Making College “Worth It” – Season 2, Episode 10

In this episode, Nolan and Jessie talk with Travis Maynard, Tim Peeples, and Paula Rosinski about their recent research on alumni perceptions of generative AI. Drs. Maynard, Peeples, and Rosinski share what they’re learning about the role of AI in professionals’ day-to-day lives, across professional, civic, and personal spaces. They also highlight what they’ve learned about “power users” of AI and suggest implications for teaching and practicing effective AI use in higher education.

View a transcript of this episode.

Meet our Guests

Travis Maynard is an Assistant Professor of English at Elon University where he teaches courses in the Professional Writing and Rhetoric program. Dr. Maynard’s research interests include multimodal composition and alumni writing experiences. In the classroom he enjoys giving students the opportunity to be creative while developing their rhetorical thinking and technological skills. He finds joy in the consistently impressive work his students create. His work has recently appeared in Computers and Composition, Prompt: A Journal of Academic Writing Assignments, and Writing Beyond the University: Preparing Lifelong Learners for Lifewide Writing.

Tim Peeples is Senior Associate Provost Emeritus and Professor of Humanities at Elon University. He also holds the position of Senior Scholar in the Center for Engaged Learning. He is the author of the forthcoming book, The Mattering of Liberal Education: Isocrates, Rhetoric, and New Materialisms.

Paula Rosinski is professor of Professional Writing & Rhetoric and director of Writing Across the University in the Center for Writing Excellence at Elon University where she co-coordinates the Disciplinary Writing Consultants program, co-chairs her institution’s AI Task Force, and previously led her institution’s Quality Enhancement Plan on Writing Excellence. Paula serves on the Association of Writing Across the Curriculum’s (AWAC) Executive Committee (previously as member-at-large and currently as treasurer) and her recent research focuses on WAC faculty AI professional development, alumni AI professional writing practices, and writing center consultant and client attitudes towards AI. Her recent publications include the co-edited collection, Writing Beyond the University: Preparing Lifelong Learners for Lifewide Writing (Center for Engaged Learning Open Access Book Series, 2022) and the co-authored chapter, “Understanding the Landscape of Generative AI Use among Writing Center Clients,” forthcoming in Writing Centers and AI: Generating Early Conversations (Eds. Elisabeth Buck and Joshua Botvin, WAC Clearinghouse Perspectives on Writing).

Episode Credits

This episode is co-hosted by Jessie L. Moore, Director of Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning, and Nolan Schultheis, a second-year student at Elon University, studying Psychology with an interest in law. Jessie L. Moore also edited the episode. Making College “Worth It” is produced by Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning.

Episode art was created by Nolan Schultheis and Jennie Goforth.

Funky Percussions is by Denys Kyshchuk (@audiocoffeemusic) - https://www.audiocoffee.net/. Soft Beat is by ComaStudio.  

Generative AI Tools Mentioned in the Episode

• ChatGPT
• DALL-E (for image generation)
• Runway (for video generation)
• Eleven Labs (for voice and audio generation)  

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