Teaching and Generative Artificial Intelligence

The Center for Faculty Excellence is among many campus organizations working with faculty to explore the opportunities and challenges associated with of generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) platforms such as Microsoft Copilot and ChatGPT for instructors and students at UNC. Learn more about the CFE’s philosophy on supporting GenAI.

Here are some of the campus support resources available to UNC instructors:

CFE GenAI Resources

GenAI Pedagogy Reading Circles

CFE Reading Circles bring together groups of 5-7 faculty members who receive a free copy of the book. This fall’s featured book is Teaching with AI: A Practical Guide for a New Era of Human Learning by José Bowen.

Customized GenAI Workshops for Academic Units

The CFE is partnering with academic units on campus to offer workshops on generative AI (GenAI) that are tailored to the interests of their faculty. These sessions are designed to help faculty members to make informed decisions about how to adapt to GenAI and, if interested, how to adopt GenAI tools to support their own productivity goals. Learn more about the workshops and how to schedule one for your department.

CFE Faculty Fellow for GenAI

Dr. Dana Riger is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the UNC School of Education. She serves as the CFE’s Faculty Fellow for Generative AI and is involved in a number of the CFE’s GenAI faculty support efforts. She is leading the Center’s customized GenAI workshop initiative. Learn more about Dr. Riger.

CFE/Lenovo Instructional Innovation Grants Program

The focus of the 2024-25 Call for Proposals was support for the instructional use of generative AI. Grants were awarded across three categories: Curricular Innovation, Communities of Practice, and Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. A portion of the funds is being used to support a new one credit-hour GenAI course for undergraduate students, in partnership with the College of Arts and Sciences. Learn more about this year’s awards.

Field Notes on Generative AI

We are inviting all UNC instructors to share examples of their own teaching practices related to AI technology. Visit AI/ChatGPT Field Notes and share a short paragraph describing an instructional practice, course policy, or other teaching-related use of AI that you have used to enhance student learning or to contribute to your success as an instructor, then browse the submissions by category.

CFE Consultations

Teaching & Learning CFE team members are available to discuss how to effectively integrate Generative AI platforms into teaching preparation, assignment design, instructional strategies, and conversations around academic integrity. Simply request a consultation and specify your interest in AI-related topics.

Other Campus GenAI Resources

UNC Generative AI Guidance

This University guidance on the use of generative AI was created by the UNC Committee on Generative AI, convened by Provost Chris Clemens. It includes guidance for students, instructors, researchers, and staff. This group also produced the Generative AI Modules, a six-part professional development series focused on using generative AI for teaching, scholarship/research, and productivity.

University Libraries’ Student Guide to AI

This new guide introduces students to generative AI and a number of related topics and GenAI tools. Ongoing workshops are also offered on many of the topics.

Carolina AI Literacy Initiative Resources

This series of GenAI videos, modules, and teaching materials was created by the Carolina AI Literacy Initiative.

Data-protected version of Microsoft CoPilot available to campus community

The data-protected version of Microsoft CoPilot is available to all faculty, students and staff. Learn more. A small pilot is also being conducted around the 365 enterprise version of CoPilot.