Limed: Teaching with a Twist
Season 2, Episode 1

Jessica Gisclair, an Associate Professor of Strategic Communications, is wrestling with how artificial intelligence might change her teaching practices. She is optimistic that educators can leverage AI as a tool to enhance learning outcomes and shares some of her ideas and concerns with our podcast. Panelists Derek Bruff, Jill McSweeney, and Gianna Smurro offer some practical and philosophical insight that helps us think about positive use cases for AI in the classroom, the importance of having a plan for AI use, and some of the ethical concerns raised by both instructors and students about how AI and the information we share with it may be used.

See a transcript of this episode.

This episode was hosted by Matt Wittstein and edited by Jeremiah Timberlake and Matt Wittstein. Limed: Teaching with a Twist is produced in collaboration with Elon University’s Center for Engaged Learning.

About the Guest

Jessica Gisclair is an Associate Professor of Strategic Communications and brings three decades of academic experience to the classroom, teaching strategic communications and media law and ethics courses including a law and literature course. Professor Gisclair is a 2020 Fulbright U.S. Scholar to China, Shanghai International Studies University (the visit was canceled due to the pandemic). Her research focuses on Mainland China as a global economic leader and the influence of new technology on China’s ability to compete in a global market. She was granted a 2024 sabbatical to examine the effects of China’s quick leap forward to become the world leader in artificial intelligence (AI) by 2030, which is already creating strained relations between China and Western countries with possible changes in China’s governance, workforce, and personal privacy. Professor Gisclair serves as the Faculty-in-Residence to the International Living Learning Community in the Global Neighborhood where she was named the 2022-23 Community Advisor of the Year. She served as the department chair of the largest department at Elon University from 2010-19 and as assistant chair from 2009-10.

About the Panel

Derek Bruff is an educator, author, and higher ed consultant. He directed the Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching for more than a decade, where he helped faculty and other instructors develop foundational teaching skills and explore new ideas in teaching. Bruff has written two books, Intentional Tech: Principles to Guide the Use of Educational Technology in College Teaching (West Virginia University Press, 2019) and Teaching with Classroom Response Systems: Creating Active Learning Environments (Jossey-Bass, 2009). He writes a weekly newsletter called Intentional Teaching and produces the Intentional Teaching podcast. Bruff has a PhD in mathematics and has taught math courses at Vanderbilt and Harvard University. Visit his website and connect on LinkedIn.

Jill McSweeney has worked in Educational Development for almost a decade. She began her work at Dalhousie University, in Halifax, Nova Scotia, Canada, where she completed her PhD, and is now an Assistant Director for the Center for the Advancement of Teaching and Learning and an Assistant Professor at Elon University. She actively engages in scholarship around educational development and the scholarship of teaching and learning, publishing in journals such as Teaching and Learning Inquiry, the International Journal of Academic Development and The International Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. She approaches her teaching and educational development work with the focus of facilitating a space where learners and colleagues can create connections and meaning with themselves and their learning/teaching. To learn more about her teaching and ongoing scholarship, visit her on Twitter or her Faculty Profile.

Gianna Smurro is a third-year student at Elon University studying Journalism and Cinema & TV Arts with a minor in Political Science. As a CEL Student Scholar, she is providing a student perspective on a three-year research seminar on Work-Integrated Learning. She is also a Communications Fellow at Elon and a communications and editorial intern for Bringing Theory to Practice.

Resources Related to this Episode

AZTECH. “Drake Heart on My Sleeve Ft The Weeknd OFFICIAL AUDIO Best Quality,” April 23, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7HZ2ie2ErFI.

Bruff, Derek. “Rethinking Teaching in an Age of AI with James M. Lang and Michelle D. Miller, May 23, 2023. Intentional Teaching. https://intentionalteaching.buzzsprout.com/2069949/12902485-rethinking-teaching-in-an-age-of-ai-with-james-m-lang-and-michelle-d-miller.

Darby, Flower. “4 Steps to Help You Plan for ChatGPT in Your Classroom: Why You Should Understand How to Teach with AI Tools — Even If You Have No Plans to Actually Use Them.” The Chronicle of Higher Education. June 27, 2023. https://www.chronicle.com/article/4-steps-to-help-you-plan-for-chatgpt-in-your-classroom.

“Elicit: The AI Research Assistant.” Accessed September 11, 2023. https://elicit.org/.

There I Ruined It. “Johnny Cash Sings ‘Barbie Girl’ (A.I.),” July 13, 2023. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HyfQVZHmArA.