Three images created with CoPilot. Prompts (from left to right): Create a realistic oil painting of diverse (race, gender, ability) faculty and staff in a forum discussing impact of artificial intelligence in the liberal arts classroom; idealic image of a liberal arts college classroom with diverse students and faculty; Create a watercolor painting that captures a lively debate between faculty and staff about the role of generative artificial intelligence in a liberal arts classroom. prioritize diverse part
Three images created with CoPilot. Prompts utilized are available below and in the "alt text."

Thursday, August 29, 2024, 8:30 am to 12:30 pm, Inn on Boltwood, followed by lunch

The Provost's Retreat on Teaching and Learning offers an opportunity to reconnect with colleagues before the semester begins, explore pedagogical ideas, and celebrate our teaching and learning successes. This year's topic will be Generative AI and the Liberal Arts.

We will engage with panelists and in working sessions to consider the impacts, promising avenues, and responsible classroom engagement with generative artificial intelligence. Please RSVP no later than August 16, 2024.

RSVP
photo collage of professors and staff at 2023 retreat

Schedule for the Day

8:30 - 9:00  Continental Breakfast

9:00 - 9:30  Welcome and Introductions 

9:15 - 11:00  Keynote Panel

11:00 - 11:15  Break

11:15 - 12:30  Working Sessions

12:30 - 2:00  Lunch

Provost's Retreat Panelists

Starting from top left: Lauren Goodlad, Stacy Doore; Bottom Left: Joe Cruz, Hector Vila

This panel will engage questions about generative AI and the liberal arts. How is AI shaping our disciplines? How does and should this show up in the classroom? What are the challenges? What are the possibilities? How might these technological advances inform the ways we shape our curriculum?

The keynote panel will include planned questions, small group discussion, and time for the panelists to engage your questions.

Joe Cruz (Williams College, Philosophy), Stacy A. Doore (Colby College, Computer Science), Lauren M. E. Goodlad (Rutgers University, English and Comparitive Literature), Héctor Vila, (Middlebury, Writing and Rhetoric). Learn more about the panelists.

various working materials on the table - coffee cup, juice bottle, markers, pipe cleaners, hand writing in notebook

Working Sessions

These sessions will be co-facilitated by our keynote panelists and Amherst College faculty and staff. The goal is for each session to briefly convey critical grounding information with the majority of the time to be focused on working with colleagues on relevant tasks for the topic of the session. You will sign up for these working sessions when you RSVP.

Communicating with Our Students about Responsible GenAI

In this session, we will consider how to talk with our students about GenAI in our classes: through our syllabi, our assignment guidelines, our community norms, and our academic integrity statements. Attendees will work together to refine how they are approaching these points of communication in their Fall 2024 courses.

Understanding GenAI: Exploring Possibilities

This session is intended for individuals who have not yet spent much time with GenAI. We will focus on exploring what is possible and what are the current limitations of multiple GenAI tools, before engaging in focused reflection on how your enhanced understanding of these tools may impact your teaching this fall. 

GenAI and Assessment: Rethinking Our Practices

In this session, we will work on the goals that we have for our assessments (formative and summative) in our classes for the Fall 2024 semester, and how we can use the rise of generative AI to productively adjust the design and/or grading of these assessments to enhance and evaluate meaningful student learning.

Reflecting on the Implications of GenAI for Teaching and Learning 

This session is designed for individuals who want to spend time with their colleagues reflecting on some of the broader implications of GenAI in higher education: What does the rise of these tools mean for our disciplines? For our role as teachers? For students’ roles as learners? 

Leveraging GenAI to Enhance Learning

This working session is designed to encourage participants to think creatively about how they can lean into the capacities of GenAI for enhancing learning. Participants will explore how GenAI may be an asset for student learning and engagement in their Fall 2024 classes.