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.
Teaching Civic Engagement Back in 2024, I asked political scientist and faculty developer Bethany Morrison on my podcast to share some strategies for teaching in U.S. presidential election year. She had so many resources to share that I then invited her to curate a collection of resources for the University of Virginia Teaching Hub on the topic of teaching for democratic engagement and civic learning. Once that collection was posted, a former Vanderbilt colleague and current English professor...
Around the Web This is the part of the newsletter where I link to things that I find interesting in the hopes that you do, too. This week, this is the entire newsletter! Education as the Lighting of a Fire: Personal Connection Strikes the Match - This is a preprint of a study by Steven Most and Nathan Clout of the University of New South Wales Sydney. Two groups of participants heard the same recorded lecture. One group was given a "relatable" backstory about the lecturer, the other was told...
How well do you know the law as it applies to teaching? This week on the podcast, I talk with Kent Kauffman, author of Navigating Choppy Waters: Key Legal Issues College Faculty Need to Know. I invited him on the show because of all the stories we've seen in the last year about college and university faculty being accused by students of teaching something the student didn't the instructor should be teaching. These incidents have a lot of instructors worried about teaching controversial...