Dear Colleagues,
We write today to increase faculty awareness about the Artificial Intelligence (AI) and machine learning technologies that have been released recently. These tools have substantial implications for our work as educators. ChatGPT, for example, has made headlines in the past few months because of its ability to generate text and code with remarkable speed and coherence. We strongly encourage faculty to understand the implications of this emergent technology, including the opportunities and challenges it poses for teaching and learning in our community.
The Poorvu Center, in partnership with several faculty on campus, has developed guidance for instructors on using text generation software. This resource includes creative ideas for integrating this tool into assignments, perspectives on academic integrity, and examples of syllabus statements. It also suggests how to design authentic assessments and links to recommended reading. To facilitate further discussion of these topics, the Poorvu Center will host an online panel of Yale faculty and students on Tuesday, February 14 from 4-5pm on Artificial Intelligence and Teaching: A Community Conversation. We invite you to attend.
We also encourage you to engage colleagues within your departments and schools about how best to employ and govern the use of this technology. The conversation is just beginning, but it’s clear that AI-based technologies will affect our classrooms and our own scholarly work. We hope we will engage our collective expertise and creativity to ensure that the impact is a positive one. If you have additional questions or would like to share the results of these discussions, please email the Poorvu Center at askpoorvucenter@yale.edu.
Thank you, as always, for your commitment to the teaching, learning, and scholarship of our Yale community.
Sincerely,
Scott Strobel, Provost
Jennifer Frederick, Associate Provost for Academic Initiatives