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Reduce costs, maybe. Improve teaching and research? Fuck no. The answer to faculty overwork is not to spend money on AI snake oil, but on supporting your faculty and hiring more of them. This article is gross and insulting. "Hey professors! Save time by having ChatGPT plan your classes!" Fuck you.

Is AI finally a way to reduce higher ed costs? (opinion)www.insidehighered.com AI could free up faculty time to focus on the teaching and relationship-building that matter most, José Antonio Bowen and C. Edward Watson write.

One of that piece's authors wrote "Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your Classroom Will Improve Student Learning," packaged himself as a "thought leader" with it, made absolute bank on the lecture and workshop circuit, and is now doing...this, without any apparent sense of irony or shame

I mean, there was a follow-up book called "Teaching Naked Techniques," five-figure keynotes, an absolute PR blitz. And now his "teaching naked" website is breathlessly trumpeting his new book on "Teaching with AI" coming out later this year. I guess he found the new gravy train.

(Also, if you want to look up that previous book, be sure you search "teaching naked" instead of "teach naked" because the latter willtake you to all sorts of interesting places that you will likely not want to go.)

Then again, I might rather go to those places than read that guy’s bullshit.

Highly tempted to search "teach naked"

might recommend incognito mode

One of the most absurd moves is giving repeated examples of all the "tedious" work we can offload onto AI--feedback on student work, remembering personal details about students, writing recommendations--and then glibly saying "now you can focus on building relationships!" DO YOU NOT HEAR YOURSELVES

I've been training faculty how to use academic technology for a decade and long before it was technologically possible I had professors asking me why Blackboard couldn't read and score their students' essays like it did with multiple choice tests. So no, they do not hear themselves.

It appears the "real audience" for this marketing spiel is administrators.

This person has never built a relationship with a student in their life.

This is unconscionable: "Provide grades and feedback for these essays. Use my rubric, previously graded essays and samples of my feedback to calibrate your feedback to write and grade in my voice."

A few of the things on the list are harmless. But this, no. If you assign it, you read it, and you think along with the student. AI writing student recs is also malpractice.

Plus, yes, we complain and yes grading can be a massive chore, but some students do such good work! I learn things, I ask new questions, I get a constant flow of fine-grained feedback about what and how things make sense to them. Especially useful as the age gap between them and me grows.

Exactly. A dereliction of professional duties. And inexcusable, imo. I keep going back to the question, "why should I bother to read something you couldn't be bothered to write?"

Like, just freaking *offensively bad*

Absolute YCMTSU territory. Anyone tagged as a "thought leader" is guaranteed to be peddling BS.

Our Title IX office has been pretty clear on this: you should not, in fact, teach naked.

Sounds like the "self-realized grifter" in Maslow's hierarchy of jerks to avoid.

I don't dislike José and even enjoyed his CSU-wide keynote, way back when that first book came out. But boy is he missing the boat with this hot take on AI. Becoming a president warped his lens. BTW I see your search tip below and it has me chortling. Maybe I'll try it after class. 😆

Ive said this about art, animation, music, and film but it applies to teaching. Anyone who does this kind of meaningful work doesn't mind the hard work or long hours. What sucks is not being paid well enough, supported, listened to, or appreciated.

This is exactly it.

I mind. I shouldn’t have to work more just because I like my job. I benefit from work life balance like anyone else.

I don't think that's the point. The point is that certain time-consuming and allegedly tedious activities are, in fact, the enjoyable core of the profession. Do I want an AI to design my courses or tell me whose work I should cite? Hell no. Besides, I may not be qualified for the job if I need that.

alright most people.

AI stans envisioning the classroom like

One of my favorite movies. And this montage scene ruled.

What about that time I found you naked with that bowl of Jell-O?

This goes under "H," for "toy"

What are you looking at? You're laborers; you should be laboring. That's what you get for not having an education.

Your mom puts license plates in your underwear?

Putting this here for no reason whatsoever. valkilmer.com/real-genius-...

Real Genius Autographed Photovalkilmer.com

They’re beauticians?! Not yet!

So. Good.

Okay guys, enlighten me.

Real Genius

Real Genius Classroom montage (1985)youtu.be Just the classroom clips from Real Genius (1985).

OK, I’ve never seen it, but the idea that Val Kilmer was cast as an engineering prodigy is very hard for me to take in.

It is a wonderfully quotable 80s film. Very fun. Definitely check it out.

Thank you.

hollup do they think higher ed costs so much because of IT and classroom support services

literally nothing in this actually saves anyone any money!

Well, it certainly can't be administrative salaries, now, can it?

Who are you going to believe, Kevin - them or your own lying eyes?!

Regarding reference writing - not a single fucking word about reproducing (in the specified case) your own biases. What if a professor *finally* realizes "oh shit, I've been using 'hard-working' for women and 'brilliant' for men!" Well, it sure sucks you trained your letter-writing AI on yourself.

oopsie daisies! 🫠

I notice that neither author has been around a classroom in a long time.

To heighten the absurdity, check out Bowen's last book. He's got a teaching with AI book coming out later this year, and...yeah.

Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning: Bowen, José Antonio: 9781118110355: Amazon.com: Bookswww.amazon.com Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning [Bowen, José Antonio] on Amazon.com. *FREE* shipping on qualifying offers. Teaching Naked: How Moving Technology Out of Your College Classroom Will Improve Student Learning

Evidently he's riding the AI hype-cycle for all its worth. The tragedy is the number of fuckwits in the academic C-suite who will think that this is the new paradigm to ram down everyone's throat. It's a plague.