Peggy Semingson teaches future teachers. The associate professor in linguistics at the University of Texas at Arlington has long been interested in mastering the latest technology. These days, that means teaching artificial intelligence, or AI.
“How to do prompt engineering with AI. How to use it in their everyday life. How to use it for reading and writing and productivity. How to use it for learning,” said Semingson, listing the skills that she wants her students to acquire. “Then, how to use it in their future job is probably the most important long-term skill.”
UTA is building digital literacy in its students and faculty. Earlier this year, the university co-hosted with Microsoft a “Prompt-a-Thon,” where faculty, staff and K-12 teachers used Microsoft’s Copilot AI to collaboratively devise ideas for different scenarios, including composing lesson plans on outdoor learning or making technical subjects more engaging. Also, the university is setting up a “Tiger Team,” made up of faculty and staff who have been taught to use AI tools, that can train others. UTA offers a graduate certificate in artificial intelligence, and its Center for Artificial Intelligence and Big Data focuses on research aided by AI, machine learning and big data.
“It’s not just about understanding AI but about harnessing its power to drive innovation and research,” said Lee Pierce, planning and management director in UTA’s Office of Information Technology.
Semingson wants her students to experiment with AI and use it to generate ideas. She uses Open AI’s ChatGPT to come up with suggestions for discussion questions. She then edits the suggestions and uses them. She also has students experiment with creating images with Adobe Firefly, an AI image generator. She had students evaluate their presentations with Microsoft’s Speaker Coach, which integrates with PowerPoint, listens to presentations and gives immediate feedback on tone, pace, conversational style and use of filler words.
“It gave them such targeted feedback. I found it valuable, because I can’t sit with them one-on- one and give that level of feedback that they need,” said Semingson.
For one virtual class on international cultures, UTA students collaborated with students from Russia on using AI tools to write an image-based essay about a dystopian future changed with AI.
Once the students were in their groups, they worked collaboratively on the assignment using the AI tools of their choosing. The teachers observed the teamwork as the students came up with a first draft together, then reflected on their process.
“The debrief is really an important part of using AI. We had them explain their process,” said Semingson. “What did you do? How did you use AI?”
Once that draft was finished. The students edited collaboratively through Google Drive before turning in their final assignments.
Some wrote about an AI-dominated world, where robots taught in futuristic classrooms. Semingson hopes that AI doesn’t take her job but said she looks forward to more tools to help her do her job better.
Shomial Ahmad is a higher education reporter for the Fort Worth Report, in partnership with Open Campus. Contact her at shomial.ahmad@fortworthreport.org.
At the Fort Worth Report, news decisions are made independently of our board members and financial supporters. Read more about our editorial independence policy here.
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