Welcome to the Intentional Teaching newsletter! I'm Derek Bruff, educator and author. The name of this newsletter is a reminder that we should be intentional in how we teach, but also in how we develop as teachers over time. I hope this newsletter will be a valuable part of your professional development as an educator.
Intentional Tech six years out
Not Your Default Chatbot: Teaching Applications of Custom AI AgentsAs I've mentioned here, I've been working this fall with a number of faculty at the University of Virginia and elsewhere who are experimenting with custom AI chatbots in their teaching. So when OneHE reached out to ask me about doing an AI-related webinar next month, I thought it would be a great chance to share some of what my colleagues and I are learning about teaching applications of custom agents! Here's the abstract for the webinar, which is scheduled for Wednesday, November 19th, from 3:10 to 3:40pm Central: There are a lot of ways (good and bad) that an off-the-shelf AI chatbot like ChatGPT or Claude can be used in teaching and learning, but the default behaviours of these chatbots don't always align with our pedagogical goals. There are, however, a variety of tools for designing custom AI chatbots with particular purposes. In this webinar, we'll explore some emerging teaching applications of custom AI chatbots, from tutor bots to course assistants, to assignment coaches, and beyond. We won't show you how to make a custom bot, but we will offer some reasons why you might want to do so. Yes, it's only 30 minutes! And it's free! If you'd like to attend, you can register for "Not Your Default Chabot" on the OneHE website. Intentional Tech in the Age of AIThis summer I recorded an episode of the Transform Your Teaching podcast from the Cedarville University Center for Teaching and Learning. Somehow I missed the episode when it aired in August, but I listened to it recently and found out I said some useful things! If you're interested in teaching with technology, I think the interview is worth 29 minutes of your time (or 22 minutes if you listen to podcasts at 1.25x speed like I do). Hosts Rob McDole and Jared Pyles had recently reviewed my 2019 book Intentional Tech on the podcast, and they invited me on to discuss the book and its message six years out. Rob and Jared asked very good questions, and we had a lively conversation about the Intentional Tech teaching principles and how they play out here in 2025 in a world of generative AI and post-pandemic engagement challenges and skepticism about the value of higher education. During the discussion, I identify the teaching principles from the book that I think are most relevant to the current teaching landscape (spoiler: times for telling, learning communities, and authentic audiences). We also apply some of those teaching principles to the task of adapting our teaching to account for generative AI technology. I explain why I keep using the word intentional in my writing and podcasting, and I share a good list of changes I would make were I to write a second edition of Intentional Tech. Listening to our conversation again recently, I really want to write that second edition! I'll need to finish writing my current book first, however. You can listen to my conversation with Rob McDole and Jared Pyles on Transform Your Teaching here, or search for "Transform Your Teaching" in your favorite podcast app. Thanks for reading!If you found this newsletter useful, please forward it to a colleague who might like it! That's one of the best ways you can support the work I'm doing here at Intentional Teaching. Or consider subscribing to the Intentional Teaching podcast. For just $3 US per month, you can help defray production costs for the podcast and newsletter and you get access to subscriber-only podcast bonus episodes. |
Intentional Teaching with Derek Bruff
Welcome to the Intentional Teaching newsletter! I'm Derek Bruff, educator and author. The name of this newsletter is a reminder that we should be intentional in how we teach, but also in how we develop as teachers over time. I hope this newsletter will be a valuable part of your professional development as an educator.
Peer and AI Review of Student Writing Peer review is a signature pedagogy of writing instruction. What happens when you take that established structure and add in a layer of AI-generated feedback on student writing? You get PAIRR: Peer and AI Review and Reflection, an approach to integrating AI into writing instruction developed by a team of faculty at California public institutions. On the podcast this week, I talk with two members of that team, Marit MacArthur and Anna Mills. They share how...
Managing Hot Moments in 2025 If you've been around a center for teaching and learning in the last twenty-five years, you might have seen Lee Warren's article "Managing Hot Moments in the Classroom." Lee wrote this while at the Derek Bok Center for Teaching and Learning at Harvard University, and it's been a favorite handout at teaching center workshops ever since. From the article: "Sometimes things seem to explode in the classroom, and what do we do then? Knowing strategies for turning...
You've heard of Google NotebookLM and its "audio overview" feature, right? This is the AI-powered tool that can create a podcast-style audio summary of one or more files submitted to NotebookLM. Within a minute or two, you can hear two chatty podcast hosts talk to each other about whatever reading you've given them. I've heard faculty worry that students might start listening to NotebookLM's summaries of course texts instead of doing the hard work of actually reading the course texts. How...