Join us for the Spring Conference on May 8 from 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. in the University Center. This year’s gathering features a Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Showcase and the official launch of the Character Education in the Age of Automation series. Come for the inspiration, stay for the fellowship—refreshments provided!

What could character have to do with ChatGPT? Why turn to ideas of virtue and care ethics when evaluating the educational impact of generative and predictive AI? This session starts the Character Education in the Age of Automation series with a discussion of the intellectual habits and dispositions needed for students to become mature evaluators of emerging technologies beyond available tools in the current AI hype cycle. Participants will be introduced to whole-person perspectives that can guide technology integration in the classroom, including the Jubilee Centre Framework for Character Education and the care ethics theory of Educational Caritas. Participants will then reflect on appropriate technology use in their disciplines in light of these frameworks, develop AI-assisted assessments, and draft transparent AI assessment policies.

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This is an introductory course designed for instructors to gain the knowledge and skills to facilitate an online course. Using Canvas, the learning management system for Saint Mary’s University of Minnesota, participants will explore best practices in online teaching including feedback and engagement strategies. Throughout the course, participants will gain first-hand experience in an online learning environment, connect and learn with peers through a variety of learning activities, and reflect on their own teaching persona in light of their values and the Twelve Virtues of a Good Teacher. To learn more about the purpose, outcomes, and expectations of the course, please read the course description.

Register for the four-week course.

Want to integrate authentic assessment into your courses but not sure where to start? Are you looking for ways to improve student agency and ownership of the learning process? Project-Based Learning with Generative AI can be an effective way to mirror professional tasks students will encounter in future teams. Structuring a learning experience around an authentic problem can also demonstrate for students how large language models are more effective at brainstorming than generating unique insights and solutions. Working in an assignment planning journal, participants will follow the PAIR framework to co-design a project-based assignment, evaluate that assignment according to the High-Quality Project Based Learning Framework, and draft an AI-support policy for a specific assignment.

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This online workshop introduces participants to the “writer in the loop” model for teaching students how to ethically and effectively use large language models (AI). The “writer in the loop” builds off the “human in the loop” literature on prompt engineering to develop a framework that maximizes student learning. There are two primary goals: 1) help faculty and staff develop an intellectual framework for when AI is appropriate for student use; and 2) develop skills in teaching the ethical and effective discipline-specific use of AI in the classroom. Come with questions and any insights you might want to share.

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How do we ensure that we shape tools to learners rather than learners to tools? This workshop will answer that question by providing a whole-person response to modern AI based on the ideal of a convivial society. Assignment sequences that prepare students to respond to AI with maturity will be demonstrated along with conversation on how aspects can be applied to different disciplines. Throughout, participants will work within a personal digital journal to apply principles from the session to their own formation of the students entrusted to their care. Participants will leave with a plan to promote human flourishing in their classroom through the integration of character education and virtue formation with mature technology adoption.

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What is your greatest hope for your students as they navigate the ethical complexity of modern AI and future emerging technologies? The answer to that question can guide your teaching as you refine plans for fall and think about redesigning for spring. This session invites participants to rethink course design according to the kind of persons we form, which will in turn include concerns regarding skill training, economic mobility, and the ability to thrive within society. Building on the initial course design ideas from past sessions, participants will refine their goals into formal learning outcomes, ensuring alignment with proposed AI-assisted assessments, and draft assignment sequences that integrate outcome-driven policies on student AI use.

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