Sessions and Workshops
Generative AI Virtual Drop In – Getting Started with Microsoft Copilot
Every second Tuesday between January 14th and May 20th, 1pm-2pm
Join us for an interactive virtual drop-in for University of Toronto instructors and staff. This is your opportunity to get hands-on experience with Microsoft Copilot, a powerful generative AI model that has been approved for use by the University.
Focus: Our primary goal is to familiarize you with the process of logging into Copilot using protected mode, which means your privacy and data will be kept secure. You’ll also learn how to craft effective prompts to get the most out of Copilot’s capabilities.
What to Expect:
- A walkthrough of the protected mode login process.
- Tips on creating effective prompts to communicate with Copilot.
- A demonstration of Copilot’s features.
- Q&A to address any questions or concerns.
Drop in anytime between 1pm and 2pm and stay for as little or as much time as you like.
Don’t miss this chance to explore how Microsoft Copilot can assist you in your daily tasks and teaching endeavours. We look forward to helping you harness the full potential of this innovative tool!
Upcoming Sessions and Workshops
Visit CTSI Events for more U of T teaching and learning events. If you have a relevant event you would like to promote on this calendar, please complete this online form.
The GenAI Works in Progress Series
This is a CTSI/DLI programming effort designed to encourage an ongoing, open institutional-level conversation about generative AI in teaching and learning and to create a space for experimentation, sharing and problem-solving. These one-hour presentations will be targeted towards a broad teaching and learning audience where presenters can share current questions, ideas, inquiries or works in progress with a community of peers. Understanding that many of us are still in the early stages of navigating the realm of generative AI, we want to emphasize that these sessions are not intended to showcase definitive answers or practices, rather we are interested in the questions, challenges and learning currently being explored.
GenAI Works in Progress: Embracing Experimentation with Generative AI in Teaching and Learning
February 5, 2pm-3pm (online)
Join us for an engaging and interdisciplinary panel discussion focused on the theme of experimentation and fostering supportive environments for learning. Working with new, challenging material can invoke anxiety in students, hindering their ability to engage critically with material. As educators, we often face the dual challenge of embracing innovative technologies while managing the anxiety that accompanies their adoption in the learning process. This workshop aims to shift the narrative from anxiety to curiosity, encouraging students to foster a mindset of continuous learning and adaptation.
Designing for Powerful Learning in the Age of GenAI Workshop Series
In this series on Generative AI (GenAI), we will dig beneath the surface hype of GenAI applications and tools. Over the course of 3 workshops, participants will be guided through a research-supported process of learning design structured towards creating powerful educational experiences that support effective learning and teaching.
Part 1: Rethinking Learning Outcomes in the Age of Generative AI
The first step in supporting effective learning is developing context-specific, learning objectives for students to achieve and do over their journey through the course. Learners will explore how to design and integrate GenAI tools aligned to the learner’s situational context and broader course goals. In addition, learners will reflect on how to revise course-level learning outcomes, so that they measure distinctive human skills
Part 2: Generative AI Assessment Design Clinic
In the second part of the series, participants will get-hands on experience reworking a specific assignment in light of generative AI capabilities, ensuring students’ feedback and evaluation activities are intentionally associated with specific learning goals and clear success criteria.
Part 3: Designing Meaningful Learning Activities with Generative AI
Finally, participants will be challenged to consider how learning activities fit within the broader learning design process and how and when might GenAI tools be used to enhance aspects of the teaching and learning process.
Content in the series will be scaffolded and instructors are encouraged to attend all 3 parts of the series to effectively progress through the learning design process.
Part 3: Designing Meaningful Learning Activities with Generative AI
January 16, 10am-12pm (online)
As the third and final installment of this series, this workshop will explore how generative AI tools may be leveraged to offer new avenues for fostering meaningful learning and engagement. Inspired by James Lang’s “small teaching” approach, participants will examine actionable, incremental ways to create and modify learning activities, with the goal of cultivating critical thinking, creativity, and problem-solving. Participants will consider how and when to incorporate generative AI into learning activities, so that AI literacy skill-building is introduced slowly and progressively, in alignment with comfort levels and learning goals. In addition, the session will explore ways to speak with students about generative AI capabilities, limitations, and risks, so that they have a clear understanding of what responsible AI use looks like in practice.
Throughout the workshop, participants will engage in hands-on exercises and explore disciplinary examples of integrating generative AI into classroom interactions. Instructors will consider the extent to which generative AI use in learning activities may support course-level learning outcomes, leading students to foster meaningful connections between the course content and their own lives.
Generative AI Sandbox: Exploring course uses for instructors
January 22, 1pm-3pm (in-person)
Join us for a hands-on workshop exploring how instructors can make use of Generative AI tools available within the University of Toronto environment to support teaching and learning. This workshop is intended for those who are intrigued by AI but may feel cautious about trying it out in your course. We will demonstrate and practice with AI tools available to instructors and students for use in course work for this fall 2024 semester. Learn to navigate AI platforms while protecting your and your student’s personal data, as we generate examples and explore use cases to support your course learning objectives.
Creative and Critical Thinking with Generative AI
January 30, 1pm-2:30pm (online)
Generative AI tools have the potential to be used as metacognitive partners, promoting deeper levels of divergent thinking, reflection, and analysis. In this online workshop, we will explore the implications of generative artificial intelligence on creative and critical thinking. The aim is to provide an overview of creative and critical thinking models that could be applied in your teaching and learning practice while exploring and critically evaluating how generative AI could enhance, extend, empower or hinder student creative and critical thinking.
View Past CTSI Workshops
From Panic to Possibility: Rethinking and Redesigning Assignments in the Wake of Generative AI
As an instructor, it is hard to read about the impact of generative AI on teaching and learning in higher education and not wonder how we are going to respond, especially when we are told that many of our students are already using it. This workshop will help move you from panic mode to problem-solving: in consultation with workshop leaders and faculty peers, you will get a chance to rethink and redesign one of your assignments with a focus on learning objectives, possibilities, and constraints in our new context.
View recording (December 11,2023)
Download Slides (December 11 2023)
Approaching Academic Integrity in the Age of Generative AI
August 28, 1pm-3pm (recording coming soon)
In this collaborative workshop, we invite educators to reflect on their perspectives, questions, and approaches to academic integrity in the age of generative AI. First, we will discuss university guidelines on using detection tools, the procedure for addressing concerns of students’ unauthorized use of generative AI, and strategies to prohibit and prevent its use. Second, we will critically examine frameworks for incorporating generative AI into assessments, collaboratively exploring how instructors can design evaluations that foster knowledge and skill development, enhance AI literacy, and promote ethical decision-making. Third, we will discuss the disciplinary implications and challenges of integrating generative AI into assessments while promoting academic integrity.
Part of CTSI’s Tune into Teaching Series
GenAI Works in Progress Series: Promoting Students’ GenAI Literacy through GenAI-Incorporated Assignments in Education-Related Courses
October 23, 1pm-2pm (online)
This session aims to introduce how to design assignments that incorporate generative AI (GenAI) to promote students’ GenAI literacy—specifically, the effective, appropriate, and critical use of GenAI for teaching and learning. The session will share authentic example assignments from four courses within the education and language-teaching programs at UTM, where students critically engaged with GenAI technologies and developed and evaluated GenAI-incorporated tasks. Participants will explore best practices for integrating GenAI into their own curricula while gaining practical skills in using readily available GenAI technologies.
Designing for Powerful Learning in the Age of GenAI Workshop Series Part 1: Rethinking Learning Outcomes in the Age of Generative AI
November 7, 10am-12pm (online)
The rapid advancement of generative AI is poised to fundamentally transform the landscape of education and the future of work. As AI systems demonstrate increasing capabilities in knowledge synthesis, creative problem-solving, and efficient task completion, university instructors may wish to consider critically examining and adapting their course outcomes to better prepare students for a world where human-AI collaboration is becoming increasingly prevalent.
In this forward-thinking workshop, we will explore the potentially profound implications of generative AI on the evolution of human expertise, and how this may impact educational priorities. Through interactive discussions and thought-provoking exercises, instructors will be challenged to envision the future of their respective disciplines and professions in light of these technological advancements. We will collectively reimagine course-level learning outcomes, emphasizing the knowledge and skills that will empower students to thrive in an AI-connected world. By embedding AI literacy into course design, students will be encouraged to use generative AI tools responsibly, in the classroom and beyond.
GenAI Works in Progress: Using Generative AI for Creative and Inclusive Assessments
November 21, 2:30pm-3:30pm
In this cross-disciplinary panel, CTSI and 3 instructors from across the U of T teaching and learning community explore the integration of a variety of generative AI tools in the design and delivery of creative assessments. Drawing on their experiences and reflections, join us in a discussion that centres equity, diversity, and inclusion, and draws insights on how these advanced technologies can enhance pedagogical practices and foster welcoming learning environments.