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The Transform your Teaching podcast is a service of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio. Join Dr. Rob McDole and Dr. Jared Pyles as they seek to inspire higher education faculty to adopt innovative teaching and learning practices.
This is the Transform Your Teaching podcast. The Transform Your Teaching podcast is a service of the Center for Teaching and Learning at Cedarville University in Cedarville, Ohio.
Ryan:Hello, and welcome to this episode of Transform Your Teaching. In today's episode, Dr. Rob McDole interviews Dr. Jared Pyles and myself as we talk about some reflections on some conferences from this summer. Thanks for joining us.
Jared:He literally did that right in front of us.
Rob:He did.
Jared:He went into his zone for a second.
Rob:I turned my face--I couldn't look.
Ryan:Yeah.
Jared:He went into his zone, and he came out with that fantastic... he should've gone "And scene," afterward.
Ryan:I appreciate you guys didn't make eye contact because then I would've broke down.
Jared:Yeah. Broke down.
Ryan:Yeah.
Jared:Okay.
Rob:Well, thank you, Ryan, for that introduction. And I'm really excited today about having this conversation with you guys because this season has been an active one at best.
Ryan:Mhmm.
Rob:I think a really good learning process for the institution as a whole. You know, you two have definitely done some some conferences as as you said in the intro.
Rob:You've presented.
Jared:Yep.
Rob:But you've also participated. So today, the idea for our listeners is that we kinda unpack that. What did you present?
Rob:Mhmm.
Rob:But, also, what did you hear? What what did, others maybe miss? What did we miss by not being there? And is there something that you think our listeners might benefit from?
Rob:So let's let's kick that off, and and I think I'm gonna start with Jared.
Jared:Okay.
Rob:Jared, why don't you give us an idea of what you've been doing this I mean, I guess it's been over the past, what, three months, four months?
Jared:Yeah. Mhmm.
Jared:I started off the summer by keynoting for you, Rob.
Ryan:In your stead.
Jared:In your stead. It gave me an opportunity to do something I've never done before, which is keynote.
Jared:And it was nerve wracking Yeah. But it was very rewarding. I Yeah. What does SOCHE stand for? I wanna say Southern Ohio, but I know that's not right.
Ryan:Yeah. It's the Strategic Ohio Council for Higher Education. Okay. And this is the faculty development side. It's most the primary audience was CTLs, but there were
Jared:A whole bunch of CTLs.
Ryan:Yeah, there were faculty as well.
Jared:Instructional designers, some of them very overworked.
Ryan:Yes.
Jared:Some of them, their own department.
Ryan:Yeah.
Jared:But yeah, it was an incredible experience. I spoke on, well, the whole conference was on change, right? How to manage change.
Ryan:Yeah.
Jared:So I figured, well, we haven't done any changes on our campus. I'll just make something up.
Ryan:No, not recently.
Rob:Yeah. That's a joke.
Jared:I talked about our, Chat GPT adoption over the last year. And, I used ChatGPT actually as a thought partner to help me get to the root of what I wanted to talk about and related to change. And we got to a point where, I was using the bot to help me with my speaking points and we came to I keep saying we as in Chat GPT and I, but I used the tool to get to a point where I was discussing the two islands idea where we saw on our campus specifically, we had those that were gung ho about adopting
Rob:Mhmm.
Jared:And were on board, some ahead of us. And then you had those that were hesitant. And usually on most situations, that's fine. You just need to provide more support for that second island of, those that are hesitant. And you could look at the adoption curve that Rogers put out, and I talked about that at length in the keynote, but it really didn't fit what we're doing here because and then I showed the the difference between like any other normal adoption, innovation adoption, and Chat GPT, and we talked about this, is the rate of change, the rate of improvement.
Rob:Yes.
Jared:And as the tool gets more advanced, and I showed the some data that, OpenAI had presented just earlier that week, I think it was, where the the curve of this thing changing and advancing was so incredibly steep. It was climbing so incredibly steep. And the amount of catch up that humans and our own knowledge had to do to get there, it was the gap was widening more and more. Yes. So we were talking about this as those that were using it on this island, the first island were using it and they were adapting to it.
Jared:The distance between the two islands was growing and growing. So you had those that were still hesitant and you had to play catch up the whole time. So, like, doing any kind of video training, any kind of workshop was almost to the point of irrelevant because the at the time that which you would hold that session, maybe record the video, produce it, and put it up, for others to consume that weren't there or those that were hesitant could look at later.
Rob:The milestone moved.
Jared:The milestone had moved entirely. Yeah. So, like, that was outdated. Yeah. And you couldn't rely on that to help support those around that island.
Jared:So the the island the the gap was growing more and more. And I talked about the idea of building bridges, but the bridges would eventually collapse because of how the distance and everything else. So we talked about instead of prioritizing, looking at the technology, focus on the relationships of the people. And instead of being worried about having everyone adopt, maybe just focus on that. Because we had conversations, we've had conversations with faculty, and this was also what we presented on at Ohio STEM, and I'll let Ryan talk to that a bit more.
Jared:But, we had these faculty that were hesitant to use it and they felt like they were on this island and being left behind. So we really focus on that relationships idea. Mhmm. And it helped us tremendously. I also equated it to F1 racing and
Rob:Yeah.
Jared:How it was like building the car as it was going down the track.
Rob:Mhmm.
Jared:But then halfway through the lap, you you get a radio as a driver and go, hey, your steering wheel just changed. Now you have to hit this, this, and this to change modes. Whereas the first part of the lap in the first section, hit this, this, this.
Jared:When I were in section two, now it's this, this, this. So that was pretty much it. That was my fifty minute keynote in five minutes. Yeah.
Jared:Well I mean I can comment as an observer as well. I think what really resonated with those who were in attendance, not just based on my own observation but interacting afterwards with those folks is that the benefit was AI and its changes became the anecdote rather than the topic in a lot of ways because your practical steps were really more foundational concepts that are helpful for, that can be applied to any setting.
Ryan:So who knows, ten years from now there's another tech that radically changes our world. Those same principles still apply. It wasn't so narrow or specific to just here's how to use generative AI in your classroom.
Ryan:Like that can be helpful, but that can become dated like you already mentioned. These were more guiding principles for here's how you work with other people to ensure you have communication between these two islands, for example. And yourself as an administrator in the process trying to equip those people rightly. But then you take it to the OSTEM where that audience was very different. These OSTEM teachers and STEM teachers in general, all they want is the practical.
Rob:And OSTEM is where you were at.
Jared:That's where Oh, you both went. Yeah. That's where we both presented.
Ryan:I can talk a little about OHECC as well if you want. But at Ohio STEM in Columbus, what we found at least from those in the session is they were very eager for the practical application of it as well.
Rob:So the cutting edge practical?
Ryan:Yes. Overall, that was what they were looking for. I think that session took a lot of the concepts that Jared mentioned in the keynote that he did and maintained them, but we were able to get a little bit more into the nitty gritty of how an application might look like specifically in the generative AI world and some of the changes there. I think the other thing that stood out to me about Jared's session as well is you also had the analogy of Formula One, which one person in the room raised their hand and actually watched.
Jared:She was like, don't spoil the race.
Ryan:Yeah.
Jared:I won't. Don't worry. One one person.
Rob:Only one person.
Ryan:Yeah. That's right. So Oh, I know. Very low percentage.
Jared:However 40 people in the room?
Ryan:But that's the point. That's my point is, however, the people in the room understood the parity between that analogy and the rapid pace of change with generative AI AI tools. Like, made sense. They didn't have to be an F1 watcher. So kudos to you, I think, for using an analogy that despite people's lack of understanding, you explained it in a way that they could see the similar
Rob:Well, they know F1 is fast.
Ryan:Yeah. That's all you need to know is
Jared:Pretty much. Yeah.
Ryan:Car go fast.
Jared:And it didn't it didn't that's what said.
Rob:Technology go fast.
Jared:That's what I said during the all I need know is car go fast.
Ryan:Exactly.
Jared:But also helped that the weekend, literally the next day, was it was Monaco Weekend. And I had talked about in the keynote how there's different rules and regulations put in place this year, and so they were building a car from scratch.
Jared:A lot of uncertainty And stuff involved in that. A lot of things that help the car go fast. Right? The turbo boost they added this year, they're now fifty fifty hybrid.
Jared:So they you're pulling for more battery power to help the drivers go into an overtake mode that helps them. They can use the battery whenever they want to to recharge it.
Ryan:Mario Kart.
Jared:Basically getting a mushroom in Mario Kart. But then Monaco, because Monaco is a historic track and it's just a lot of curves and it's
Rob:Narrow.
Jared:Very narrow. They stripped away all of those regulations and went back to the base car. And so I made this I didn't. I I mean, I did. I said it, but it really it was a a collaborative thing between myself and the ChatGPT bot that I was doing.
Jared:It was really focusing on maybe it's not necessarily going fast, but it's about managing the curves and being safe.
Rob:Mhmm.
Jared:So, you know, strip it back to the relationship and the idea that don't worry about trying to keep up. Don't worry about trying to keep up with the pace of change that Chat GPT has, but instead prioritize how you're safely going to navigate navigate through it. So
Rob:Well, it sounds like what you're what you're saying is we need each other.
Jared:Yes.
Rob:We need folks who are on the cutting edge, who stay there, and help translate that back to an island that doesn't move.
Ryan:Yeah. Yep. Mhmm.
Rob:Right? Where everybody can kind of come together, and there has to be a willingness to come together in a in a place where that's really the point. And I think that's what we have here. I mean, I know you you've heard me say it over and over again, like, a lot of this doesn't matter if we lose relationships.
Ryan:And trust.
Rob:And trust.
Ryan:About that a lot too. Trust.
Rob:Trust is trust. Without a without trust, you have no giving and taking. You have no relationship. Alright?
Rob:And our economies are built on trust. I trust that you're going to give me something of value that we both look at and say, yeah. It's worth x, y, or z, whether that be gold, whether that be cash, whether that be goats and sheep.
Jared:Mhmm. Uh-huh.
Rob:You know?
Jared:Sounds like Oregon Trail all of a sudden.
Rob:Yeah. Exactly. But it's it's, ultimately, at the end of the day, it should be a, you know, a philosophy of Philippians two, right, which is I'm looking to the needs of my brothers and sisters before my own. Mhmm. And in doing that, if everybody does that, the more people do that, you build trust.
Rob:And then you can handle these changes. You can see them for what they are. You can manage them as a whole instead of being on an island of of your own where you just find yourself being distanced more and more from others.
Jared:Yeah. For sure.
Rob:So let's talk about OHEC.
Ryan:Yeah. OHECC. So I co- presented there with
Jared:What's OHECC stand for?
Ryan:Ohio Higher Education Computing Consortium, I think.
Jared:Oh, it's two c's.
Ryan:OHECC.
Jared:Okay.
Ryan:Yeah. The conference was very interesting. They hosted at University of Toledo so there were a ton of people from the University of Toledo at the conference. The difference for me from these others that we've done is there weren't a ton of educators. It was primarily people who are in information technology or a similar area in the higher education space.
Ryan:There's a lot of higher education administrators there alongside of technicians. People that are looking for cutting edge kinds of things. But our presentation was more of a history, if you will, of implementation of Chatuchipiti EDU at our university. And who did
Rob:you do that with? Was it by yourself or was it with others from here?
Ryan:Thank you for asking. Yeah, it was Mark Maslin who is in web services here at the university under our marketing communication division, and then Ryan Bowen, who's in information technology. His title is something along the lines of strategic adoption. He's definitely managing, kind of similar to Eric Alvarado, who we talked with earlier this summer, managing the tech partners that we go with and then implementing those things. We each had the chance to kind of give our different perspectives and I was there obviously for the faculty side of things, how implementation and adoption were related to that.
Ryan:It was interesting because we talked about some similar ideas of how to be successful, but then we also reflected on if we could go back and change some things in terms of implementation and adoption, there'd be some areas where there's room for growth. Whether it be hearing more voices from different divisions and groups for what they need in terms of training, what they want to have. But then ultimately, what we discovered is a lot of people aren't really doing that. Adopting a university wide global kind of generative AI tool. A lot of them are kind of doing this here or there.
Ryan:What we learned as well is there's a lot of people that are just either paying for their own, so their own students, they're not supplying anything to their students or their So faculty or if they want some kind of generative AI solution, they're going to have to pay for it themselves, at least right now. So it was interesting, we've had a lot of conversations, and maybe this is more on the participant side rather than the presentation side, about University of Michigan. The keynote speaker there was the CIO from University of Michigan, who is leaps and bounds ahead of everybody in the GAI space. But the rest of the universities there really weren't. Even some of the larger institutions here in Ohio, we were surprised by how few of their universities actually have their their some kind of continuous improvement, professional development around generative AI.
Rob:Mhmm. You know, Cedarville is done under the leadership of Dr. White and the cabinet and the and the board of trustees have done a a really good job here of, one, not ignoring This technology. And two, making every effort to provide a biblical basis for and vision.
Rob:Mhmm It's not perfect, and nobody here would say it is. But it's it's one, you if you're not doing anything, then it's it's a lot more difficult. So and I and I'm thankful for them and their willingness because when you when you do something in an institution or you make decisions in an institution That has and we're not a very large one.
Rob:Right? We're not extremely large by any stretch, but we're not small Either. And you make those decisions, they have impact.
Ryan:Oh, yeah.
Rob:They have considerable impact, and you there has to be a degree of courage and willingness to own it. And that's what I've seen here, and it's it's, you know, not only at that level, but it's clear through the rest of the institution. You talk to different people from all over, whether they be faculty, whether they be staff, students.
Rob:Right? That's what I've seen, and and I think that's kinda cool showing this as well. Having you both here, I think, is a testament to that. Right? And that we've got people from all over the institution that are saying raising their hand and going, I wanna be a part.
Rob:I've got concerns.
Jared:Sure.
Rob:Yeah. But I also see where we can do some things that we weren't able to do before with this.
Jared:Yeah.
Rob:And willing to start trying things, testing things, figuring out what works, what doesn't work. And that's the kind of the thing I want our listeners to hear too.
Rob:Mhmm. Like, it has to start with someone. Why not with you? Right? And I think you guys are a perfect example of that, and you're you're you're owning it moving forward, and I'm I'm hoping that we have those out there that are willing to come in and say, hey.
Rob:We wanna we wanna join.
Jared:Yeah.
Rob:Maybe not necessarily the Cedarville University as a whole, but, like In this Christian response to and evaluation of generative AI.
Ryan:Yeah. One thing I was going to ask you Jared about your perception of Ohio STEM. STEM is interesting because this was my first exposure to STEM people.
Jared:It's nuts.
Ryan:It is and it's really cool.
Ryan:Like I said, they are very focused on how do I make this work at my school right now. Which is pretty eager I think attitude. They want to be innovative. They're seeking new ways to do stuff. But I was curious, you talked to a number of folks there, like what what were they asking you about?
Ryan:What what kind of stood out from some of the sessions and those things?
Jared:Some of it was some of the questions I got afterward were very practical. Like I need to figure out how to do this industrial design assignment using ChatGPT. And so, you know, that type of stuff. But I made a contact with, someone from right here close by in Springfield, GISA, one of the first Ohio STEM school, first Ohio designated STEM schools, GISA, Global Impact STEM Academy. I'm probably, I probably butchered that, but it's close enough.
Jared:And so we're going to do lunch, but it's just, you know, the different, that was more of a philosophical idea, more questioning the usage of it, but also governance. Like that's a part that I didn't get at Sochi, but when you go into K-12, you get the overhead feeling from ODEW, Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, because they have standards they have to hit and they have like, they're they're they're wanting some sort of policy from the top down. Yeah. They wanna know The teachers are. The teachers From OD.
Jared:And and the administrators too. Yeah. They wanna know how far they can stretch because STEM is all about pushing and figuring out new ways of doing things and a way to innovative ways of doing things. This is why I love it so much. Plus my sister is heavily involved with it.
Jared:So, and she's cool. So, but they're, they, they want some sort of regulation. And so they're like, and this guy also, and I think one of the reasons why he wants to come hang out with us, which I've invited him to, is he wants to talk about how there can be a partnership between higher ed institutions like us and the STEM schools. To figure out, okay, as students are learning how to use generative AI in a STEM school, how can we match up with the next step for them?
Jared:Like they decide to pursue higher education in some capacity, can the policies align or can they match in some way? What skills are they going to need? Just like you do a curriculum band and you figure out, okay, they're learning this this year, then the next year prepare them to take this because of the earlier stuff. Can there be a connection made between a K-12 institution and a higher education institution? But yeah, but the big takeaway that I grabbed was from the keynote and I'm usually a as someone who's now done a keynote, I feel differently about this, but usually I ignore the keynote
Ryan:keynote hater.
Jared:I usually don't really like keynotes as much and Rob can attest to that because although I I shouldn't say that because I'm now two for two on conferences I've attended, one of them being Accelerate, OLC's Accelerate
Rob:Uh-huh.
Jared:And this Ohio STEM one. And they've been incredible keynotes, both So I don't know why I've been ignoring them. But he really focused on empathy. Yeah. If you recall from that.
Jared:And some of it was like, you know, I had to brush up against the idea of like, stop right now and text someone that and tell them that you love them and that you are and I was like and he actually stopped for two minutes and I was like, oh, come on, dude. Let's get through this.
Ryan:He didn't text me.
Rob:This feels really
Jared:I didn't text Ryan though.
Rob:Like, this feels that explains why I got that text. No. Yeah. Was wrong.
Jared:I did not text anybody, but his I mean, it it really we talk about servant teaching and we talk about knowing the whole student. Yeah. He and serving the whole student and teaching the whole student, he really nailed that down through the lens of empathy. Talking about knowing your students, like building those like he has those charts that he builds where you have student interests and student aspirations and strengths and weaknesses and stuff like that. And having that for each student, I'm like, man, this is exactly what we need in K-12 is the empathy path.
Jared:To go down that path, help teachers recognize the value of knowing and teaching the whole student and serving the student best in that capacity. So those are my big takeaways.
Ryan:I think that's good. Before we move on too quickly from that, I think the other thing that stood out to me about OSTEM is they're so focused on jobs. And I think that's another reason that they're very interested. Huge pipeline. Yeah.
Ryan:It's kind of like our conversation with Chris Prokes from earlier this summer. Sinclair is also so focused on jobs because they're a very two year associate degree kind of institution. These schools very much into the trades, so equipping students
Jared:for Yeah.
Rob:Gotta It's be practical.
Ryan:Exactly. Workforce readiness.
Jared:They have to have the partnerships with employers and stuff. Yep. Not only does it help them, but it also makes the content and the projects the students are doing relevant
Ryan:Yes.
Jared:To what's going on. Yeah.
Ryan:It makes me think of a shout out to Jim Stevenson, for example, on our ICC who has been on the show before.
Jared:Has a fantastic handshake, by the way
Ryan:--fair. One thing I appreciate about that is their ability to network there at the ICC with different organizations, giving the students those hands on experiences right before they get into the workforce. Making network connections as well, I think is a huge part of that.
Rob:Yeah, it's always gonna be I remember my mom saying it to me a long time ago, and you guys have probably heard this too. She's like, it does matter what you know, Rob, but it matters more who you know. Yeah. Yeah. Mhmm.
Rob:And, you know, for us, knowing who our God is is first and foremost. And then and then two, again, knowing each other, knowing having that empathy like you're saying, those are the things we gotta get right first.
Jared:Yeah. Mhmm.
Rob:And that doesn't mean we're not gonna have problems where we go, you know, I should have done a better job there. But I think on the whole, we wanna continue to move forward to help build that, like, what you guys were talking about, this island where empathy Mhmm. Relationship is the predominant theme, knowing someone and knowing them as someone created in the image of God who has worth and value. And from that stems how we interact with the tools that we use, of which generative AI is just one.
Ryan:Yep. Yep. And and To that end, I mean a big part of I think some of what Jared and I got to present and practice this summer was the ability to listen to people, to allow their voices to be heard. Our conversation there at the OSTEM Conference very much became a dialogue. Those teachers there were very interested in asking questions throughout that were related to whatever topic we just covered.
Ryan:So, it was a presentation, but in many ways, their voices were able to be heard. Yep. And we were able to dialogue in a room full of people that probably have very similar questions. That's true for SOCHE as well. So
Rob:Well, guys, this has been great. Thank you for, one, being willing to serve. Two, especially serve, you know, me in
Ryan:Our pleasure.
Rob:In in stepping into that gap.
Jared:Yeah. It was worth it.
Rob:I'm super excited about what you guys were able to do And what the Lord did in and through that.
Rob:And I'm looking forward to seeing what he does with us.
Jared:Okay, Ryan. The episode's done, so go ahead and do a live close here first.
Rob:Don't look at him.
Ryan:Thanks for listening to this episode of Transform Your Teaching. If you have any dang it, Jared. That needs to be the real close.
Jared:I looked at
Ryan:Dang it, Jared.
Jared:Alright. Try it again.
Ryan:I'm sorry. Thanks for listening to this episode of Transform Your Teaching. If you have any questions or comments about our conversation today, feel free to email us at ctlpodcast@cedarville .edu . You can also connect with us on LinkedIn. And finally, don't forget to check out our blog at cedarville.edu/focusblog.
Ryan:Thanks for listening.