A Day in the Life of an AI Superhero*
Some Ways I Used AI (and OER) This Week
Key Takeaways
AI Fellowship and Innovation: The author received the Idaho State Board of Education’s inaugural AI fellowship award, inspiring innovative AI use in teaching.
Creating AI Training: Short, accessible videos were made to help beginners get started with AI tools like ChatGPT and Copilot.
Collaborative OER Efforts: The author highlights the importance of collaboration in open education, thanking Anna Mills for remixing their work on writing with AI.
Workshop Development with AI: AI tools were used to generate titles and descriptions for a workshop on integrating AI into open education, demonstrating practical applications.
Encouraging Exploration: The author motivates educators to explore and experiment with AI tools to enhance teaching and learning experiences.
So, I got this thing a few weeks ago…. I found out I was one of two recipients of the Idaho State Board of Education’s inaugural AI fellowship awards. My college published an article about the award entitled “Hard Work Goes a Long Way,” and I am dying to know whether the marketing team used AI to come up with that punny title. The other recipient is nursing professor Jason Blomquist at Boise State University. Jason’s open work with students inspired my own “anything goes but acknowledge and cite” approach to teaching with AI in my summer courses.
Anyway, I guess it’s kind of a big deal, which means imposter syndrome has set in hard. I mean, I know a lot of people doing some amazing things with generative AI in the education space.
*Daily affirmation time: I’m good enough, I’m smart enough, and doggone it, people like me!
Anyway, I have some fun plans for using the funds (including my work on a new writing OER textbook tentatively titled “Cyborgs and Centaurs: Academic Writing in the Age of Generative Artificial Intelligence”), and I’m so grateful to work at a school that supports innovative pedagogy!
Can You Recommend a Good AI Training?
My sweet partner Ed has been so supportive of all my hyper focused interest on artificial intelligence. I also do a lot of work with open education resources (OER), and Ed has learned that he can always start a one-sided conversation with me if he asks me about either AI or OER.
But I’m not sure he actually knows the difference between these two things. A few days ago, I casually asked him if he had ever tried ChatGPT (he’s an MBA—he should have 1000 use cases by now!).
“No,” he sheepishly replied. “I’m waiting for you to recommend a good training program.”
So I made this 2:56 minute video on how to get started with ChatGPT—for him and for you.
And just in case you use Copilot (this is the tool I use with my students), I made a slightly longer three minute video about getting started with that tool as well.
If you’re waiting for the perfect training program, stop. Get yourself an account and start trying things. I’m hoping I can share some of Ed’s work in a future post.
How Can Students Cite and Acknowledge AI?
If you don’t follow Anna Mills yet, you need to. I first came across her excellent open textbook on arguments while looking for OER to remix in Write What Matters. I’ve been fortunate to collaborate with Anna in a pilot of a formative writing assessment tool called My Essay Feedback (I really will devote an entire blog post to this as soon as I can find some time to write my IRB proposal. Summer moves fast, y’all!).
Anna has updated and remixed some chapters I originally created for the “Writing with Artificial Intelligence” section of Write What Matters, and I am sharing them here because they are awesome. Thanks, Anna, for remixing my work!
We Need a Title for Your Workshop Right this Minute!
I am so excited to co-present this fall on the intersection of AI and OER with my friend Reed Hepler, an instructional librarian at the College of Southern Idaho. Reed and I met through our state’s OPAL (Open+Pedagogy+Advocacy+Leadership) program, the brainchild of Jonathan Lashley. Both Reed and I were both early and enthusiastic AI adopters, and I follow Reed’s Substack for the latest cool tips and tricks.
Today, the organizer of our workshop reached out and asked if we had a possible title yet and reminded us that she would also need a description in a few weeks.
Cue the chatbots.
I asked ChatGPT for a few suggestions and highlighted my favorites. Here’s a link to the entire chat.
Reed chose two titles and combined them, and we both agreed that it was a good title for our workshop. I then asked ChatGPT to write the description for the workshop.
But then the organizer reminded us that we were supposed to incorporate open education into the presentation. So I tweaked the final title and workshop description to come up with this:
Teaching and Learning 2.0: Integrating Generative AI into Open Education Resources
Discover the future of education with our hands-on workshop on integrating generative AI into open education resources (OER). This workshop is designed for educators eager to explore innovative ways to enhance teaching and learning through the use of generative AI tools and OER. We will explore practical use cases, engage in learning activities, and collaborate with peers as we investigate AI's potential to create more interactive, personalized, and effective educational experiences in college classrooms. Whether you're an AI novice or a tech-savvy instructor, this workshop will equip you with the knowledge and inspiration to transform your classroom for the digital age.
The entire collaboration process took just a few emails and less than an hour. “Fantastic! Thanks, dynamic duo! (Now to design your superhero costumes!)” the organizer replied.
I opened Adobe Firefly and came up with this:
Mission accomplished! This is a completely true to life representation of Reed and me in our superhero costumes.
Because things are always changing so quickly in AI, I doubt we’ll finalize the presentation until the day before we give it. Stay tuned for more details!
Have a great week, everyone, and happy prompting!