GenAI Dialogue with Alana Boland: Building Reading and Writing Skills Through In-Class Assessments

Facilitator: Alana Boland, Associate Professor, Department of Geography & Planning, UTSG 
In This Session: Professor Alana Boland will share how she redesigned her courses to shift assessment from take-home essays to in-class written responses focused on readings. This change has led to greater emphasis on the ‘how’ and ‘why’ of both reading and writing. Students complete multiple responses during the term, scaffolded by formative feedback and low-stakes in-class writing. This approach to assessment is agnostic on use of generative AI tools outside of the classroom, however, students’ success appears to correlate with how actively they have engaged the readings as ‘readers’ and their practice of writing-as-thinking outside of class. Professor Boland will also discuss the scaling up of this approach in larger lecture courses with weekly tutorials and multiple TAs. 
GenAI Dialogues are informal, 30-minute online sessions where U of T instructors and staff share how they are navigating generative AI in their teaching and learning contexts. Building on discussions from the GenAI Reading Group (https://teaching.utoronto.ca/teaching-uoft-genai/genai-programming/#reading-group), each session features a colleague sharing their experience around a particular theme, followed by open dialogue on what’s working, what’s uncertain, and what we’re considering next. 
How to Participate:  
• Use the Teams Meeting link shared in your EVE registration to join 
• All levels of familiarity with and viewpoints on GenAI are welcome – feel free to bring your questions, experiences, and perspectives 
• To stay connected, join the CTSI GenAI in Teaching and Learning Commons Teams Channel to hear about future sessions and ongoing discussions: Open Microsoft Teams → “Join or create a team” → “Join a team with a code” → Enter code: 5uztctq