AI in Teaching

A person standing in front of a projected screen, pointing with a pen.
 

AI in
Teaching

RIT recognizes the potential benefits to higher education that come with generative AI. 

Many faculty are already incorporating AI into their curriculum and teaching strategies. By using generative AI to complete routine administrative tasks, faculty can focus on more value-added aspects of the learning experience, such as curricular design, course content, and creating effective and engaging learning activities and assessments. Faculty can also employ AI tutoring systems to provide additional support to students, adapt to individual needs and learning styles, and provide support when it’s most needed.

Because RIT believes generative AI can enhance human capabilities in higher education rather than replace them, faculty will also prepare students to think critically about responsible and ethical use of the technology. RIT’s reflective, curious and entrepreneurial faculty are well-placed to face the challenges AI poses for higher education, to drive an exciting transformation for their students and themselves.

The Center for Teaching and Learning provides faculty with opportunities to understand how best to incorporate generative AI into their work with students and supports on-going professional development in this space. Learn more about Generative AI in Education

The Provost’s Learning Innovation Grants

The 2024 Provost’s Learning Innovation Grants includes a Generative AI Focus Grant option for projects.

Generative artificial intelligence has exploded in use and as a topic of discussion and concern since the launch of ChatGPT. While many faculty are currently working with generative AI in their classrooms or research, others are still just beginning to understand how it affects their discipline and the workplace students will graduate into. This focus area invites proposals for incorporating generative AI as one tool students will learn to use to achieve course learning outcomes.

Strong proposals for Generative AI for Teaching and Learning Grants will:

  • Include student use and practice with generative AI in major activities and projects to build their skill in the use of the technologies currently available and prepare them to use future generations of AI in the workplace.
  • Integrate exploration and discussion of ethical issues associated with generative AI, including maintaining integrity in the classroom and in the workplace, use of others’ intellectual property as sources, and clear disclosure and acknowledgement of AI in their work.

Learn more about Provost’s Learning Innovation Grants.

Congratulations to the following faculty for receiving the Provost’s Learning Innovation Grants (PLIG) for 2024:

This focus area invited proposals for incorporating generative AI as one tool students will learn to use to achieve course learning outcomes.

Introducing Generative AI for Teaching and Learning Chemistry
Paul Craig, Professor, COS
Others Involved: Ahmad Kirmani, Assistant Professor, COS, and Chris Collison, Professor, COS

Empowering Minds with AI: Innovating Education for a New Learning Paradigm
Shaun Foster, Professor, CAD

My Tiger Tutor: A Customized, Generative AI Tutor for Introductory Programming (Pilot)
Clark Hochgraf, Associate Professor, CET
Others Involved: Michael Eastman, Senior Associate Dean, CET

Enhancing Writing Skills through Interactive Learning: A ChatGPT-Powered Writing Intensive Class
Julie Johannes, Principal Lecturer & Associate Chair, CLA

Cross-Disciplinary, Introductory Undergraduate Seminar on Generative AI
Elizabeth Lawley, Professor, GCCIS

Language Immersion: VR/AI Chatbot
Kevin LeBlevec, Sr Lecturer, CLA

Using ChatGPT for Undergraduate Data Science Education
Carlos Rivero, Associate Professor, GCCIS

Sketching and AI Visualization
Amos Scully, Associate Professor, CAD

This focus area invited faculty to incorporate TAD principles as a primary way of achieving learning outcomes.

SoFA Character Mosaic
Kevin Bauer, Senior Lecturer/Graduate Director, CAD
Others Involved: Mark Reisch, Associate Professor, CAD, and Atia Newman, Associate Professor, CAD

Designing and Delivering a course in Computational Music Theory and Computational Music Science
Thomas J. Borrelli, Principal Lecturer, GCCIS

Rochester City Arts Lab
Carlos Castellanos, Assistant Professor, GCCIS
Others Involved: W. Michelle Harris, Associate Professor, GCCIS

Incorporating Mixed Reality (MR) to Robotics and Automation Course
MD Ahasan Habib, Assistant Professor, CET

Integrating Gaming Animation and Architecture for the Preservation of Historic Sites
Atia Newman, Associate Professor, CAD
Others Involved: Alissa De Wit-Paul, Assistant Professor, GIS

Creating Character Skins for Games
Jesse O'Brien, Assistant Professor, CAD

Designing for Ephemeral Solids
Philip Szrama, Assistant Professor, CAD
Others Involved: Suzanne Peck, Lecturer, CAD

This PLIG focus area invited proposals for exploring and applying an active learning model to (re)design and deliver all or part of a course (or set of courses). 

Calculus B Materials Redesign
Susan Bateman, Lecturer, COS
Others Involved: Carrie Lahnovych, Principal Lecturer, COS, Connie Fitch, Senior Lecturer, COS, and Olga Tsukernik, Principal Lecturer, COS

Development of Guided Examples and Hands-On Activities for Use in University Physics 2 Active Learning Classrooms
Michelle Chabot, Principal Lecturer, COS

Re-Imagining a Graduate Developmental Psychology Course as an Online Active Learning Course
Jessamy Comer, Senior Lecturer, CLA

Journalism Beyond the Classroom: Embedding Reporting Students as Campus Magazine Staff for Active Learning
Thomas Dooley, Lecturer, CLA

Individualized Cardstock Kinematic Mechanisms for large classrooms (theory and design)
Mario Gomes, Principal Lecturer, KGCOE

The exploration grants provide funds for faculty to investigate an innovative mode or model of teaching and learning in terms of its potential to positively impact student outcomes and the student experience at RIT. 

African Healing and Climate Change: Integrating Immersive Ethnography and Technologies
Conerly Casey, Associate Professor, CLA

Improved Teaching Technology in the Jewelry and Metals Classroom
Laurel Fulton, Assistant Professor, CAD

Experiential Learning and Beehive Sensor Data in a Non-Relational Database Course
Dean Ganskop, Lecturer, GCCIS

Pilot Study for “Writing Across Contexts and Time: A Longitudinal Study of Students' Perceptions and Educational Experiences with College-Level Writing”
Matthew Houdek, Senior Lecturer, SOIS
Others Involved: David Yockel, Senior Lecturer, SOIS, and Ruth Book, Lecturer, SOIS

Kinetic Artwork for Active Student Learning, Imagine-RIT (2025), and RIT Public Relations
Thomas Kinsman, Senior Lecturer, GCCIS

Expanding Advanced Computer-Aided Design Opportunities with Scrum
Kate Leipold, Principal Lecturer, KGCOE

Exploring Best Practices in the Health Humanities: Course Development of Active Learning Across Disciplines and Health Care Contexts
David Martins, Associate Professor, CLA

Confronting Ableism in Public Speaking Instruction and Assessment
Elizabeth Reeves O'Connor, Principal Lecturer & Expressive Communication Center Director, CLA

3D Design and the SHED: Developing Curriculum and Content for Large Format Studios
Marissa Tirone, Principal Lecturer, CAD

Application of social design to environmental problem solving
Christy Tyler, Professor, COS

Catalyzing RIT: Establishing the Foundations of a Teaching Model for STEM Research Preparation
Obioma Uche, Assistant Professor, KGCOE
Others Involved: Jian Liu, Assistant Professor, COS