Welcome to the new academic year! We hope you had a great summer! In this newsletter, we share resources for getting Fall classes ready, along with updates about plagiarism checking tools and thoughts on teaching and AI.

New Semester Checklist

As you finalize your Fall classes, here some things to remember:

• Copy course content from a past semester, or if starting from scratch, start with a template.
• Quickly update assignment dates using the bulk "Edit Assignment Dates" option.
• Course entropy happens. Review the assignments and gradebook to clean up past errors and exceptions.
  
  • Is the gradebook setup accurate? Do the points still add up correctly? Is the grading scheme set and correct?
  • Are grade posting policies set correctly?
  • Have you created group sets for the group assignments and discussions?
  • Have you removed unnecessary duplicate items--especially assignments and outdated files?
  • Are the due dates in order? Are the right items published?
  • Are there quiz questions, rubric items, or assignment descriptions that were problematic that you need to revisit?
• Update the syllabus date and term references, content descriptions, and policies. See a list of typical syllabus items, syllabus policy language, a guide on editing your syllabus in Canvas, and a tutorial on using a syllabus template in Canvas.
• New! Make sure you have included your policy on AI usage in your syllabus. See syllabus AI policy examples.
• Delete or rework old Canvas announcements.
• Post a new welcome announcement. Perhaps you could embed a video.
• Run the Canvas link validator to check for broken links.
• Don't forget to publish your course!

For more tips and access to help, visit https://teach.usu.edu.

Change from Turnitin to Copyleaks for Plagiarism Detection

The plagiarism detection tool used with Canvas has been changed from Turnitin to Copyleaks. This change was made over the summer by the Utah Education Network (UEN), through whom USU accesses its plagiarism detection software.

Fortunately, the steps to enable Copyleaks and access Copyleaks reports from Canvas are the same as they were for Turnitin. Features and capabilities are very similar as well. Instructors, however, will need to re-enable plagiarism detection in all Canvas assignments where they plan to use it. Please see the Copyleaks tutorial on enabling and using Copyleaks in a Canvas assignment.

Technology Updates

• USU recently integrated the popular social annotation tool, Hypothesis, with Canvas. Learn how to set up Hypothesis in a Canvas course. There will be a workshop on Hypothesis this Wednesday, August 23, at 3pm.
• Many USU classroom touch panels have been updated to permit joining Zoom meetings. If you find a classroom touch panel showing Zoom controls rather than classroom controls, simply tap the home icon at the right of the screen to return to classroom controls.
• Several Zoom releases occurred over the Summer. If you haven't already done so, be sure to update your Zoom application before you join your next Zoom meeting.
• If you need help getting started with USU's new Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) tool for logging into Canvas and other systems, see the IT resource page on MFA.

Preparing for AI: Six Things to Do Today

ChatGPT and other generative AI tools continue to impact teaching and learning. Most students have been exposed to these tools and are aware of their capabilities to write essays, provide article summaries, and attempt answers to questions. Whether you see AI as a problem, an opportunity, or both, we suggest the following five steps to prepare for it in your classes:

1. Refine your understanding of your learning objectives. Consider what students really need to learn and demonstrate with your subject matter. Determine how the use of AI can enhance or detract from these objectives as you set your own policies.
2. Modify your assignments with AI in mind. For written work, teach and grade students on their process as much as the final product. Emphasize critical thinking and accuracy and grade for it. Work with more recent texts and ask for closer readings. Ask for connections between readings and concepts. ChatGPT makes up sources, so check students' sources. Assess students in more than one way, including video, written work, social annotation, and more. For important exams, use Proctorio or the testing center.
3. Decide your AI policy and put it in your syllabus. Each class will approach AI differently. You must define acceptable and unacceptable use of AI in your class and explain clearly how you will reasonably monitor and enforce your policy. Include whether you plan to use AI detection and how you will respond to positive AI detection reports. Stick to the expectations you set. You can always change your approach next semester. For a starting point, see examples of AI syllabus policies. It may not hurt to remind students that AI impacts each discipline differently, so policies will vary from class to class. 
4. Know your tools and their capabilities and limitations. keep in mind that it can produce false positives and will not tell you the full story of how a student possibly used AI. An AI detector report should be seen as a data point, a prompt for conversation, and perhaps an opportunity for revision and resubmission. check the Proctorio gradebook. If you use AI detection, keep in mind its limitations. AI detectors are imperfect and sometimes produce false positives. They do not tell the whole story of how a student used AI. An AI detector report should be seen as a data point, a prompt for conversation, and perhaps an opportunity for revision and resubmission.
5. Appeal to your students' self-interests: Remind students that they are developing skills that will help them differentiate themselves from other people and machines in the outside world. Focus on self-expression. Reduce incentives for students to cheat by giving adequate lead time and mixing up the ways you assess. Keep students accountable for the content they put forward, AI-generated or not.
6. Help students use AI appropriately as a tool: Observe how your field is using AI and prepare your students to have the skills needed to interact with it—professionally, critically, and ethically. Where it makes sense, encourage project work where students can use AI to create things they would not previously have the time or skill to create. In all things, encourage students to critically evaluate AI output, take accountability for what they use, and indicate when they use it.

If you want to share ideas about teaching and AI, check out our instructor's forum on teaching and AI at MyUSU.

Contact CIDI

For on-demand support with teaching technologies, contact CIDI at cidi@usu.edu, via chat, or at 435.797.9506. Schedule an appointment with an instructional designer to get help making your courses more engaging, usable, and accessible. Also see CIDI's full list of workshops.

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