One of the problems for college instructors is getting timely, constructive feedback to help improve their instruction. For faculty, student feedback usually comes in the form of anonymous surveys that are released to the faculty member after the end of the semester. While that can be helpful for planning, this type of feedback is not timely to make changes in the current semester. Faculty may also periodically receive formal evaluations of their teaching from a supervisor, though this type of feedback through formal observation is both infrequent and limited to a particular class meeting. The idea here is to use generative AI to self-evaluate your teaching.
'Reflective Teaching Practice' (RTP) is discussed by Armstrong and Asselin in the context of nursing education (Armstrong & Asselin, 2017), who defines this idea as deconstructing teaching experiences to gain insight int the self as a teacher and thereby explore the effectiveness of teaching strategies and methods. Parker J. Palmer's book, “The Courage to Teach,” investigates reflective teaching practice extensively and the significance of this practice to the instructor as a person who teaches 'true to self' (Palmer, 2007). Reflection, then, is a method of investigating the teacher's self, to identify authenticity and to teach with integrity.
To begin this journey. start with a recording of a class meeting or lecture. If you meet on Zoom or Teams, you can easily record your class. If you're teaching in person, with the consent of your students, you can record the session. Or, if you're using a lecture that you're going to pre-record for your class, then you already have a recording you can work with. You can use generative AI to transform the sound recording into a written transcript that can be used for self-evaluation. This technique is discussed earlier in this article.
This year, one of the courses we've been collaborating on relates to using AI in the classroom for faculty. I previously recorded a class session and was able to use that recording to create a transcript of the two-hour class meeting. I also have our agenda for the meeting, which outlines what we were trying to accomplish with our faculty colleagues during the session.
Additionally, I'm giving it the observation form we use for formally evaluating faculty throughout the academic year. I'm using this form because it asks a series of questions about how the course was organized, how the syllabus was structured, what instructional methods were used, how effective those methods were, and how faculty and students interacted in the class. If we discussed assignments or assessments, the form also provides specific criteria for evaluation. It includes sections where the reviewer can describe what happened, highlight what worked well in the class, and offer suggestions to the faculty member.
So, I'm going to provide these documents to Chat and then provide it a prompt intended to analyze the transcript in relation to the agenda for the class and the course objectives in the Syllabus, and organize its feedback using the formal course observation form. Now, this doesn't have to go anywhere. I'm interacting with artificial intelligence for this purpose, but I see it as a way to reflect on my own teaching—something I believe is a critical part of our work as faculty. There's no real risk here. There are no career consequences if ChatGPT says I had a lousy class or a great class or offers suggestions for improvement. And you don't have to follow its feedback blindly. Instead, you might use that feedback for your own journaling on teaching as a starting point for an entry.
What it's doing is identifying, based on our observation form, how it would evaluate various aspects of the class session. You'll notice it liked the syllabus. It thought we were “S,” which is roughly “Satisfactory,” in terms of meeting student expectations and aligning with an outline—though, to be fair, we don't have a common course outline for this class, so that part wasn't entirely helpful. It also indicated that we appeared to be well-prepared in its assessment of instructional methods. It thought we did well presenting ideas and incorporating different engagement strategies. It noted interactivity and a focus on real-world AI applications. It believed our interaction with the other faculty was positive and noted an inclusive and collaborative environment. From the transcript, there were no assignments with rubrics, which it flagged. That's a fair point.
It also highlighted things that went well—like our use of tools. We actually recorded the session with two different tools and used Claude AI for some of the class activities. A significant portion of the session involved a discussion about concerns surrounding AI, including issues like academic dishonesty and fears about AI replacing instructors. These sparked meaningful dialogue among attendees of the class meeting. We maintained a collaborative tone—after all, we're all colleagues at the college learning together.
ChatGPT had some suggestions, such as incorporating explicit rubrics, which might be more effective with students than with faculty colleagues. Still, there's nothing wrong with that suggestion, and in fact, it's something we've improved on as the course progressed this semester. Another suggestion was to include more structured examples of how AI tools could directly enhance specific teaching disciplines. I think that's right on point. In the introductory class, we did some hands-on activities, but I think it is fair to make this a larger part of subsequent class meetings: try out AI tools and techniques and see what's possible.
Overall, it was a helpful review that provided some specific, actionable suggestions based on the transcript, agenda, and Syllabus. Integrating AI into your reflection on class meetings provides another data point in assembling a better view of your teaching practice and places where you can improve your technique and center on your authentic self as instructor.
Armstrong, D. K., & Asselin, M. E. (2017). Supporting Faculty During Pedagogical Change Through Reflective Teaching Practice: An Innovative Approach. Nursing Education Perspectives (Wolters Kluwer Health), 38(6), 354–357. https://doi-org.ccbcmd.idm.oclc.org/10.1097/01.NEP.0000000000000153
Palmer, P. J. (2007). The courage to teach: Exploring the inner landscape of a teacher's life (10th ed.). San Francisco, CA: John Wiley & Sons.