As a new academic year approaches, faculty and instructors face an increasingly familiar question: How can – or even should we – meaningfully adapt our courses for a world with GenAI?

On August 19, the faculty at the University of Minnesota Crookston (UMC) spent an entire day tackling that question head on. Sponsored by UMC Senior Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs Rosemary Johnsen, the “Assignment (Re)Design” workshop brought together Crookston faculty for a dive into AI’s role in higher education. The goal was a practical one: every participant was invited to bring an existing assignment to rethink. Guided by a cross-institutional team of specialists, the Crookston faculty worked with each other and with the team to intentionally integrate GenAI tools into their coursework or redesign an assignment to be more AI-resistant. 

To support this work, a collaborative team of staff from the following support units traveled to the Crookston campus:

• Center for Education Innovation (CEI), 
• Academic Technology Support Services (ATSS), 
• Writing Across the Curriculum (WAC), and
• The AI Hub 

The team previously held a similar session on the Twin Cities campus back in May, and wanted to extend it to other campuses, so the team took the learning to Crookston campus this time. Once there, it resonated across campus leadership and departments alike. “The facilitators helped us look at the problems we were grappling with from a different perspective and find workable solutions,” noted Dr. Ksenia Zhbanova, Associate Professor in Teacher Education, highlighting peer problem-solving in her feedback. “The team did an outstanding job of engaging faculty,” Dr. Johnsen shared after the event, calling the workshop “what faculty development should look like” and noting that the connections formed that day will pay dividends down the road. Dr. James Foss, chair of the Humanities, Social Sciences, and Education Department at UMC, echoed the impact, noting that the session’s practical examples and resource links were thought-provoking.

The team gathers feedback from participating faculty as it continues to plan next steps. This participant feedback helps the team refine the experiences and encourages more faculty and instructors to take advantage of the support in this rapidly-changing environment. If your department or unit is interested in this learning, please reach out to anyone in the support units doing this work: AI Hub, ATSS, CEI or Writing Across the Curriculum.