DOLCE on Friday - Two Faculty Presentations on Teaching with ChatGPT

Dear Faculty Colleagues,
 
We are excited to announce that on Friday, March 3rd at noon via Zoom, the ATS March DOLCE (Discussing Online Learning and Collaborative Education) will be featuring ChatGPT presentations from two of our faculty colleagues from the University Writing Program: Andrea Ross and Lisa Sperber. You are invited to join us.
 
Andrea Ross is the author of Unnatural Selection: A Memoir of Adoption and Wilderness, from CavanKerry Press. Her writing has appeared in Huffington Post, The Conversation, Ploughshares, Terrain, Bay Nature, and many other print and online outlets. She has received fellowships and awards from the California Arts Council, the Mesa Refuge, and Bread Loaf. 
 
Ross’s presentation, titled “ChatGPT Meets UWP 104A (Business and Technical Writing) and Other Thoughts about Generative AI,” will review the strengths and weaknesses of writing generated by ChatGPT, providing some examples of AI-generated responses to Ross’s writing assignments. Ross will also discuss AI detection efforts and the sorts of writing prompts that reward authentic responses from our students.
 
Lisa Sperber teaches a range of professional writing classes. She is in the early stages of a research project that looks at writing produced by GPT software from a genre perspective. As a former Writing Across the Curriculum consultant, she has worked with faculty across campus to support writing instruction in their undergraduate and graduate classes. 
 
Sperber’s talk, titled “Chat GPT: ’Great at Pretending to Think,’” will examine ChatGPT’s writing by genre, introducing its strengths, limitations, and salient features in relation to the types of writing we assign in our classes. Sperber will present a typical literature review and blog produced by ChatGPT, focusing on ChatGPT’s use of evidence in these genres.
 
I’ve known both these presenters for many years and am eager to hear their perspectives on this new tool that has been called a “calculator for words.” Aaron Levie, the co-founder and CEO of Box, said, “ChatGPT is one of those rare moments in technology where you see a glimmer of how everything is going to be different going forward.” 
 
Join us Friday at noon via Zoom to discuss our mutual hopes and concerns with AI tools such as ChatGPT. This event will be recorded.
 
Best,
 
Andy Jones
Academic Associate Director, Academic Technology Services
Host, DOLCE and Faculty Forum

Image by Joshua_Willson from Pixabay