Deep Background: Using AI as a Co-Reasoning Partner with Mike Caulfield

Simon Cullen + Danny Oppenheimer help us rethink student attendance policies toward deeper engagement and learning on episode 591 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode There's a lot of evidence that coming to class is one of the best things a student can do to facilitate their learning and performance in class. -Danny Oppenheimer You can make students attend, and most faculty do. They set attendance as mandatory. And then students attend and they learn because they attend. But they also hate you, and they hate the subject and they hate everything to do with the class. -Danny Oppenheimer If you give people choices, sometimes they make bad choices. Scaffolding choices can help people make choices that actually align with their preferences more effectively. -Danny Oppenheimer Students love being treated like adults. They love having choice. Everybody loves having choice. People don't like other people telling them what to do. -Danny Oppenheimer In some sense students have a preference to attend class. And in some sense they have a preference to not attend class. Those preferences can coexist in some way. -Simon Cullen Resources Choosing to learn: The importance of student autonomy in higher education, by Simon Cullen and Daniel Oppenheimer Are we overlooking the power of autonomy when it comes to motivating students? by Danny Oppenheimer Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with Using Long Words Needlessly, by Daniel M. Oppenheimer Speak Freely, Think Critically: The Free Speech Balance Act Punished By Rewards: The Trouble with Gold Stars, Incentive Plans, A's, Praise, and Other Bribes, by Alfie Kohn The Goodness Paradox: The Strange Relationship Between Virtue and Violence in Human Evolution, by Richard Wrangham Finding Meaning in the Age of Immortality, by T.N. Eyer

Mike Caulfield shares about using AI as a co-reasoning partner and his Deep Background tool on episode 590 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Critical thinking problems with students turn out to be critical doing problems. -Mike Caulfield AI doesn't naturally think in terms of provenance, in terms of how it got this piece of information. It's a little bit of a bolt on afterthought. -Mike Caulfield Searching for information is a journey. How can we get the benefits of AI but still preserve that feeling of a journey? -Mike Caulfield I’m working on this issue of follow ups with AI. It is magic to get students to think of these responses as not a single transaction. They're coaching the AI through a process, not to get a specific answer that they want, but to look at the sorts of sources that matter for the question. -Mike Caulfield Resources Deep Background: A “Superprompt” to change the way you use LLMs Reading the Room with SIFT Toolbox New SIFT Toolbox Release (Substack) SIFT Method (The Four Moves) Verified: How to Think Straight, Get Duped Less, and Make Better Decisions about What to Believe Online, by Mike Caulfield and Sam Wineburg Interview with Mike Caulfield on Deep Background (AACE Review) Is the LLM Response Wrong, or Have You Just Failed to Iterate It, by Mike Caulfield Episode 492: Verified with Mike Caulfield on Teaching in Higher Ed Starlight Bowl in San Diego Sound of Music “Everything Could Have Been a Huge Disaster”: Nathan Fielder on Making ‘The Rehearsal’ Season 2 It Runs Through Me, Tom Misch (feat. De La Soul) Tom Misch: Tiny Desk Concert Me Myself and I, De La Soul (1989) The Magic Number, De La Soul (1989) Reasonable People with Tom Stafford  Pétanque

The Richness of Podcasting in Higher Education, with Dom Conroy and Warren Kidd. Quotes from the episode There's so many different ways to capture people's imagination through an audio feed. -Dom Conroy When we're creating podcasts, we are putting ourselves on the line. -Dom Conroy Education is a relational experience. -Warren Kidd The act of teaching is reflective and reflexive. -Warren Kidd Resources Using Podcasts to Cultivate Learner–Teacher Rapport in Higher Education Settings, by Dominic Conroy & Warren Kidd Optimizing Practitioner-Delivered Podcasts as Learning and Teaching Tools in Higher Education: Learner and Teacher Viewpoints, by Dom Conroy and Warren Kidd International Podcast Day Planet Money Episode 216: How Four Drinking Buddies Saved Brazil S-Town Podcast: Chapter 1 BBC Radio Walkman The Wild Podcast: In Search of Silence Good Robot Podcast RCA podcast: Creative education through uncertainty

Emily Pitts Donahoe shares what we can learn about grades from an “emerging failure" on episode 588 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode They introduced a framework that attempts to identify the common features of alternative grading for growth systems that are meant to prioritize student growth and student learning over just grades and performance. -Emily Donahoe Those four pillars are marks that indicate progress, reattempts without penalty, clearly defined standards, and helpful feedback. -Emily Donahoe One of the most important functions of grades or marks given on individual assignments is to communicate to students about how they're progressing in a certain subject. Traditional grades don't serve this communicative function very well. -Emily Donahoe Resources Unmaking the Grade, Emily Pitts Donahoe’s blog and reflective journal chronicling one educator's experiences with ungrading and other progressive teaching practices Grading for Growth: A Guide to Alternative Grading Practices That Promote Authentic Learning and Student Engagement in Higher Education, by Robert Talbert & David Clark Grading for Growth How Humans Learn: The Science and Stories Behind Effective College Teaching, By Joshua R. Eyler Failing Our Future: How Grades Harm Students and What We Can Do About It, by Joshua R. Eyler Harry Potter Wizards of Baking Sarah Rose Cavanagh Japanese restaurant at Irvine Spectrum all four of the Stachowiak family members like: Robata Wasa Wicked Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban More Everything Forever: AI Overlords, Space Empires, and Silicon Valley's Crusade to Control the Fate of Humanity, by Adam Becker Braiding Sweetgrass: Indigenous Wisdom, Scientific Knowledge and the Teachings of Plants, by Robin Wall Kimmerer

M. C. Flux uncovers lessons for video creation from what he calls layered learning on episode 587 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I've also started creating these little quiz questions in them, but they're not hard. They're just to keep their attention going. -M. C. Flux Many students seem to enjoy this and actually learn well from it, so I keep doing it. -M. C. Flux I think these students struggle so much with attention that bringing them back with a really simple question just helps. -M. C. Flux The fact that students have shorter attention spans is still something we need to pay attention to. I don't think it's as bad as people say, but it is actually still a big piece of how I design instruction. -M. C. Flux A lot of students are used to rewatching things that they enjoy. -M. C. Flux Resources Video: Education as Content, by Dr. Flux The Art of Gathering: How We Meet and Why it Matters, by Priya Parker Preferences vs. What Works, by Robert Talbert Song: Leave it Like it Is, by David Wilcox  Episode 555: A Big Picture Look at AI Detection Tools with Chris Ostro LinkedIn: Christopher Ostro LinkedIn: Dr. MC Flux Netflix Special: Bo Burnham Inside DJI Osmo Mobile 7P Insta360 Flow Pro HollyLand Lark Microphones Games: Agency as Art, by C Thi Nguyen

Seth Offenbach shares about his article, Kindness and Community in an Online Asynchronous Classroom, on episode 586 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I had to recognize the reality that my classroom was never going to be the number one priority for people during the pandemic. -Seth Offenbach When we teach, why not be kind? -Seth Offenbach My goal is to challenge my students intellectually. My goal is not to stress them out. -Seth Offenbach We all miss deadlines. -Seth Offenbach In order to truly be kind, you have to create a safe space for the students where they feel that they can come to you, talk to you and learn with you. -Seth Offenbach Resources Kindness and Community in an Online Asynchronous Classroom, by Seth Offenbach Currents in Teaching and Learning – January 2025 edition Radical Hope: A Teaching Manifesto, by Kevin M. Gannon The Social Justice Syllabus Design Tool: A First Step in Doing Social Justice Pedagogy, by Sherria D. Taylor and Maria J. Veri Feeling Better: A Year without Deadlines, by Doreen Thierauf A Pedagogy of Kindness, by Catherine Denial Cultivating Compassionate Community to Foster Academic Integrity?, by Maha Bali and Yasser Tammer An Equity Syllabus Liquid Syllabus, by Michelle Pacansky-Brock Jesse Stommel The Practice of Ungrading, by Jesse Stommel Remi Kalir’s Annotated Syllabus Go Ahead and Ask for More Time on That Deadline, by Ashley Whillans A Pedagogy of Kindness: The Cornerstone for Student Learning and Wellness, by Fiona Rawle Effect of Syllabus Tone: Students’ Perceptions of Instructor and Course, by Harnish & Bridges Replacing Power with Flexible Structure: Implementing Flexible Deadlines to Improve Student Learning Experiences, by Hills & Peacock Enhancing Social Presence in Online Learning, by Joyce & Brown The 1:1 method, by Seth Godin  Master Slave Husband Wife, by Ilyon Woo

Bryan Dewsbury helps us explore what socially just teaching might look like across disciplines on episode 585 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode I am not interested in being in a war with AI. I'm not trying to be a faculty detective to see who's using ChatGPT or not, I didn't sign up for that work. -Bryan Dewsbury I'm not your enemy. I'm not against you. I'm rooting for you every single day. I really mean that. -Bryan Dewsbury The things I say on day one are not going to mean anything over the course of the semester if I don't give them feedback in a reasonable time or if I'm rude when they answer a question wrong in class. -Bryan Dewsbury The way in which we can interact around this material doesn't have to be one that's dictatorial. -Bryan Dewsbury You don't have to be able to save the world, but you're obligated to try, right? And so the whole key behind that is in trying, you almost by definition achieve more. -Bryan Dewsbury Resources Toward a Humanist and Agentic Paradigm of Inclusive Teaching—Lessons from the United States Civil Rights Era for College Pedagogy, by Bryan M. Dewsbury This I Believe – Essay Guidelines The Norton Guide to Equity-Minded Teaching Michael Palmer on “Big Beautiful Questions” David Yeager on “Wise Feedback” Eli Review Collaboration with Sarah Cavanagh on Assessment, Feedback, and Grading We Are Lady Parts Abbot Elementary Nexus: A Brief History of Information Networks from the Stone Age to AI, by Yuval Noah Harari

Danny Liu shares a different way to think about AI and assessment on episode 584 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Our students are presented with this massive array of things they could choose from. They may not know the right things to choose or the best things to choose. And our role as educators is to kind of guide them in trying to find the most healthy options from the menu to choose from. -Danny Liu People want to give their students clarity. They want to give their students a bit of guidance on how to approach AI, what is going to be helpful for them for learning and not helpful for learning. -Danny Liu There is no way to really know if the rules that you're putting in place are going to be followed by students, and it doesn't mean that we need to detect them or surveil them more when they're doing their assignments. -Danny Liu We need to accept the reality that students could be using AI in ways that we don't want them to be using AI if they're not in front of us. -Danny Liu Not everyone lies. Most of our students want to do the right thing. They want to learn, but they have the temptation of AI there that is saying, I can do this work for you. Just click, just chat with me. -Danny Liu Our role as teachers is not to be cops, it's to teach and therefore to be in a position where we can trust you and help you make the right choice. -Danny Liu Resources Menus, not traffic lights: A different way to think about AI and assessments, by Danny Liu Talk is cheap: why structural assessment changes are needed for a time of GenAI, by Thomas Corbin,Phillip Dawson, &Danny Liu What to do about assessments if we can’t out-design or out-run AI? by Danny Liu and Adam Bridgeman Course: Welcome to AI for Educators from the University of Sydney Whitepaper: Generative AI in Higher Education: Current Practices and Ways Forward, by Danny Y.T. Liu, Simon Bates Five myths about interactive oral assessments and how to get started, by Eszter Kalman, Benjamin Miller and Danny Liu Interactive Oral Assessment in practice, by Leanne Stevenson, Benjamin Miller and Clara Sitbon ‘Tell me what you learned’: oral assessments and assurance of learning in the age of generative AI, by Meraiah Foley, Ju Li Ng and Vanessa Loh Interactive Oral Assessments: A New but Old Approach to Assessment Design from the University of South Australia Interactive oral assessments from the University of Melbourne Long live RSS Feeds New AI RSS Feed New AI RSS Page Broken: How Our Social Systems are Failing Us and How We Can Fix Them by Paul LeBlanc

James Lang shares about his latest book, Write Like You Teach, on episode 583 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode Answers on their own are not interesting. They become interesting when we know the questions behind them. -James Lang When you take a reader on a journey, as the reader works through an essay or book that you've written, they spend a lot of time with you. -James Lang Be attentive to the person that you are on the page to the reader. -James Lang Start right now. That's the most important thing. -James Lang Resources Write Like You Teach: Taking Your Classroom Skills to a Bigger Audience by James M. Lang Distracted: Why Students Can’t Focus and What You Can Do About It by James M. Lang Small Teaching: Everyday Lessons from the Science of Learning by James M. Lang Cheating Lessons: Learning from Academic Dishonesty by James M. Lang The Greek Way by Edith Hamilton The Orchid Thief by Susan Orlean How Can Educators Teach Critical Thinking? by Daniel T. Willingham (American Educator) James M. Lang’s official website Susan Orlean’s official website Scrivener, a popular writing and revision tool for long-form projects The Opposite of Cheating from the Teaching and Learning in Higher Education Series (University of Oklahoma Press) University of Oklahoma Press – Teaching, Engaging, and Thriving in Higher Ed series Christine Tulley The Sirens' Call: How Attention Became the World's Most Endangered Resource, by Chris Hayes Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain, by Maryanne Wolf

Adriana Aldana shares about Counterstory Pedagogy: Student Letters of Resilience, Healing, and Resistance on episode 582 of the Teaching in Higher Ed podcast. Quotes from the episode One of our ethical obligations as social workers is to engage in self care to avoid burnout. -Adriana Aldana Their voice really comes through in the letter format in ways that I don't see in other forms of writing. I encourage them to loosen up a little bit with what they think I am expecting them to write about or how to write. -Adriana Aldana Resources Counterstory Pedagogy: Student Letters of Resilience, Healing, and Resistance, by Adriana Aldana Rest as Resistance, by Trisha Hersey Rest as Resistance card deck Episode 195: Considering Open Education with an Interdisciplinary Lens with Robin DeRosa Radical Hope: Letters of Love and Dissent in Dangerous Times, by Caro de Robertis Counterstory: The Rhetoric and Writing of Critical Race Theory, by Aja Y. Martinez Managing Transitions: Making the Most of Change, by William Bridges Elon University Center for Engaged Leanring Open Access Book Series