Generative AI in Teaching and Learning
Participants in this PLC will develop their critical AI literacy and pedagogy through such activities as creating or modifying assignments that include critical thinking and ethics of generative AI, or developing resources for students and colleagues. Valerie Smedile-Rifkin (Instructional Designer, ATC) will be the group facilitator, and Gillian Smith (CS, IMGD) and Yunus Telliel (HUA) will serve as peer mentors, providing continuity with the 2023 PLC on a similar theme.
Lauren Matthews, BBT, Laura Roberts, DIGS, Izabela Stroe, PH
Teaching Genre Literacy through Generative AI in the Language Classroom
Gizem Arslan (Yunt), Assistant Professor of Teaching, Humanities and Arts
This project will develop level-appropriate and ethical AI policies for first-year language courses in German at WPI. It will also reevaluate—and where appropriate, rework—genre-based interpretive and presentational communication assessments in the first-year language curriculum in German for generative AI integration. More broadly and in dialogue with language educators at WPI, it will formulate preliminary guidelines and best practices for AI-informed language teaching for modern languages at WPI.
AI Ethics in the Theatrical Sphere: Analyzing and Employing Generative AI
Sarah Lucie, Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities and Arts
Theatre can be a powerful tool for helping us understand Generative AI, but before this work can be created, our relationship with AI and its implications must be fully interrogated. This project will focus on developing classroom exercises that encourage analysis of Generative AI outputs; foster critical, productive methods of employing Generative AI as a creative tool; and brainstorm ethical, creative uses for Generative AI in future theatre and performance settings.
OpenSynthAI for Project-Based Learning: Initial Testing and Development of an Instructor Toolbox to Promote Open Science in the Era of Generative AI
Richard Lopez, Assistant Professor, Social Science & Policy Studies
Generative AI tools, such as chatGPT, are altering the landscape of higher education. Students rely on these tools to quickly cull knowledge and factoids, but they may not be able to contextualize them and assess the scientific muster of claims that spill from a chatbot’s output—issues that may be compounded in project-based learning (PBL). This project would involve the initial development and testing of a versatile pedagogical toolbox to close gaps in scientific literacy in the era of generative AI.
Constructive Application of AI Tools for Skills Development in a Non-Majors Environmental Biology Course
Lauren Matthews, Associate Professor, Biology and Biotechnology
This project will integrate constructive use of AI tools to help students develop skills in finding and critically analyzing scientific information about environmental problems in BB1002, a course for non-majors. Students in this course are expected to develop the skills they will need to be informed environmental citizens, able to access reliable information and identify and evaluate unreliable information, tasks that are likely to increasingly rely on the effective use of AI.
Building a Toolbox for Using AI in Academic Research
Laura Roberts, Assistant Teaching Professor, Integrative and Global Studies
This project examines the influx of AI tools available for research and writing and seeks to curate applicable AI tools and develop custom GPTs or specific, reliable prompts to assist students with academic work. The deliverables, including an expanded Padlet or website to share the curated AI tools and infographics that highlight the stages of the research and writing process mapped to AI tools, will assist students and faculty in leveraging AI effectively and ethically in academic research and writing.
Using AI to Provide an Equitable Approach for Teaching Large Introductory Physics Courses
Izabela Stroe, Associate Professor of Teaching, Physics
This project explores AI integration in teaching large introductory physics courses to overcome the education inequalities due to high school physics teaching. A framework for using AI-driven tools to create personalized physics learning experiences catering to a wide spectrum of student abilities and preferences will be developed. This approach could transform conventional classrooms into dynamic, engaging, and equitable learning environments and its impact could be extended and serve as a model for implementing AI in other large STEM courses.
Alternative Grading
Members of this PLC will consider four pillars for growth-based grading (Clark & Talbert, 2023) as they refine, implement, and reflect on alternative grading practices. Caitlin Keller (Senior Instructional Designer, ATC) will facilitate the group, and Sarah Riddick (HUA) will serve as a peer mentor.
Jennifer Mortensen, CS; Gbeton Somasse, SSPS; Carly Siegel Thorp, MA
Examining the Care-Work of Ungrading
Melissa Kagen, Assistant Teaching Professor, Interactive Media and Game Development
I have been experimenting with various forms of alternative grading since the fall of 2020, largely on my own. In collaboration with the PLC, I would like to investigate the following: 1) getting more organized with my approaches to ungrading, so I can learn more from each attempt; 2) examining the intangible care-work for instructors who use alternative grading; and 3) examining the tension between alternative grading as a mechanism to subvert white supremacy culture (e.g., perfectionism, quantity over quality, power hoarding) and critiques of ungrading on equity grounds (e.g., placing unfair burdens on first gen and neuro-atypical students less likely to understand the hidden curriculum.)
Growing Together: Alternative Grading for Team Projects
Courtney Kurlanska, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Integrative and Global Studies
This project will develop, implement, and assess a new approach to alternative grading in ID2050, focusing on how this strategy can promote learning and student growth as a team member. The focus will be to improve current ungrading practices on team writing, develop an alternative grading approach for team presentations, and determine the feasibility of implementing alternative grading on individual assignments.
Alternative Grading to Better Reflect Students' Learning
Ye Lu, Assistant Professor, Aerospace Engineering
This project explores alternative grading schemes that provide student assessment based primarily on their achievement of course learning objectives. Even though slow learners may eventually master the topic and achieve the same level of understanding as a fast learner, under traditional grading schemes (i.e., fixed percentage for exams and homework throughout the course), grades for those students are penalized simply because they are slow learners. I plan to try alternative grading in two large AE classes at the sophomore and junior levels.
Adapting Flexible Deadlines for Student Success
Jennifer Mortensen, Assistant Teaching Professor, Computer Science
This project explores ways to identify students who are not making progress in an alternative grading classroom and develops interventions to work with the students to get back on course. I will be using data from two large (100+ student) programming courses to analyze student outcomes and develop a prediction method to identify struggling students.
Standard-Based and Specification-Based Grading in Economics Courses
Gbeton Somasse, Associate Professor of Teaching, Social Science and Policy Studies
Gbeton Somasse will explore alternative grading systems in economics courses to help students become more intentional and motivated about their learning. Somasse will experiment with grading systems that provide actionable feedback to students including Standards- and Specifications-based grading. By identifying a list of skills and specifications, the project will help diverse students better monitor their progress with potential implications for equity and academic performance. Somasse will also look at how these alternative systems integrate into the course management system.
Applying Alternative Grading to Mathematics-Based Courses
Carly Siegel Thorp, Professor of Practice, Mathematical Sciences
Students are unlikely to be familiar with applying ungrading to a mathematics course and may find it to be abstract and difficult to understand. This project therefore seeks to create an alternative system of grading to be used in mathematics-based courses that applies ungrading methodology and is straightforward for students.
Developing an Inclusive Introductory Music Curriculum
Lucy Caplan, Associate Professor of Music, Humanities and Arts,
VJ Manzo, Associate Professor of Music, Humanities and Arts
The music curriculum at WPI has traditionally focused on the theory, performance, and history of music from the Western classical and jazz canons. This project aims to develop a curriculum that is more inclusive in its content, more focused on the development of broadly applicable skills, and more closely attuned to students’ interests and needs. Our objective is to create a comprehensive set of collaborative instructional resources for introductory music courses, which will work to foster a program-wide culture of inclusion and equity.
Pedagogical Comics for Programming Language Design Instruction
Rose Bohrer, Assistant Professor, Computer Science
This project funds production and assessment of a series of one-page comics, each illustrating a key concept from respective lessons of the PI’s courses on programming language design. Not only do comics serve as mnemonics for key concepts, but the diverse cast of characters promotes a subtle message of belonging in the classroom.
Developing Civic Engagement Modules for Courses and Programs
Corey Denenberg Dehner, Associate Professor of Teaching, Integrative and Global Studies (PI)
Marja Bakermans, Associate Teaching Professor, Integrative and Global Studies
Katherine Foo, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Integrative and Global Studies
Derren Rosbach, Associate Professor of Teaching, Integrative and Global Studies
Our project aims to increase the ease with which WPI faculty educate students and help them connect their WPI work to living a civically engaged life. Using Dr. Nick Longo’s, ‘Practicing Democracy: A Toolkit for Educating Civic Professions’ as a springboard, we will develop modules educating students on the importance of being civically engaged. The modules will incorporate methods to become engaged, and true to WPI’s hands-on learning approach, task students with civic engagement exercises.
GPThermo: An In-House GenAI Tutor for Thermodynamics
Alireza Ebadi, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Mechanical & Materials Engineering
(co-funded by Undergraduate Studies)
As generative AI becomes more widespread, educators should consider how to apply it responsibly to education. Current commercial systems sometimes struggle with technical prompts. However, with careful in-house training focused on course materials, AI could provide students with rapid feedback to reinforce key concepts. This project aims to train a GPT model focused on thermodynamics using in-house resources, such as ES 3001 lecture notes and video transcripts. The model shall serve as a baseline to create similar models for other courses.
Creating a More Authentic Collaborative Environment to Teach Discrete Event Simulation Fundamentals
Renata Konrad, Associate Professor, Business
Discrete-event simulation (DES) teaching strategies often rely on commercial simulation software which risks insufficient attention to DES foundations leaving students unprepared and frustrated. The project goal is to create an authentic collaborative environment in the preparatory phase of a DES course to solidify fundamental DES concepts and prepare students for collaboration on a simulation study. The project develops a pedagogical framework to guide the creation of a syntax-free, team-based gaming environment to fill a gap in DES educational needs.
Revive the Legacy of Drawing at WPI in the Era of AI
Shichao Liu, Assistant Professor, Architectural Engineering (PI)
Marie Keller, Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities & Arts
Soroush Farzin, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Architectural Engineering
Navneet Anand, Adjunct Instructor/Lecturer, Architectural Engineering
Drawing is an essential visual thinking skill for engineering design. It was listed as the first “branch of knowledge” in the 1869 Circular of the Worcester County Free Institute of Industrial Science, WPI's original name. However, as drawing dwindled from our curricula, many students have become deficient in drawing, inhibiting conceptual ideation and visual communication. Thus, we will develop and assess educational modules using generative AI to teach drawing in five courses, affecting at least 160 students annually.
Post-IQP Academic Publishing
John-Michael Davis, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Integrative & Global Studies
The course will be open to students who completed their IQPs in Puerto Rico in C-term 2024. In E term 2024, I plan to work with 2-3 teams to repackage their IQP report into a journal article. The course will be a 1/6 credit course. Students will deepen their knowledge of their IQP research and its relevance both within Puerto Rico and more broadly, further develop their academic writing skills, learn firsthand the process of academic publishing, and (ideally) co-author a peer-reviewed article offering a major achievement as an undergraduate student. I plan to balance offering teaching opportunities with modeling strong academic writing. The course will involve regular Zoom meetings with teams that will follow Wendy Belcher's book "Writing Your Journal Article in 12 Weeks."
Afro and Indigenous Voices in Latin America
Lina Munoz-Marquez, Assistant Teaching Professor, Humanities & Arts
I propose to develop a Spanish Special Topics Course that explores the narratives and experiences of indigenous and Afro-Latin American activists, artists, writers, filmmakers, and singers. Starting with a critical analysis of racial, gender, and class inequalities in Latin America, students will be exposed to cultural and artistic products that present social justice responses. Through this approach, students will be able to engage at a deeper Spanish level with their study of the diversity of cultures and identities in Latin America. This project involves designing modules, lesson plans, interactive projects, and activities that will be made available to other professors and will benefit students who are completing the HUA Requirement in Spanish, and who are preparing to complete study abroad programs or to work at WPI’s Project Centers in Latin America.
Social and Political Philosophy
Geoffrey Pfeifer, Associate Professor of Teaching, The Global School
This will be an upper-level course to my intro to the course where I use Perusall the social annotation reading app to help build community in addition to offering short lecture videos and a once-a-week live drop-in session for students to discuss course material in person. I plan on doing something similar in the upper-level PY 2712 class and I also want to re-imagine some of my content for an asynchronous format. I am thinking about adding different forms of media to help with philosophical content and new video assignments to help students connect with the material, and each other, in the asynchronous space. Much of what I do in this course will differ from what I do in the introductory course as it is a higher level.
Topics in Modern Physics: A Roadmap of Women Contributions
Topics in Modern Physics: A Roadmap of Women Contributions
Izabela Stroe Associate Professor of Teaching, Physics
In this project, I will create a Roadmap of Women Contributions to discoveries and technologies related to topics taught in the Modern Physics course PH 1130. Further, I will redesign the course structure to best incorporate and align these contributions with the required learning course outcomes. Creating the roadmap and incorporating it in this course and other courses is one important step to acknowledge women contributions in science, provide role models to women students, and ultimately help bridge the gap of women’s participation in these fields.
NeuroPhysics of Yoga
Snehalata Kadam, Assistant Teaching Professor, Physics (PI)
Jagan Srinivasan, Associate Professor, Biology & Biotechnology
Our major goal is to create novel pedagogical approaches for learning concepts in STEM-oriented subjects and provide an atmosphere for acceptance and equity for all students. This endeavor will help students adopt exercising regularly, develop problem-solving skills; and learn to manage emotions. The holistic practice of yoga will allow individuals to appreciate the biomechanics of the human body by increasing strength, flexibility, balance, and awareness of physical sensations within the body and emotions. Increased awareness of the body and emotions improves mental well-being and can also impact decision-making by creating some between registering a stimulus and engaging in a behavioral response. We are collaborating with the Center for Wellbeing at WPI to assess the impact of the program on well-being by administering the Well-being Improvement Survey in Higher Education (WISHES) to participants and developing wellness courses related to these activities. (WISHES) to participants and develop wellness courses related to these activities.
Hey, AI! Is That a Scarlet Tanager in My Yard?
Marja Bakermans, Associate Teaching Professor, The Global School
I aim to create a new online course that redesigns an introductory biology course, making it accessible, engaging, and building community. This course will be offered in the summer in an online format, integrating a component of field biology into a course to connect students to outdoor ecologies and ecosystems. The course will embed AI-informed nature apps in the course structure to engage students in the natural world. It will integrate an online data analysis software platform that promotes exploration of the data in science in a user-friendly, drag-and-drop platform. The course will promote the exploration of ecosystems and nature while building a welcoming community. Students all over the globe will be able to participate in this online class and encouraged to integrate local cultures and values around nature, biodiversity, and conservation and share this with their classmates. We will take lessons from using nature-based apps and the online data analysis platform in this setting and consider how to incorporate similar elements into the in-person version of this course.
AI for Agency and Identity
Thomas Patrick Noviello, Instructor, Physics
Efforts have been made within the physics community to ensure that students have agency in the classroom, which has been accomplished through the adoption of inquiry-based activities and active learning philosophies. These settings offer students a glimpse into what professionals do and how they think, thus forming a preliminary sense of professional identity. However, agency and identity can fall short when homework problems are assigned through a textbook, which are often contrived problems that are not tailored to student needs and/or interests. It is proposed that students use AI in the form of ChatGPT 4 to generate their own problem sets based on their interests, analyze the output problems, thoroughly compare their work to AI-generated solutions, and write targeted reflection pieces to document skills obtained, areas of improvement, and to create a plan for subsequent assignments.
GPThermo: An In-House GenAI Tutor for Thermodynamics
Alireza Ebadi, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Mechanical & Materials Engineering
(co-funded by the EDC)
As generative AI becomes more widespread, educators should consider how to apply it responsibly to education. Current commercial systems sometimes struggle with technical prompts. However, with careful in-house training focused on course materials, AI could provide students with rapid feedback to reinforce key concepts. This project aims to train a GPT model focused on thermodynamics using in-house resources, such as ES 3001 lecture notes and video transcripts. The model shall serve as a baseline to create similar models for other courses.
Beyond Boundaries: Expanding Access to Chemistry Education Through Virtual Reality Technologies in First-Year Labs
Raúl Orduña Picón, Assistant Teaching Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry (PI), Robert Dempski, Professor, Chemistry & Biochemistry
To address first-year students’ learning challenges in chemistry laboratories, this proposal aims to design, implement, and assess new extended reality tools to foster students’ opportunities to learn when engaging in project-based learning in the CH1010 laboratory at WPI. This pedagogical tool's development and assessment will contribute to the recent redesign of the CH1010 laboratory by offering an additional mechanism to teach laboratory safety, basic chemistry skills, and the use of instruments/glassware.
