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AI Commons Bulletin 2/17/2025

📰 Chronicle of Higher Ed Launches AI Chatbot
The Chronicle of Higher Education has rolled out an AI-powered chatbot to help users navigate its vast archives and answer common higher ed questions. While details on its training data and accuracy are limited, this marks another step in AI’s growing role in academic media.

Learn More: https://www.chronicle.com/chron-faq

📕 New Book on AI and HE explores The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly
The good: AI is here to stay, so let’s make it work for students.
The bad: Convenience comes at the cost of deeper intellectual labor.
The ugly: AI risks shaping a culture of compliance—where decisions are guided by systems without consciousness or accountability.

Learn More: Pulk, K., & Koris, R. (Eds.). (2025). Generative AI in Higher Education. Cheltenham, UK: Edward Elgar Publishing.

❓ If You Teach AI Literacy, Don’t Forget to Assess the RAG as Well as the LLM
When LLMs use retrieval augmented generation (RAG), they can give more trustworthy responses. What does that mean? Ni and colleagues (2025) evaluate rages, using NIST’s list of essentials:
Reliability
Privacy
Explainability
Fairness
Accountability
Safety
Learn More: https://doi.org/10.4337/9781035326020

🤖 On the Horizon: More and More Automated Instruction, Less Faculty?
We should think critically before it’s too late. A study found students using an AI course tutor performed as well and were as satisfied as those in instructor-led courses. As publishers integrate AI tutors, instructors may rely on them more, reducing direct teaching.

Learn More: Chun et al (2025). A Comparative Analysis of On-Device AI-Driven, Self-Regulated Learning and Traditional Pedagogy in University Health Sciences Education. Applied Sciences, 15(4), Article 4.

Bulletin items compiled by MJ Jackson and Sarah Freye with production assistance from Lisa Batchelder. Get the AI-Commons Bulletin on our Microsoft Teams channel, at aicommons.commons.msu.edu, or by email (send an email to aicommons@msu.edu with the word “subscribe”).

Example Basic Needs Syllabus Statement

Any student in this class who experiences difficulty affording groceries or accessing sufficient food to eat every day, or who lacks a safe and stable place to live, and believes this may affect their performance in our course, is urged to contact an academic advisor for support. You may also contact the MSU Student Food Bank (http://foodbank.msu.edu) for help getting access to healthy foods. Furthermore, if you are experiencing any other challenges with basic needs, you may also notify me, and I will work to connect you with any further resources that I have access to.

The above is an example of a basic needs statement that you can include in your syllabus, from an actual course, using language developed from an MSU Basic Needs & Advising Workshop. The CTLI is working on a template Basic Needs statement for our syllabus resources playlist https://iteach.msu.edu/pathways/364/playlist and I'll update this post once it's available.

Here is a very handy guide, based on Bloom's Taxonomy, for helping students think about their coursework: https://www.teachthought.com/learning/metacognitive-prompts-to-help-students-reflect-on-their-learning/

In my planned weekly feedback (copy and paste) to students on their 10 short written reflections (low-risk), I include a prompt based on questions developed by The Foundation for Critical Thinking, and one based on these metacognitive prompts shared through the link above.

My intent is twofold:

1) To get students to look again at their work and foster further thought about what they have written on the specific course material for a given week;

2) To encourage students to think about their approach to coursework and concrete steps they can take to improve their learning.


We'll see how well this works. "Kryss fingrane!" (cross your fingers) as they say in Norway.

Hello again everyone! Our reading group on Student Engagement and Success is slated to meat for 90 minutes this Friday morning (October 22nd) at 10am. Hope to see you then. For your convenience, here are the questions we'll discuss (or use as jumping off points) related to Chapter One in our book Student Engagement in Higher Education, Third Edition:

Questions on Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper (Ch. 1)

1) What is your view of Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper’s assertion that U.S. higher education, in general, is obligated to do more to foster student engagement within and beyond the classroom? What might be some practical challenges to do that?

2) In the Preface, Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper suggest that there is something temporally specific about the crisis of engagement they and their contributors describe. How would you describe engagement as a timely matter? In other words - what shape(s) does the issue of engagement take in 2021?

3) At the micro level (within our own teaching, advising, or other close work with students), how might we address the issue? What are some concrete steps we might take?

4) Describe your reaction(s) to the approach advocated at the bottom of p. 6, “Faculty and student affairs educators must foster the conditions to enable diverse populations of students to be engaged, persist, and thrive.” Where do you see difficulties with that aim? How might you nevertheless integrate that goal into your own practices? What might you change or adapt?

5) What makes PQH’s intersectional and anti-deficit lens appealing for this type of research? In particular, how do you respond to the book’s organizational reliance upon identity-based systems of oppression (which, we should note, we’ve proposed to use as an organizing principle for our discussions as well)?

6) What are some concrete ways we might be more intentional in our teaching/advising practices or other close work with students when it comes to cultivating their engagement. How do we help them to help themselves?

7) Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper discuss Tinto’s assertion that academic (and social) communities are key to student engagement, performance, and retention (4-5). What is your own view? How might the use of academic communities (student learning teams) nevertheless present challenges of one kind or another? What might be some concrete steps we could take to ease or avoid potential issues?

8) Near the end of Chapter One, Pendakur, Quaye, and Harper acknowledge that “Linking theory and practice is not simple” (12). Realistically, how might we achieve at least some of what they call for? How could we maximize results -- “the amount of time and effort students put into their [Gen. Ed. or Prereq.] studies” -- without completely redesigning our courses and component classes/modules?

9) In the “Distinguishing Educationally Purposeful Engagement” section, PQH mention the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), which has collected data on ten engagement indicators for approx. 4,000,000 college students since 2000. What, if any, familiarity do you have with the NSSE, and how do you respond to their engagement indicators (subcategorized under Academic Challenge, Learning with Peers, Experiences with Faculty, Campus Environment) and High-Impact Practices (service learning, study abroad, research with faculty, internships)?

10) PQH deride the so-called “magical thinking” philosophy that undergirds much traditional scholarship of engagement and insist, instead, that “educators must facilitate structured opportunities for these dialogues to transpire” (8). What experience have you had with this type of facilitation? How did it seem to benefit the students involved?

11) For your own courses, what would you prioritize when it comes to fostering greater student engagement? How might you create or improve conditions that could facilitate that?

Good morning! I'm Shannon Lynn Burton, your #AMA host for September 2nd, 2020! I am the University's Ombudsperson and can help answer questions related to the Code of Teaching Responsibility, Syllabus design, academic integrity, as well as navigating difficult conversations with students in the classroom (and more!). For more information on our office, please visit www.ombud.msu.edu. Let me know what questions you have around student rights & responsibilities!

AI Commons Bulletin 2/5/2025
Human-curated news about generative AI for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education.

📝 Try This: Teach Students How to Direct AI to Write an Entire Paper Well
Zufelt (2025) proposes an A to Z strategy for quality writing, whether done manually or with AI. Students follow stages: Gather & Summarize, Prompt & Draft, Curate, Revise & Edit, Review, and Format, with clear instructions at each step.

Learn More: http://doi.org/10.1177/23294906241309846

🤖 The Education Revolution Through AI
AI holds immense potential in education, offering opportunities for personalized learning, task automation, and adaptive teaching. However, challenges such as bias, ethical concerns, and data privacy must be carefully addressed. Its applications are vast, spanning research, teaching, and course design integration.

Learn More: http://octaedro.com/libro/the-education-revolution-through-artificial-intelligence/

💬 Engage With Your Colleagues to Establish Your Strategy for AI in Teaching and Learning
The BYU theatre education faculty proactively explored AI’s role in their curriculum, adopting a shared perspective of AI as a multiplier to enhance their work. They established and shared a set of values on AI use with students, fostering clarity and alignment.

Learn More: Jensen in ArtsPraxis vol. 11, no. 2, p. 43. http://sites.google.com/nyu.edu/artspraxis/2024/volume-11-issue-2.

🎭 Try This: Make a Discussion of AI Ethics More “Real” For Your Students With Personas
To make ethical AI discussions relatable, create characters representing diverse perspectives on AI’s impact. For each character, detail:

* What they’ve heard or read about AI
* Their direct experiences with AI
* Their opinions and statements about AI
* Actions they’ve taken regarding AI
* Their skill level as an influencer, user, or researcher

Learn More: Prietch, S. S., et al. (2024). http://doi.org/10.47756/aihc.y9i1.142

Bulletin items compiled by MJ Jackson and Sarah Freye with production assistance from Lisa Batchelder. Get the AI-Commons Bulletin on our Microsoft Teams channel, at aicommons.commons.msu.edu, or by email (send an email to aicommons@msu.edu with the word “subscribe”).

Multiple stories and sentiments were generously shared by 4/4 Beyond Buzzwords: Ungrading workshop participants (thank you for your vulnerability and candor) about the varied ways in which students react to, and make assumption / inferences about their instructors, after the employment of ungrading and ungrading-inspired practices.

This article (linked below) "Academe Has a Lot to Learn About How Inclusive Teaching Affects Instructors" By Chavella Pittman and Thomas J. Tobin in The Chronicle of Higher Education on FEBRUARY 7, 2022 will likely be of interest to you. Starting out by recognizing / acknowledging the power held by some identities (core, chosen, and given) but not by others, complicates the idea that all educators have the same "power and authority" to give up/share to increase learners' sense of ownership and agency in the classroom. ""What if you have neither the institutional authority (a full-time or tenure-track job) nor the dominant-culture identity (by virtue of your race, gender, and/or ability) that usually go hand in hand with being treated as a respected, powerful presence in the college classroom?... In urging faculty members to adopt inclusive teaching practices, we need to start asking if they actually can — and at what cost, " say Pittman and Tobin.

Take-aways shared in this piece include:
1. Understand that your classroom choices may unintentionally affect or undercut a colleague
2. Discuss in your department the issue of bias in students' rating of teaching
3. Respect the variability among your colleagues, as well as among your students
4. Find trained help

"Share your stories, experiences, and thought processes as you negotiate your instructor role in the classroom..." iteach.msu.edu is one space where we can continue to help "normalize the conversation about instructor identity and status as a necessary element in the adoption of inclusive design and teaching practices".

https://www.chronicle.com/article/academe-has-a-lot-to-learn-about-how-inclusive-teaching-affects-instructors

Returning to the Classroom After a Tragedy: A 7-step Approach to Starting Class Again

This week, faculty, instructors, and graduate assistants will be returning to their classes for the first time after the tragic events of this week. There will be some classes where they have lost one of their classmates, which may add to the intensity of the experience of both students and instructors. Included in the resource attached (3-page PDF) are recommendations for how to structure the return to class for your students and yourselves, with trauma-informed considerations and practices.

This artifact is one of a collection of evidence-based resources for educators coming back to class after collective tragedy was compiled by Spartans:
Jason Moser (Professor of Clinical Science, Cognition, and Cognitive Neuroscience in MSU's Department of Psychology & PhD Psychology | Clinical Science)
Jon Novello (Director of MSU Employee Assistant Program & Licensed Clinical Social Worker)
Mark Patishnock (Director of MSU Counseling and Psychiatric Services [CAPS] & Licensed Psychologist)
Joshua Turchan (Assistant Director of Training, Assessment and Planning at MSU CAPS & Licensed Psychologist)
Karen Stanley-Kime (Assistant Director of Intensive Clinical Services at MSU CAPS & Licensed Psychologist)
and more throughout University Health and Wellness departments.