By SUSAN JONES
The new Pitt Learning Sciences and Artificial Intelligence Hub is a collaboration that hopes to leverage expertise at the University, “so that the way we do AI at Pitt carries this unique brand of being grounded in the learning sciences and driven by responsible and ethical AI practices,” said Jen Iriti, assistant vice chancellor for research inclusion and outreach strategy.
The hub brings together experts from the Center for Teaching and Learning; the Learning Research & Development Center, of which Iriti also is involved; and the School of Computing and Information. It is the brainchild of the leaders of those units: Mike Bridges, Charles Perfetti and Bruce Childers, respectively.
The first event planned by the hub is the “GenAI and Dialogue: An Idea Lab for Revolutionizing Teaching and Learning” — a funded project of the Year of Discourse and Dialogue — from noon to 4:30 p.m. May 2 in Room 316 of the Information Sciences Building, 135 North Bellefield Ave.
The Idea Lab is open to faculty, staff and students from all Pitt’s campuses, and the “Year of” funding will help cover transportation costs for those coming from the regional campuses. Iriti said they were very intentional in trying to bring together a diverse group of people. They’ll also be paying attention to power dynamics when there are small groups, so everyone has a chance to talk.
“It’s going to be really interactive, and we’re really hoping that this is the start of activating expertise and interest from a broad set of folks to continue to work together to solve some of these problems of practice around integrating generative AI with teaching and learning,” Iriti said. “We want it to be a launching pad.”
Instead of a traditional dialogue and conversation event, it will be modeled after the National Science Foundation’s ideas lab approach, Iriti said, “which includes more intentional scaffolding to help participants engage in ideation, creative thinking, joint problem solving.”
The idea is that “as we learn to use generative AI in our teaching and learning, we can also do it in a disciplined way where we layer in research … so that it advances learning and deepens thinking.”
During the first half of the event, there will be two 10- to 15-minute primers on generative AI and on the learning sciences. These will be followed by six or seven flash talks of three minutes each from people who have “something that they’ve done with generative AI that they think is important when we’re thinking about discourse and teaching and learning,” Iriti said.
Small breakout groups will then “dig into really starting to identify what are the different problems of practice around engaging in and thinking about infusing generative AI into teaching and learning.”
After getting feedback on the brainstorming, each group will zoom in on one problem of practice that they’ve identified and prototype it. They’ll look at questions like: What would be gained for whom if this problem of practice was solved? What are the key drivers of that problem that need to be attended to? What needs to happen to work on this problem? Who needs to be involved? If we were to solve this problem, how would we know it?
Finally, there will be five or six “firehose” talks, where the speaker will give a one-minute teaser of what they’re working on or what they’re interested in. Then during a 30- to 45-minute reception, those speakers will be stationed around the room for people to talk to about their ideas, while enjoying appetizers and mocktails.
Iriti said around 50 people have already signed up for the event, along with 12 speakers. They have the capacity to host 100 people. Register through the Teaching Center website.
The Learning Sciences and Artificial Intelligence Hub hopes to translate this event into a community of practice, where participants can continue to share ideas. The goal is to have “bottom up” testing, where ideas will come from experts across the University, be tested by the group, have data collected and adjustments made and then possibly rolled out to a larger audience.
If you can’t attend the event, but are still interested, you can reach out to Mike Bridges at the University Center for Teaching and Learning.
Other members of the planning team for the event, in addition to Perfetti and Childers, are: Lindsay Clare Matsumura, LRDC associate director and senior research scientist; Rosta Farzan, associate dean for diversity, equity and inclusion, SCI; John Radzilowicz, director of pedagogy, practice and assessment in the Teaching Center; Nathan Ong, postdoctoral research associate, LSAI Hub; Gayle Rogers, professor and chair of English, Dietrich School of Arts & Sciences.
Susan Jones is editor of the University Times. Reach her at suejones@pitt.edu or 724-244-4042.
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