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GenAI Explorations: Conversation with Dan Emery

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  This fall Extra Points will feature a series of conversations focused on how faculty and staff around the University of Minnesota are using Generative AI to do University work.  Adam Brisk, Academic Technologist with ITSS ATCD UMD, and Lauren Marsh, Academic Technologist with ATSS, interviewed Dan Emery, Assistant Director of Writing Across the Curriculum. Emery collaborates with faculty to enhance learning goals through writing, and this work informs his active and insightful participation in discussions about GenAI at the UMN. The following has been revised for length and clarity. As Assistant Director of Writing Across the Curriculum at the University of Minnesota, how do you use Generative AI? Dan Emery: My job in Writing Across the Curriculum serves two programs, the Writing-Enriched Curriculum Program and our Teaching with Writing series. In the context of my work with the Writing-Enriched Curriculum (WEC), I talk about AI with folks who are teaching with writing in the un
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Explore Generative AI tools: Microsoft Copilot and Zoom AI Companion - September 2024 session recap

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This post summarizes the September 2024 Explore Generative AI tools: Microsoft Copilot and Zoom AI Companion session facilitated by ATSS . During the session, ATSS consultants presented an overview of the two AI tools, Microsoft Copilot and Zoom AI Companion - available to all UMN faculty, staff, and students - and explored use cases. Key Takeaways Our session goals were to: Understand the basics of Microsoft Copilot and Zoom AI Companion Explore how both platforms can be used in education through examples and use cases Zoom AI Companion What is Zoom AI Companion? Zoom AI Companion is a University-vetted opt-in suite of AI tools that enhance the in-meeting and post-meeting experiences. Meeting hosts (i.e., instructors) can generate: In-Meeting Questions Meeting Summary Smart Recording How is it used? By default, the Zoom AI Companion is set to OFF; users can change their Zoom settings to opt in. AI Companion works best if you are logged into your UMN Zoom account ; it does poorly if
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Canvas Discussions Usability Testing: Key Findings & Recommendations

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Academic Technology Support Services (ATSS) partnered with Instructure , the parent company of Canvas, to conduct a usability study on some of Instructure’s most recent updates to the Canvas Discussion tool. The study aimed to understand user experiences to implement changes and/or improve training.  Usability partnership & study process Since 2015, the University of Minnesota academic technology teams have conducted usability studies to understand how instructors and students use different learning technologies. This work is carried out with internal and external stakeholders such as University of Minnesota academic technology leadership, the academic technology community , and our learning technology vendors. For this study, the Canvas Discussions tool was selected for two reasons: Instructure was redesigning the tool, and it’s used in approximately 25% of University of Minnesota academic courses as shown in the graph below. Discussions are heavily used in those courses: as often
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Use FeedbackFruits Tools for Peer Learning: Basics - August 2024 session recap

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This post summarizes the August 2024 Use FeedbackFruits Tools for Peer Learning: Basics session facilitated by ATSS . During the session, ATSS consultants presented an overview of the four FeedbackFruits peer learning tools and explored how to create a FeedbackFruits assignment in Canvas. Session participants completed a FeedbackFruits assignment as a student. Key Takeaways Introduction to FeedbackFruits The University of Minnesota is in year three of its license with FeedbackFruits. While UMN licenses four of FeedbackFruits tools , our session focused on the two tools that most directly support peer learning:  Group Member Evaluation Peer Review Set up and use FeedbackFruits in Canvas Because FeedbackFruits is integrated into Canvas, some considerations should be kept in mind so that students are not confused by the information they see in Canvas compared to what they see in FeedbackFruits. A few important notes about FeedbackFruits assignments: You will start by creating a Canvas Ass
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Enhance teaching and learning with Microsoft Copilot: Course review

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University of Minnesota faculty, staff, and students currently have access to Microsoft Copilot . It describes itself as “your everyday AI companion” that provides better answers, greater efficiency, and new ways to be creative. When prompted, Copilot suggests that higher education professionals might use it for: Code assistance and learning Research and writing Collaboration Course material creation Accessibility and inclusivity  ATSS staff members completed the Enhance teaching and learning with Microsoft Copilot course to help us understand how to use the platform and to evaluate the course to determine if it would be helpful for the UMN community. This post provides an overview of the course, our exploration process, and key takeaways. Course overview This course delves into Microsoft Copilot for education by familiarizing yourself with its modes and features for designing effective prompts and analyzing results (source: AI x Education newsletter). It is one of three courses in Mi
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Canvas Gradebook Set up: August 2024 session recap

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This post summarizes the August 2024 Canvas Gradebook Set-up session facilitated by Academic Technology Support Services (ATSS). During the session, ATSS consultants presented an overview of getting started with the Canvas Gradebook and its settings, discussed streamlining grading throughout the semester, and shared resources for advanced tips and tricks. Key Takeaways The role of the Canvas Gradebook in addressing access and inclusion Challenges facing students: academic stress, student mental health, transparency, anxiety about grades and class performance Challenges facing instructors: burnout, grading and time commitments, transparency in grading practices and assessments, ungrading We do not intend to imply that simply using the Canvas Gradebook will single-handedly eliminate the previously mentioned issues. However, we bring them to think about a small change that could be taken to set yourself and your students up for a semester with more ease.  Canvas Gradebook settings Assig
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UMN instructors' perspectives on generative AI: April 2024 focus groups results

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In April 2024, Academic Technology Support Services (ATSS) conducted focus group sessions with UMN instructors. The sessions’ goals were to: understand instructors’ level of awareness about generative AI.  understand how instructors perceive acceptable use of generative AI for their academic courses. learn how instructors would like to be involved with shaping how generative AI is used in education and what support, if any, instructors desired around the use of generative AI. Note: throughout this post, ‘generative AI’ and ‘AI’ are both used to refer to the broad category of artificial intelligence that can produce content such as text, images, video, audio, and/or code. Focus group process ATSS partners with Usability Services to establish the session goals, determine participant recruiting criteria, craft the interview protocol, and set the ground rules for the focus group sessions. During the sessions, the project team takes notes and documents their observations, including direct
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