Welcome to the weekly UTLC Newsletter supporting teaching and learning at UNCG:
Week of March 18, 2025
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Teaching Tips: Teaching with AI |
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Are you hoping to invigorate your course assignments and engage students with the latest technology? Incorporating generative AI can enhance learning experiences and foster innovative approaches to problem-solving. Embracing AI can enrich assignments and prepare students for the technological landscape they'll encounter in the future. Here are some thoughts to consider as you incorporate AI into your classroom:
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Can I use AI? It is important to be very clear with your students about what is acceptable use for AI in your classroom, and to have clear guidelines and policy about AI use on your syllabus. Generally, if not otherwise stated in your syllabus, any AI use should be treated as it would if the help came from another person meaning that brainstorming ideas is generally okay but having someone else complete the assignment for you is not. APA has an AI style guide that students (and faculty) can use to appropriately cite AI usage in scholarly settings. The UTLC has syllabus resources available.
Writing Effective Prompts: It's important that you and your students understand how to write effective prompts: prompts act as the guide to producing the desired and correct responses, especially if you're incorporating AI. A poorly formed prompt can still generate a persuasive but possibly inaccurate response. Consider sharing with your students a prompt-writing framework such as the CRAFT Prompting Framework, which focuses on context, role, audience, format, and task and tone. Always check the AI output for accuracy and bias. If bias seems to be a problem, try asking it to generate pros and cons, or to present multiple sides to a perspective. Also, watch for hallucinations (fabricated information) and always check any sources provided and look for sources to confirm information.
Redesigning Assignments with AI in Mind: AI can act as a personal tutor, brainstorming partner, research assistant, and editor. Students can use AI to help with accessibility by providing captions, translations, and alternative explanations. AI can also contribute to Universal Design for Learning (UDL) by providing additional methods of presentation and multiple options for assignment formats. AI can serve as a debate partner, take on historical personas, and analyze data. Strategies for decreasing the likelihood of improper AI use include emphasizing process more than final product (ask students to show their process by turning in notes, outlines, rough drafts with comments, mind maps, journals, etc.), asking students to incorporate personal experiences in their responses, requiring direct quotes/citations from class resources, using exploratory activities that require hands-on experiences, and scaffolding assignments into smaller components that build on each other. If you’re looking for inspiration, check out these suggestions for AI-based assignments and activities.
The UTLC has a variety of Generative AI resources available as well.
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2025 AI Institute: Call for Participation
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The UTLC is happy to announce the 2025 AI Institute: Educate, Innovate, Iterate. The institute is free and open to all educators at UNCG regardless of rank, discipline, or prior experience using Generative AI tools. Administrators, faculty, staff, and graduate teaching assistants who wish to know more about applications of Generative AI to support teaching and learning are all welcome to attend. The Institute will be held 8:30 am to 4:00pm on Monday, May 12; more details may be found at this link.
This year, we want to hear from you! We are inviting members of the UNCG community to present in concurrent sessions about their innovations, research, and experiences with AI. Sessions will be one hour long. We encourage demonstrations, panel discussions, Q&As, and research presentations, with a preference for interactive sessions that demonstrate the application of AI technology. To submit a presentation proposal, please fill out this form. Registration for the conference may be found at the registration form. Please register for the conference even if you are also submitting a presentation proposal. The deadline for submission is April 1, and we hope to have decisions about accepted presentations and schedules by April 8. Space is limited so please register early!
If you have any questions, please contact us at utlc@uncg.edu.
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Drop-In Adjunct Support Hour
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The UTLC will be offering a drop-in support hour for adjunct instructors every Tuesday from 12pm - 1pm (Teams link) starting today, March 18th, through the beginning of May. This time is meant to be drop-in for questions or just connecting with the UTLC and other adjunct instructors.
This time may not fit in your schedule! Please don't forget that consultations are available to all UNCG faculty and staff with teaching responsibilities, and we're also available at utlc@uncg.edu.
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New Opportunity with ACUE and Project Kitty Hawk
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- This course will help online or face-to-face faculty:
- Actively engage students starting day one
- Set a positive tone for the semester
- Build immediate rapport with their students
- Clarify course expectations
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Use classroom assessment techniques to monitor student learning
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Course Accessibility Checklists and Support
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Updates to the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 requires that all campus digital content (public facing websites, digital course materials, digital campus resources – including campus trainings) meet the WCAG 2.1 (level A and level AA) standards for accessibility by spring 2026.
UNCG has several campus resources that you can utilize now to make the transition easier, with more tools and resources on the way.
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FACULTY ENGAGEMENT & DEVELOPMENT
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Upcoming Events, Trainings, and Workshops
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Workshop: Teaching Effectiveness: Beyond Teaching Evaluations
This Workshop focuses on alternative inputs for evaluating teaching effectiveness (e.g., student work products, course reviews, mid-semester student feedback, etc.). Using national models created by decades-long, multi-institutional studies on the evaluation of teaching and learning, this workshop will assist in the development of unit-level processes as part of the UNCG Teaching Effectiveness Policy (pending final approval by the UNC System) and was developed by an institutional work group. RSVP at the link above!
In the Faculty Center
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Spring 2025 UTLC Biergarten
The UTLC holds Biergartens at the end of each semester to celebrate instructors’ dedication to teaching, learning, and student success. This is an opportunity to gather with colleagues and relax with hors d’oeuvres and beverages (both alcoholic and non-alcoholic).
Weatherspoon Art Museum
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2025 AI Conference: Educate, Innovate, Iterate
UNCG’s second AI event will be held in-person on May 12, 2025 and offers the campus community an opportunity to come together to engage in critical dialogues, learn from one another, and explore emerging concepts for AI literacy. Register at the link above!
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In the First Institute
Are you teaching a 100/200 level course? A student’s first semester is critical to their academic success – courses that are “In the First!” inning of the academic career set up the whole game. This daylong Institute focuses on the unique teaching needs of 100/200 level courses. Participants will learn more about our incoming students, how to prepare for their unique needs, and the tools available to you for supporting them. Register at the link above!
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Accessibility Incubator Day 1
The UTLC and campus partners will offer a Course Retrofit Incubator May 22 -23, 2025. As a one-stop option for instructors, this event will provide guidance and support as you retrofit your current courses to meet accessibility guidelines. Bring your course and we will bring the technical support (and snacks!!). Register at the link above! Location and precise times TBD.
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Accessibility Incubator Day 2
The UTLC and campus partners will offer a Course Retrofit Incubator May 22 -23, 2025. As a one-stop option for instructors, this event will provide guidance and support as you retrofit your current courses to meet accessibility guidelines. Bring your course and we will bring the technical support (and snacks!!). Register at the link above! Location and precise times TBD.
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TEACHING EVALUATION PILOT
UNCG is administering a pilot of a new teaching evaluation system. The pilot and the current system (Class Climate) will run in parallel for two years; when the Class Climate contract expires, administration will make a decision about which or neither system to keep.
Anthology uses research validated common questions, along with offering units the chance to add custom questions. It’s mobile friendly, which may increase response rates. You can see more information here: Evaluation of Teaching Pilot Project.pptx
If you are interested in participating in the Summer or Fall 2025 or Spring 2026 Cohorts, please click the button below to fill out the interest form.
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