001: A Space Odyssey. PlaygroundAI and Doug Ward Like others, I want to know more about what ChatGPT can and can’t do, and how we might…

Nearly a decade ago, the Associated Press began distributing articles written by an artificial intelligence platform. Not surprisingly, that news sent ripples of concern among journalists. If a bot could turn structured data into comprehensible – even fluid – prose, where did humans fit into the process? Did this portend yet more ominous changes in the profession? By DALL-E and Doug Ward I bring that up because …

By Doug Ward It was a simple idea. Bring together a group of faculty members from around campus for guided discussions about diversity and inclusion. Guide them to think deliberately and openly about making their classroom practices and pedagogy more inclusive. Then help them create plans to take what they had learned back to their departments and help colleagues do the same. That’s the approach behind Diversity Scholars, a program that CTE began last year with 11 participants. A second class of 10 began…

By Doug Ward Mannequins have been a part of health care training for decades. As Matt Lineberry of the Zamierowski Institute for Experiential Learning demonstrated recently, though, those mannequins have become decidedly smarter. Lineberry, director of simulation research, assessment and outcomes at the Zamierowski Institute, spoke with faculty members and graduate students in the educational psychology department in Lawrence, explaining how health care simulation has evolved into highly…

By Doug Ward If you’ve noticed that your students still don’t have required course materials, you have lots of company. That’s because more students are delaying purchase of course materials, if they buy them at all, and paying more attention to price when making decisions, according to a report by the National Association of College Stores. That’s not surprising, as students have said for several…

By Doug Ward A recent study about reading on mobile phones surprised even the researchers. The study, by the digital consulting firm Nielsen Norman Group, found that reading comprehension on mobile phones matched that of reading on larger computer screens. The results were the same with shorter, easier articles (400 words at an eighth-grade level) and longer, more difficult articles (990 words at a 12-grade level). A similar study six years earlier found lower comprehension when…

By Doug Ward A young woman with a flower headdress caught my attention as I walked through Budig Hall earlier this week. I stopped and asked her what the occasion was. “It’s Hat Day in Accounting 200,” she said. I wanted to know more, and Paul Mason, who teaches the 8 a.m. section of the class, and Rachel Green, who teaches the 9:30 section, graciously invited me in. Hat Day, they said, is a tradition that goes back 20 years. It takes place one day toward the beginning of each semester and works like this: Students get a bonus point if they wear a hat to class. Teaching assistants…