Generative AI – many of us have heard of or tried it out, but few know how to use it to its full potential. USF Innovative Education’s new workshop for faculty, Course Enhancement with Generative AI, enables them to take full advantage of this evolving technology.
According to IBM Research, generative AI, or GenAI, refers to deep-learning models that generate high-quality text, images, and other content based on the data it was trained on.
For faculty, GenAI presents an opportunity to automate tasks, streamline processes, optimize communication, and gain valuable insights into student performance, ultimately enhancing student engagement and the learning experience.
An Introduction to GenAI
InEd’s Digital Learning Training & Support (DLTS) team has simplified this complex and transformative topic into an easily digestible workshop where faculty will build a diverse set of GenAI course enhancement skills within a few hours. From creating GenAI course policies to writing rubrics and developing content presentations, there are endless opportunities to use GenAI for any faculty wishing to enhance their course, regardless of enrollment size, subject area, or delivery format.
The Course Enhancement with Generative AI workshop, launched on March 15, is part of a broad USF strategy dedicated to upskilling faculty, students, and staff. The university recognizes the significance of these skills as essential for workforce development.
In their conversations with faculty and analysis of feedback data, DLTS discovered that while faculty expressed a high level of interest in GenAI, they also had reservations. Faculty also expressed a need for a straightforward starting point and clear guidance on how to best use this powerful technology. Accordingly, the following questions guided the design of the workshop:
1. What core knowledge and skills do faculty need to confidently use GenAI for their specific teaching and learning needs?
2. How can faculty quickly create a viable GenAI plan that can be immediately applied to their course(s), all while collecting feedback and inspiration from peers?
“We discovered that there is a tremendous volume of GenAI resources out there, and a lot of it is great but very lengthy,” said Lindsey Mercer, associate director of DLTS. “We designed the workshop so a faculty member could realistically complete it within a day and instantly apply GenAI to enhance their courses.”
What Faculty Learn
The Course Enhancement with Generative AI workshop provides an approachable, beginner-friendly introduction to GenAI in a fully online, self-paced format, and takes three to four hours to complete.
The workshop begins with an overview of GenAI, a demonstration of prompt engineering, and a comparative overview of the top platforms such as ChatGPT, Microsoft Copilot, and Gemini.
From there, faculty complete four topic-based modules: 1) Using GenAI for Course Preparation, 2) Using GenAI for Assessment Tasks, 3) Using GenAI for Content Development, and 4) Using GenAI to Optimize Feedback.
Each module is parsed into three components – Learn, Practice, and Plan.
The Learn section includes authentic use-case tutorials presenting how to leverage GenAI for each given topic. For example, the course preparation module demonstrates how to create welcome messages, GenAI course policies, and student success guides for courses.
Following the Learn section, faculty will then Practice by working within a GenAI platform to develop items for their course(s) while building prompt engineering skills. This also provides faculty with the opportunity to gain experience working with a variety of GenAI platforms to learn the strengths and limitations of each.
The final section, Plan, is where faculty reflect on the practice exercise, build their own GenAI plan, post to the module discussion forum, and interact with peers.
Evidence of Application
For the final assignment, faculty will apply at least two of their plans to their course(s) and discuss the impact. Faculty can learn from one another, draw inspiration, and discuss their findings through the final discussion forum.
Upon completing the final assignment and reflection survey, faculty earn a Credly-backed Course Enhancement with Generative AI badge to display on their faculty bio webpage, LinkedIn, and other platforms.
Faculty interested in the Course Enhancement with Generative AI workshop can register here.
Broader AI Advancements at USF
Innovative Education’s support for faculty and generative AI is one piece of a broader USF strategy to provide generative AI opportunities to ethically and effectively advance USF’s mission. Experts from the USF colleges, Libraries, Center for Innovative Teaching and Learning, Information Technology, USF Health, and Innovative Education are all working in concert to maximize the benefits of generative AI in ensuring student success.
Check out USF’s GenAI website to learn about ethical usage, syllabus and course policy recommendations, citations, events, and more.