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Artificial Intelligence Resources for Tufts Faculty and Staff

*This information will continue to evolve and change.  

What do recent advances in AI mean for higher education?

In higher education, rapid advances in generative AI raise important questions about what our students need to learn, and how they can best learn. Critical thinking and deep learning are effortful and require time, which can be at odds with AI tools designed to make tasks more efficient. Moreover, uses of these tools raise fundamental ethical questions about their cultural, social, economic, environmental and political impacts. Tufts faculty, students and staff need to develop critical AI literacy by understanding how AI works, and how to use it effectively and responsibly. At CELT, we view this moment as an opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue with each other, to think deeply about what and how we teach, and to be innovative and creative.

Key resources for the Tufts teaching community:

What are some guiding questions to engage individuals, departments and schools in a meaningful dialogue?

 

Two professors talking.Working group(s) and structured spaces for open dialogue among faculty, staff and students are needed. Shared understanding of the implications of AI for teaching, learning, academic integrity and professional standardds are needed to guide instructors, researchers and students in navigating the use of these tools. Important questions need to be addressed across higher education and at the local level at Tufts across individual courses, departments, schools and the University

  • How might AI impact Tufts’s mission of graduating students who can generate bold ideas, innovate in the face of complex challenges, and distinguish themselves as active citizens of the world?
  • What will our students need to be prepared to enter their chosen field of study in an age of AI, and what does that mean for our curriculum? Are there new needed skills e.g., ethical reasoning, critical AI literacy, etc.?
  • What is the relationship between AI tools and learning? What does that mean for our teaching, our assessment, and the role of content? Which approaches to teaching need to be repositioned to remain effective in this landscape? Are there pedagogical approaches for using AI as a learning tool? How might we define, communicate and engage students in dialogue about the value of academic integrity?
  • What ethical questions do we need to wrestle with related to knowledge production, academic integrity?  What are the legal, privacy and safety considerations needed to protect our students, faculty and staff?

Generative AI and Creative Learning: Concerns, Opportunities, and Choices An MIT Exploration of Generative AI by Mitchel Resnick March, 2024 

Teaching and Generative AI:  Pedagogical Possibilities and Productive Tensions by Beth Buyserie & Travis N. Thurston, 2024

The Program-Level AI Conversations We Should Be Having by Kathleen Landy, Feb 2024

How might recent advances in AI inform the way I teach my courses?

There are a range of ways individual faculty can begin to explore the potential impact of AI tools in their courses. While our responses will vary, critical reflection and a thoughtful approach for teaching will be important in order to preserve a respectful faculty-student relationship, provide clarity and guidance for students, and for you to have a framework for how you might adapt your teaching where necessary.

Questions for instructors to consider:

  • Why might my students turn to generative AI for support, and how can I adjust my course/teaching to encourage ethical and appropriate use of AI?
  • Do my students understand where they can & cannot use AI in my courses and assignments and how these policies relate to their learning?
  • How might generative AI be helpful for my students in learning course content, understanding course materials, or expanding on course activities?
  • What conversations could I have with my students to explore potential ethical and practical implications of AI on my discipline and students work within my courses?
  • How might my course outcomes and assessments be updated to better serve students with access to generative AI?

 

Potential steps to consider:

  1. Create & Share Guidelines: Clarify how and when to use (or not use) AI in your course.
  2. Rethink assessments: Revise assessments to foster authentic student engagement and reduce academic dishonesty.
  3. Reconsider In-Class and Out-of-Class Work: Adapt the course structures to create learning environments resistant to AI misuse.
  4. Prepare for Conversations about Cheating: Establish a process for evidence-gathering and respectful dialogue, centering relationships with students while upholding academic integrity.

 

For more see Designing Courses in the Age of AI from Teaching@Tufts.

 

Reading List: Tufts Voices on AI