May 2025 Tuesday Tips

6th May 2025

Tuesday Teaching Tip: Academic Integrity Conversations

The end of the semester brings stress, joy, and then relief. There are also some difficult parts we are often reluctant to discuss. Today, I want to take this space to discuss best practices around academic integrity and difficult conversations at the end of the semester. 

Rarely is academic dishonesty a well thought out plan. Like most indiscretions it is more frequently an issue of opportunity and convenience. No student starts the term with the intention of doing good work throughout and then copy-pasting half their final project from another source. Students get behind, deadlines creep up, other obligations eat up the time they intended to spend on a project and they can panic–just like the rest of us–and in doing so they can make poor decisions. Understanding how these missteps happen is a first move towards preventing them. 

The second move is saying the awkward part out loud in class or Canvas. When I teach I just share the observation above when discussing final paper or project expectations. I let students know I understand the contexts in which non-optimal decisions are made and ask them to ask me for help or for an extension before making a bad decision. This has been incredibly helpful in limiting the number of academic integrity cases I have had to deal with. In addition to a better student experience it is frankly a lot less work and stress to grade a few late papers than to deal with a series of academic integrity situations. 

The third move is talking with students if there are questions about academic integrity. In a recent Teaching in HigherEd(opens in new window) interview, Tricia Bertram Gallant(opens in new window) outlined a three step process in having academic integrity conversations:

1. Here’s what I’m noticing
2. Here’s how I’m interpreting those observations
3. But I could be wrong. So I’d love to hear from you and what you can tell me about the situation. 

If you do end up having one of these difficult conversations, this is an excellent template that sets you up to gather additional information and make a judgment call about what to do next. You can also contact our Student Rights and Responsibilities office if you need additional support and clarification. 

Finally, a few updates

1. The Chancellor’s Office Webinar series(opens in new window) on AI in the CSU continues this Wednesday at noon with a session on approaches to AI Literacy. Find out what colleagues throughout the system are doing to improve student, staff, and faculty literacy with this technology.
2. It is Student Feedback on Teaching (SFOT) season. We want to remind you about proven strategies for increasing response rates we featured in the Fall.

Zach Justus
Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Google Voice/Text: 530-487-4150

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).
All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.

13th May 2025

Tuesday Teaching Tip: Resources for Summer

Hey folks–we are almost there. With summer just around the corner, we wanted to share some work we have been doing that might be useful to you. All of these resources/courses exist in an asynchronous format, so they are available whenever you need them. 

First, we have updated our popular asynchronous AI Retrofit course. This is a step-by-step guide to updating your course if you have assignments or learning outcomes that have been impacted by AI. To enroll in the course, click here.

Second, as you look ahead to next semester, now is the perfect time to dive into the Instructional Planning module of the FDEV Teaching Certificate . Discover new strategies, explore fresh resources, and use this opportunity to refine your approach to course design. Submit your syllabus as a deliverable and complete a short reflection to receive a letter highlighting your efforts - perfect for adding to your dossier! Start preparing for next semester by planning with purpose - your future students (and your CV) will thank you!

Third, we are excited to share a project the FDEV students have been piloting. Each of our students was tasked with training a custom GPT. The idea is to create an experience where the GPT helps faculty with a particular challenge, like reducing the cost of course materials or improving course accessibility. For now, enjoy these custom chat experiences. Please note that these are experimental, and like all AI experiences, the accuracy of the final product should be checked. Let us know what you think of our custom GPTs and if you would like help making your own. 

1. Chico Affordable Learning Solutions(opens in new window) (CAL$) 
2. Teaching Guides / Universal Design for Learning(opens in new window) (UDL) 
3. Quality Learning and Teaching(opens in new window) (QLT) 
4. Teaching Climate Change and Resilience(opens in new window) (TCCR) 
5. Tuesday Teaching Tips(opens in new window) (TTT)
6. Faculty Development(opens in new window) (includes all the information above) 

I love working as the Faculty Development Director at Chico State. Learning from you and supporting the great work you do never gets old. I want to take a brief moment to recognize the outstanding work of the staff in the office. Rebecca Nelson is our admin support, and she believes in personnel development at every level. In addition to all of her work on budgets, programs, and the office, she trains and works with our outstanding student workers Sophia Gonzales, Nathan Riverasanchez, Marissa Gamino, and Wynter Austin. Together, they provide the support that makes everything here, including the teaching tips, work. I could not do any of this work without their support and hard work.

Zach Justus
Director of Faculty Development
Professor of Communication Arts and Sciences
Google Voice/Text: 530-487-4150

If you’d like to comment on this or any other Tuesday Tip, visit the FDEV Blog(opens in new window).
All past Tuesday Tips are curated on the FDEV website.