{"title":"Leadership is needed for ethical ChatGPT: Character, assessment, and learning using artificial intelligence (AI)","authors":"J. Crawford, Michael Cowling, Kelly-Ann Allen","doi":"10.53761/1.20.3.02","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.3.02","url":null,"abstract":"The OpenAI’s ChatGPT-3, or Chat Generative Pre-Trained Transformer was released in November 2022 without significant warning, and has taken higher education by storm since. The artificial intelligence (AI)-powered chatbot has caused alarm for practitioners seeking to detect authenticity of student work. Whereas some educational doomsayers predict the end of education in its current form, we propose an alternate early view. We identify in this commentary a position where educators can leverage AI like ChatGPT to build supportive learning environments for students who have cultivated good character. Such students know how to use ChatGPT for good, and can engage effectively with the ChatGPT application. In building our ChatGPT argument, we acknowledge the existing literature on plagiarism and academic integrity, and consider leadership as a root support mechanism, character development as an antidote, and authentic assessment as an enabler. In doing so, we highlight that while ChatGPT – like papermills, and degree factories before it – can be used to cheat on university exams, it can also be used to support deeper learning and better learning outcomes for students. In doing so, we offer a commentary that offers opportunities for practitioners, and research potential for scholars.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49642263","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
M. Andrew, Kerry Dobbins, E. Pollard, B. Mueller, R. Middleton
{"title":"Editorial: The role of compassion in higher education practices","authors":"M. Andrew, Kerry Dobbins, E. Pollard, B. Mueller, R. Middleton","doi":"10.53761/1.20.3.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.3.01","url":null,"abstract":"Compassion in higher education is viewed in different ways by educators. In recent years a focus on using compassionate pedagogy and being authentic, compassionate educators has arisen. Often associated with ‘care’, compassion has been labelled at times to be ‘soft’ or even ‘fluffy’ and holding emotion. Rather, we argue – through critically exploring discourses of compassion and care – that by acknowledging higher education has a relational element encompassing purposeful and trusting relationships, interactions can hold more meaning and benefit. This Editorial seeks to position the role of compassion in higher education, challenging how compassion focused pedagogy and research can be incorporated and enacted so it can benefit the future of higher education. We consider compassion in learning and teaching practices and in assessment, looking with hope to the future where we may see educational values lived in and through our teaching practices.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42552224","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Gamification pedagogy: A motivational approach to student-centric course design in higher education","authors":"Fiona Gironella","doi":"10.53761/1.20.3.04","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.3.04","url":null,"abstract":"This article explores the praxis of gamification pedagogy and post-secondary course design. The literature on gamified design theory and current research on its application as a pedagogy are explored. A student-centric, motivationally based gamification design model is proposed, operationalized, implemented, evaluated, and reiterated. The design process, application strategies and challenges, and resulting qualitative outcomes over a two-year implementation period of the re-designed gamified course are detailed. Student evaluations rated both the overlaid gamified structural design and the integrated course mechanics as highly motivating and contributing significantly to their success and positive learning experience. The gamified course design was able to resolve historical challenges for the identified course and increased student engagement. Gamification pedagogy proved uniquely effective for two sub-groups of students, those struggling with anxiety and second language learners. This innovative pedagogy effectively leveraged students’ unique intrinsic and extrinsic motivators to create an empowering, supportive, and highly effective learning framework.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47100821","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Mijung Kim, P. J. McFeetors, Q. Jin, K. Rose, J. Carey, J. Miller-Young, Marnie V. Jamieson, S. Adeeb
{"title":"“We learn things to solve real-life problems”: Understanding how nature of engineering beliefs situate developing pedagogical content knowledge in a modular engineering education professional development program","authors":"Mijung Kim, P. J. McFeetors, Q. Jin, K. Rose, J. Carey, J. Miller-Young, Marnie V. Jamieson, S. Adeeb","doi":"10.53761/1.20.3.07","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.3.07","url":null,"abstract":"Increasing numbers of studies in STEM fields indicate that there are higher gains in student outcomes in classroom environments implementing evidence-based teaching approaches focused on learners and their learning when compared to traditional lecture-based classrooms. However, despite the compelling results, studies show that lecture is still the most common instructor behaviour in undergraduate education. Professional learning programs have been shown to be crucial in closing this gap and promoting sustained adoption of student-centred teaching approaches in undergraduate education. In order to understand how faculty members in engineering experience the development of their pedagogical understandings and practice, we invited seven engineering professors of different ranks and disciplines to participate in a professional learning program, Scholarship of Pedagogy and Application of Research Knowledge in Engineering (SPARK-ENG), designed specifically for engineering education. The participants’ interactions during the community of practice and individual and group interviews after completing their modules were recorded, transcribed, and analysed through a thematic analysis process. The study findings indicated that the participants demonstrated a complexity of pedagogical understanding and preferences toward practical aspects of engineering education based on external constraints and perceptions about engineering knowledge and engineering teaching. They further valued community-based interactions to develop pedagogical reflection and possibilities of implementation in their own classroom situations. The study points to the need for further research and discussion surrounding professors’ epistemologies of disciplinary knowledge and unique cultures of certain professions to support the development of effective student-centred pedagogies in university professional development programs.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41369176","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"The lessons learnt from emergency remote teaching to strengthen a pre-service teacher education course on lesson design","authors":"D. Van der Merwe, Rene Levigne-Lang","doi":"10.53761/1.20.3.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.3.03","url":null,"abstract":"This paper reports on the lessons learnt from the COVID-19-induced emergency remote (online) teaching and learning of a one-year teacher education course. The final-year course, within a four-year Bachelor of Education programme, aimed at developing pre-service teachers’ knowledge of the nature and process of learning and how to guide and support learning in diverse school contexts. The course was planned before the COVID-19 pandemic, and teaching and learning would have taken place on campus, with limited online activities. The ensuing lockdown in South Africa resulted in university teaching and learning moving abruptly online. We investigated lessons learnt from the transition to emergency remote (online) teaching. Data were generated by conducting semi-structured interviews with 20 student teachers about their experiences of the course. The data were analysed using the constant comparative method. Analysing the data highlighted the benefits of remote (online) teaching that should be considered when using a blended approach to harness online teaching affordances. As we advance, we will implement a fully blended approach, harnessing the affordances of both online and contact-based teaching and learning.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-03-09","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49600174","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Reclaiming the technology of higher education for teaching digital writing in a post—pandemic world","authors":"R. Johinke, R. Cummings, F. Di Lauro","doi":"10.53761/1.20.02.01","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.02.01","url":null,"abstract":"Like all disciplines in higher education, the teaching of digital writing was profoundly impacted by the COVID-19 pandemic as faculty and students moved to emergency remote teaching (ERT). Rapid shifts to synchronous and asynchronous online delivery modes reshaped classrooms built upon frequent peer review and student collaboration in writing, forcing students and faculty into educational technologies that raised issues of privacy, equity, and surveillance. Yet, digital writing faculty responded to these challenges in ways that prioritised individual autonomy of student writers with creative assessments, improved access to texts, thoughtful connections to employers and audiences beyond the academy, and enhanced classroom collaborations via digital technologies. As this Editorial explores, the story of digital writing pedagogy during the pandemic became the story of a constant push and pull with the technologies that created digital writing itself. And just as teachers of digital writing began to emerge from the disruptions of the pandemic, a new wave of digital writing technologies enter the mix: AI-powered writing generators have arrived via applications such as ChatGPT with the seeming potential to shape the role of digital literacy once again. As this Editorial argues, the technologies of digital writing can be harnessed to reflect the values of education – openness, individual autonomy, and the power of knowledge – but only when the practitioners of digital writing pedagogy understand and access digital writing tools. At this time, those tools are again in rapid flux and the digital writing landscape remains profoundly unsettled.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48011272","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Lexical features and the quality of Vietnamese EFL students' online English writings","authors":"Huong Pham","doi":"10.53761/1.20.02.06","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.02.06","url":null,"abstract":"The rapid development of high technology and the Internet has made online learning increasingly popular, especially in the last few years when the COVID-19 pandemic appeared and spread worldwide. However, implementing online English courses in the pre-COVID-19 period was not prevalent; and only a few courses utilized new technologies to teach the English language online in universities and colleges in Viet Nam (Pham, 2020). This paper investigates 270 Vietnamese tertiary students' digital competency and online English writing study and practice experience in pre-, during, and post-COVID-19 periods. It also examines the link between the lexical features and the quality of the students’ online English writing. In addition, the study surveys English teachers' perceptions of lexical features' influence on the students' online English writing quality. The study found that Vietnamese tertiary students' digital competencies are of a high standard, with plentiful experiences of using digital technology in learning and practicing English. Some students faced challenges such as performing digital devices, communicating with friends and teachers, reading guides and documents in English, or having financial issues while taking online English courses during the COVID-19 pandemic. However, most of them solved all problems quickly and effectively themselves. Moreover, the findings implicated the strong influences of lexical sophistication, lexical diversity, and language accuracy on the students' English writing quality. Finally, it showed teachers' approval for students to use English writing aids when learning or practicing writing English online because of the educational benefits and convenience they could get in online English learning sessions.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45531143","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Potential for digital writing transfer with infographics: Students’ perspectives","authors":"Marta Shcherbakova","doi":"10.53761/1.20.02.12","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.02.12","url":null,"abstract":"Between 2020-22 COVID-19 blurred the line between academic and digital writing as more students and educators used digital platforms to write, share, and collaborate on academic work. Today, students can video-conference, engage in digital annotating, communicate via chats with different audiences, and write more audience-oriented emails - some of the skills they transferred from their daily interactions prompted by the pandemic. To help the students enhance their digital writing skills needed to succeed in the post-pandemic world, the researcher of this study decided to introduce and implement infographics in her first-year composition. During the pandemic, this genre became one of the popular mediums for transmitting and sharing information, with public health organisations worldwide relying on them to illustrate the scale of the crisis and the actions needed to combat it. This exploratory study collected data from 13 students in a blended college-level writing course by employing qualitative research methods such as surveys and reflections to learn about students' perspectives on possible affordances and constraints of infographics and to discover a more robust understanding of infographics as a potential tool for digital writing transfer. A thematic analysis was used to code students' responses. The literature review and the findings of this study suggest that infographics can be used as a tool to improve intellectual skills (e.g., audience awareness, information filtering, concision) and life skills (e.g., self-efficacy), which are both needed for more effective digital writing skills required for success in the post-pandemic world.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"44787242","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Overcoming isolation with community based digital writing initiatives","authors":"C. Morley, S. Aston","doi":"10.53761/1.20.02.03","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.02.03","url":null,"abstract":"Isolation is a consideration for many writers and is a term that has become synonymous with the pandemic. Perhaps this explains why the focus for much practice and research on writing development from a learning development and academic literacies context has traditionally focussed upon in-person support. Digital writing practices offer alternatives to in-person support and opportunities to address writers’ feelings of isolation. The research question for this case study is, therefore; to what extent have changes in writing development through the pandemic refocussed how we engage students in community-focussed digital writing practices, in a learning development and academic literacies context? This case study seeks to answer this question by critically reflecting on the University of Manchester Library’s ‘My Learning Essentials’ approach to digital writing during COVID-19 isolation. During this period, the team launched a range of community-based digital writing development initiatives. These include the peer-led Writing Together workshops and innovative uses of shared Digital Notebooks in embedded writing workshops when teaching within the curricula. Community-based digital writing development has enhanced My Learning Essentials’ existing pedagogic principles of peer-learning and student-centred active learning. The ‘What-So What-What Next’ framework of critical reflection will be used to analyse what worked, what did not work and what we learned in delivering these digital writing initiatives. This case study will provide practise-based suggestions and implications for writing workshop pedagogy in the age of COVID-19 and beyond, that will be of interest to learning developers, academic skills tutors and other teachers of academic writing, as well as practitioners of digital writing more generally.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42899651","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
{"title":"Students’ perceptions towards the application of peer assessment in a virtual English writing class","authors":"Thi Anh Dao Vo","doi":"10.53761/1.20.02.05","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53761/1.20.02.05","url":null,"abstract":"Writing skills are not easy to develop in English language learning, especially when online learning is being implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic. In order to improve students’ writing skills, as well as increase students’ autonomy, peer assessment is often adopted. The article presents findings of the research conducted in late 2021 on students’ perceptions towards the use of peer assessment in an online English writing class in Vietnam. The research applied a mixed method model with a questionnaire and an interview as the instruments. The questionnaire has 18 items divided into 4 parts: students’ personal information, students’ attitudes towards peer assessment, advantages of peer assessment, and disadvantages of peer assessment. The participants were 97 English as a Foreign Language (EFL) students who experienced one semester studying “Advanced Writing Skills” in online classes. The findings of the research revealed that students had negative attitudes towards the application of peer assessment to improve writing skills and they shared ideas of advantages and disadvantages of peer assessment. It is recommended that specific guidelines on how to do peer assessment with samples should be provided before teachers implement this teaching technique in class. In addition, in online classes, teachers need to be aware of making students familiar with peer assessment, as well as in the virtual environment.","PeriodicalId":45764,"journal":{"name":"Journal of University Teaching and Learning Practice","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":1.6,"publicationDate":"2023-02-22","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"47219543","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}