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

This episode explores what AI integration in college assignments can do for student learning. With guests Aaron Trocki, a math professor at Elon university, and Alyssa Collins, who is studying to be a secondary education teacher and worked through one of Trocki’s assignments, we explore the use of AI in a math assignment and the outcomes for student learning.

View a transcript of this episode.

Meet our Guests

Aaron Trocki, Ph.D., is Association Professor of Mathematics and Coordinator of the Mathematics with Teacher Licensure Program at Elon University. His research interests include teaching and learning with technology, strategies for student engagement, and curriculum development. He is the CEL Scholar for 2023–2025 and is focusing on models of assessment and feedback outside of traditional grading assumptions and approaches. Part of this work investigates how generative artificial intelligence may inform assessment and feedback practices in higher education. 

Alyssa Collins is a second-year student at Elon University, where she is pursuing a degree in Mathematics for Secondary Education. Alyssa is distinguished as both an Elon Teaching Fellow and a North Carolina Teaching Fellow. With a keen interest in the complexities of Artificial Intelligence, she actively participates in focus groups to explore how AI will shape the future of education systems. She is eager to offer her perspective as a current student and future educator. 

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. Nolan Schultheis 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. 

Explore Center Resources Related to this Episode

Blog Posts by Aaron Trocki

Man writing objectives on a whiteboard. White quoted text reads: "For students to give, receive, and learn from feedback, they must understand exactly what they are asked to demonstrate.”

Implementing Effective Feedback Practices: Strategy 2

In part one of this two-part blog, I revisited results from my students who completed the feedback literacy behavior scale (Dawson et al. 2023). I identified two areas in which students demonstrated room for improvement: (1) seeking feedback information; and…

White quoted text on background of arrow jumping up wooden steps.

Implementing Effective Feedback Practices: Strategy 1 

Two blog posts ago, I shared my early spring semester plans for giving students effective feedback and promoting their feedback literacy in an early college calculus course. Going into that semester, I realized that to promote student feedback literacy, it…

White tet on a background of blue and yellow cyclical arrows reads: "The feedback loop has helped me to think about feedback use in cycles, in contrast to feedback approaches that simply justify a mark or grade.”

Assessing Student Feedback Literacy 

In the last blog post, I discussed my initial plans for feedback this semester. A few insights have helped me to plan effective feedback strategies. The feedback loop (Clark and Talbert 2023) structures students’ engagement with feedback they receive to…

Orange square with quite quoted text reads: "Quality feedback will give students an indication of their progress towards meeting learning goals and outcomes."

Planning for Effective Feedback and Promoting Feedback Literacy 

As I continue to explore literature on models of assessment and feedback, the importance of feedback and feedback literacy has emerged as an ongoing theme. At the time of this writing, my colleagues and I are preparing for the spring…

Gold block of text reads: "Many students are using generative AI prolifically in their college experience, while some are not using generative AI or are just beginning to use it." on a background image of a dark keyboard glowing with pink light.

Exploring Student Choice in Artificial Intelligence-Supported Assessments for Learning (Part 2) 

In part one of this two-part blog post, I shared the revision of an artificial intelligence-supported assessment (AI-SA) I had used in spring 2024. The revised version gave students a choice in what technology (ChatGPT or internet search) they could…

Other Blog Posts and Podcasts on Generative AI

Digital illustration of woman looking at map with robot grid. text reads: "Relying on generative AI information could have bad physical and social ramifications for community-based learning.”

AI Hallucinations Matter for More Than Academic Integrity 

I had to chuckle over this quote in a May New York Times article: “Though they are useful in some situations—like writing term papers, summarizing office documents and generating computer code—their mistakes can cause problems.” I think many of my fellow academics would see…

Hand pointint at blue light screen that says automation with quote text "as humans delegate tasks to machines, it might be a source of more ethical lapses...”

Generative AI and Professional Ethics 

I am a professor of journalism, and it’s a challenging time to make the case for why journalism still matters. I give my students a couple of reasons: first is the ability to access and make sense of a variety…

Robot and person fist bumping. Text: "AI can take on that work, and no human helpers are needed. The project gets done, but some of the lessons don't get learned." -Amanda Sturgill

Tell the Robot How You Feel About Learning 

In many ways, AI assistance can be helpful with writing, but one that has never made sense to me is asking AI to help formulate an opinion. I occasionally see this from students when I ask them what they think…

Glowing blue pen hovering above notebook. White quote text: "As educators, we need to be re-examining the borders between “learn” and “do” and how we might scaffold both in the age of generative AI.”

Blue Books and In-Class Writing Are Not a Panacea 

In comments sections and replies in both educator spaces and mass media articles, it’s common to see exhortations to simply return to an earlier time where students demonstrated knowledge in class. I myself recall needing to remember to stop by…

Orange brain with AI network and quote text: "...preliminary data suggested that initially relying on LLM help early on affected later performance, even if the LLM use stopped for the later task. That’s a powerful finding.”

When it Comes to AI in Education, Timing May Matter 

I’ve participated in several professional education opportunities this summer related to AI as a tool for higher education, and one of my biggest takeaways is that there is little agreement among faculty.   Even in a tiny academic unit of fewer…

Also Mentioned in the Episode

Gooden, Drew. 2024, June 3. “AI is Ruining the Internet.” https://youtu.be/UShsgCOzER4?si=I5YCvdfKoR3Miqm7

Kerr, Dara. 2024, July 10. “Artificial Intelligence’s Thirst for Electricity.” Morning Edition. https://www.npr.org/2024/07/10/nx-s1-5028558/artificial-intelligences-thirst-for-electricity