This spring Extra Points features a series of conversations focused on how faculty and staff around the University of Minnesota are using generative AI to do University work.  Lauren Marsh ( Academic Technology Support Services ) interviewed  Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow   Robert Erdmann , Assistant Professor of Bioinformatics/Data Science at UMN Rochester. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your role in the Center for Learning Innovation at Rochester, and how that informs your work with generative AI. Robert Erdmann: UMR is organized into just a single department, the Center for Learning Innovation (CLI). This means that faculty from all disciplines - biology, math, writing, public health - are all in the same unit. This lowers a lot of barriers to cross-disciplinary interactions and collaborations. You get to talk to a lot of people who aren't in your field. It gets us thinking about teaching in different ways. I do...

  This spring Extra Points features 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 ( Information Technology Systems and Services ) and Bill Rozaitis ( Center for Educational Innovation ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow   Mark Collier , Professor of Philosophy at UMN Morris. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your role in the Philosophy department and how that is informing your work with generative AI. Mark Collier: I'm a professor of philosophy. I teach a wide variety of courses, including the history of philosophy, artificial intelligence and ethics, philosophy of mind, and biomedical ethics. Because it's a small department, we have broad coverage. My research has primarily focused on the philosophy of David Hume. When I entered grad school at UC San Diego, I joined an interdisciplinary program in cognitive scie...

This spring Extra Points features 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 ( Information Technology Systems and Services ) and Lauren Marsh ( Academic Technology Support Services ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow   Junhua Wang , Associate Professor of Business Communications in the Labovitz School of Business and Economics. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your role in the Labovitz School of Business and Economics (LSBE) at UMD, and how that is informing your work with generative AI. Junhua Wang: I teach the course Business Communication, which is an upper-division, writing-intensive course required for all students at LSBE. I think generative AI presents significant opportunities to help students in the writing process, such as enhancing their drafting, revising, and editing skills. Recognizing this potential, I b...

  This spring Extra Points features a series of conversations focused on how faculty and staff around the University of Minnesota are using generative AI to do University work.  Mary Jetter ( Center for Educational Innovation ) and August Schoen ( Academic Technology Support Services ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow Darren LaScotte from the Minnesota English Language Program in the College of Continuing & Professional Studies. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Give us some context for your work with generative AI: what was the class, and who are your students?  Darren LaScotte: The basis of my project was seeing how generative AI might promote language learning. I teach a writing-intensive English as a second language course, which prepares students for First-Year Writing (University Writing 1301). We work on teaching students the writing process and provide feedback on things like content and organization in its culturally s...

  This spring Extra Points features 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 ( Information Technology Systems and Services ) and August Schoen ( Academic Technology Support Services ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow  Fernando Burga , Assistant Professor of Urban & Regional Planning in the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. Tell us about your role in the Humphrey School and how that is informing your work with generative AI. Fernando Burga: I'm an assistant professor in urban and regional planning at the Humphrey School of Public Affairs. I'm also a specialist in community development at Extension. I teach a variety of courses, including land use planning, site planning, and a class called civic participation. My role is essentially divided into three main areas: research, teaching, and service. I emphasize the use of AI and large language model...

  This spring Extra Points features a series of conversations focused on how faculty and staff around the University of Minnesota are using generative AI to do University work.  Lauren Marsh ( Academic Technology Support Services ) and Bill Rozaitis ( Center for Educational Innovation ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow   Ezgi Tiryaki , Professor of Neurology in the Medical School. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your role in the Medical School and how that is informing your work with generative AI. Ezgi Tiryaki: I am with the Medical School and involved with the Office of Faculty Affairs, focusing on faculty development programming. Until last year, I co-directed a program called Foundations of Leadership Excellence (FLE). I am also helping co-lead the Rothenberger Leadership Academy for mid-career health systems leaders. My involvement and use of AI are primarily in the sphere of faculty development. Tell us about y...

This spring 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.  Lauren Marsh ( Academic Technology Support Services ) and Bill Rozaitis ( Center for Educational Innovation ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellows Molly Vasich and Kris Cory , Associate Directors of First Year Writing, Writing Studies, in the College of Liberal Arts. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your roles in First-Year Writing, and how that is informing your work. Molly Vasich: Kris and I are Associate Directors for First-Year Writing, a program housed in Writing Studies. We support 35 full-time faculty members and 15 graduate instructors who teach sections of First-Year Writing, the only universally required course for undergraduates across the Twin Cities campus. This semester, we have about 2,400 students taking First-Year Writing.  We h...

 This spring 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.  Bill Rozaitis ( Center for Educational Innovation ) and Cody Hennesy ( University Libraries ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow   Tim Doherty , Senior Lecturer of Chemistry at UMR’s Center for Learning Innovation. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your roles in Chemistry and the Center for Learning Innovation at Rochester, and how those are informing your work with generative AI. Tim Doherty: I'm a chemistry instructor at the University of Minnesota, Rochester. In our lab courses, we teach students how to write lab reports. With the advent of large language models, it became clear that this is something we can’t ignore. We wanted to explore how AI could help students write lab reports. Since it’s such an emerging area, there wasn’t exactly a ...

This fall and spring 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 ( Information Technology Systems and Services) and Cody Hennesy (formerly with the University Libraries ), interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow   Al Fattal Anas . He is an Assistant Professor of Marketing in Crookston’s Business Department. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your role in the Business Department, and how that is informing your work with generative AI. Al Fattal Anas: I'm an assistant professor in Marketing, and I'm on a tenure track. I teach courses like principles of marketing, marketing research, consumer behavior and marketing strategies. Instead of thinking about generative AI as something working against you, I’ve been exploring using it as an ally. We need to redesign assignments and assessments and further ...

  This spring 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.  Lauren Marsh and Sara Schoen ( Academic Technology Support Services ) interviewed Emerging Technologies Faculty Fellow Nicole Dillard from CEHD’s Organizational Leadership, Policy & Development department. The following has been revised for length and clarity. Tell us about your role in the College of Education and Human Development (CEHD), and how this is informing your work with generative AI. Nicole Dillard: I'm a faculty member in the Human Resource Development program, which is part of the OLPD (Organizational Leadership, Policy & Development) department. I teach both undergraduate and graduate courses, and I'm piloting my project in my undergrad course OLPD 3310: Identities in the Workplace. Prior to the fellowship, I don't think my role was significantly influenced by my u...