Category: Resources

Posted on

Registration is now open for the 10-Day AI Bootcamp!

A wide horizontal banner image with a dark blue background featuring glowing circuit board patterns and snowflakes. On the left, a glowing laptop displays a brain icon and a toolbox with gears. Large white and blue text across the center reads: "THE PRE-HOLIDAY POWER-UP: UPGRADE YOUR AI TOOLKIT BEFORE WINTER BREAK (IN JUST 10 MINUTES/DAY!)". On the right, a desk calendar marked "DECEMBER" with a "10 MIN/DAY" timer sits next to a mug of cocoa and a decorated miniature Christmas tree.

Ready for round two of AI skill-building? Join the 10-Day AI Bootcamp: Claude Edition with Sybil Prince Nelson running December 8th-21st alongside Winter Academy.

What’s different from Fall? This bootcamp features Claude instead of ChatGPT, so you’ll explore:

  • Web search and real-time research
  • Document creation (artifacts)
  • Conversational depth and reasoning
  • Different strengths and approaches

Perfect for:

  • Repeaters: Compare Claude vs ChatGPT side-by-side
  • Newcomers: No prior AI experience needed!

The format: 10 minutes a day, 10 weekday prompts + 4 optional weekend bonuses. Earn stars, collect a digital badge at 8+.

Tracks for everyone: Faculty and staff versions of each prompt mean relevant, practical applications for your actual work.

Self-enroll here: https://wlu.instructure.com/enroll/E38KEW

Questions? Email sprincenelson@wlu.edu or stop by PLAI Lab office hours.

Let’s explore what makes Claude different—one prompt at a time!

Posted on

A Helpful Guide to Writing AI Image Prompts

If you’ve used AI image generators like Gemini, ChatGPT, or Microsoft Copilot, you know that the quality of your result often depends on the quality of your prompt. It can sometimes be tricky to describe exactly what you’re imagining.

To help with this, we’d like to share the Text-to-Image Prompting Quick Guide. It’s a new, simple resource designed to help you build more effective and detailed prompts.

The guide breaks the process down into six key components to consider:

  • Subject
  • Setting
  • Mood & Lighting
  • Style
  • Framing
  • Context

The tool is flexible, whether you have a few minutes or want to learn the fundamentals. You can:

  • 📚 Learn the Framework: Read through each component section to understand the principles.
  • 🛠️ Use the Prompt Builder: Jump straight to the builder to quickly assemble a prompt based on the parts that matter to you.
  • 📊 Track Your Progress: For those interested, there are optional assessments to help you see how your skills improve.

Prompting is an iterative process, and this framework is designed to make that process a little easier. If you’re interested in refining your prompts, you can explore the guide at the link below.

Check out the Text-to-Image Prompting Quick Guide

(This guide also serves as one of my final projects for my graduate portfolio as I complete my master’s in instructional design. A lot of thought went into making it a useful and effective learning resource, and I’m excited to share it.)

Posted on

Regurgitative AI: Why ChatGPT Won’t Kill Original Thought

A minimalist illustration of a human and a robot collaboratively assembling a light bulb. The human holds the left half of the bulb, while the robot holds the right half, which is shaped like a gear. The image symbolizes the partnership between human creativity and artificial intelligence, set against a bright orange background.

In her compelling new article, Regurgitative AI: Why ChatGPT Won’t Kill Original Thought, Dr. Sybil Prince Nelson explores the nuanced role of generative AI in higher education—challenging the widespread fear that tools like ChatGPT will replace human creativity. Drawing on her dual expertise as both a mathematician and a novelist, Nelson argues that while AI excels at remixing existing ideas, it cannot originate truly novel thought. That distinction, she contends, is where educators and students continue to shine.

Key Highlights:

  • AI as a remix artist: Nelson compares ChatGPT to a DJ like Girl Talk—brilliant at blending familiar tracks into something fresh, yet incapable of composing an original symphony from silence.
  • Limits of AI creativity: Through examples from fiction writing, statistical coding, and even brainstorming sessions, she demonstrates how AI often narrows rather than expands the range of ideas. 
  • Pedagogical strategies: Nelson provides five actionable methods for faculty, including requiring students to document their AI prompts, reflect on tool influence, and redesign assignments to emphasize personal voice, ethical judgment, and iterative thinking—areas AI cannot replicate.
  • Hope for the college essay: Despite AI’s ability to generate polished prose, Nelson affirms that the authentic process of writing—grappling with ideas, revising drafts, and expressing individual perspective—remains irreplaceable.

This thoughtful, research-informed article is a must-read for anyone rethinking assignment design in the age of AI. 

Read the full article on Faculty Focus!

Posted on

Reimagining Law: How AI Empowers Small Firms

"The Next Generation of Law: AI and Small Firm Practice." It features two robotic hands holding a blue circular emblem with "AI" in the center. The flyer promotes a discussion led by Professor Josh Fairfield and Ben Byrd '08L on how AI is reshaping opportunities for solo practitioners and small law firms. The event is scheduled for Thursday, November 6, 2025, from 1:00 PM to 2:00 PM in Classroom B. The flyer notes that pizza will be served.

Can artificial intelligence level the playing field in legal practice? While Big Law continues to dominate, AI is opening new doors for solo practitioners and small firms to thrive. Join Professor Josh Fairfield and Ben Byrd ’08L for a thought-provoking conversation on how AI is reshaping the legal landscape—what it can do, what it can’t, and what it means for your future.

🗓️ Thursday, November 6, 2025
🕐 1:00 PM – 2:00 PM
📍 Classroom B
🍕 Pizza will be served!

Posted on

PayPal, Venmo Users Can Get Perplexity Pro, Comet Browser Access for Free

Three smartphone screens display a PayPal promotional offer for Perplexity Pro. The first screen shows a PayPal balance of $200 with a featured offer for one free year of Perplexity Pro when linking PayPal. The middle screen highlights the Perplexity Pro with PayPal promotion, offering 12 free months when users connect a valid billing method. The third screen displays a user’s subscription list, including Perplexity, Music, Cloud Storage, Pet Supplies, and News, with a featured offer for 10% cash back on streaming services for three months.
Credit: PayPal/Perplexity

A new promotion from PayPal and Venmo provides their users with a one-year subscription to Perplexity Pro and access to the Comet AI browser at no cost. The Perplexity Pro plan, which is typically priced at $20 per month or $200 per year, includes unlimited searches, access to advanced AI models, and image generation capabilities.

The offer also includes access to the Comet AI browser, a Chromium-based (same open-source codebase beneath Chrome, Edge and Opera) browser with integrated AI functions. Normally, access to this browser is limited to invitees or subscribers of the Perplexity Max plan.

Comet has several unique features, chief among them a powerful AI assistant you can access at any time. It’s a chatbot that lives inside your web browser and can access the pages you open. (Unsurprisingly, Comet uses Perplexity as its default home page and search engine.)

To receive the offer, users must link their PayPal or Venmo account to Perplexity. This can be done through the PayPal or Venmo mobile apps or on a dedicated page on Perplexity’s website.

The following conditions apply:

  • The offer is valid through December 31 for new Perplexity Pro subscribers.
  • It is limited to one redemption per PayPal or Venmo account.
  • Users with PayPal accounts created after September 1 will have a 30-day waiting period before gaining access.
Posted on

Mark Your Calendar for the PLAI Summit in September

Logo for the PLAI Summit featuring a stylized mountain with circuit lines branching across it, topped with a flag. Below the mountain, the text reads "PLAI Summit," with the "AI" incorporated into a smiling robot face.

Friday, September 19, 2025
9:00 am – 4:30 pm

Houston H. Harte Center for Teaching and Learning
@ Washington and Lee University

How do we decide when to press the AI button—and when not to?

The PLAI Summit is a full-day event bringing together educators, students, and professionals to explore one of the most urgent questions of our time: how do we use AI to extend human capability—without compromising what makes us human?

Through hands-on demos, thought-provoking discussions, and multidisciplinary exchange, we’ll dive into how AI is reshaping art, society, science, and learning. The goal isn’t just to showcase innovation—it’s to build a shared awareness of when and why we choose to use AI, and when we deliberately choose not to.

Join us in imagining a future where AI supports—not supplants—human curiosity, creativity, and care.

Now Accepting Proposals for Presentations

Posted on

NEW! Helpful Resource to Boost Your Students’ Research Presentation Skills

Flat-style digital illustration of graphic design tools arranged on a teal background. The composition includes a computer monitor displaying an eye symbol, a keyboard, a drawing tablet, color swatches, a ruler, a notebook, a floppy disk, a smartphone, and various writing instruments, representing design and visual communication elements.

Looking for a way to help your students shine in their research presentations? The Visual Research Communication guide, crafted by the University Library, is a fantastic resource you can recommend to your classes.

This guide equips students with practical tools to create clear, compelling visuals—skills that will serve them well in coursework, conferences, and beyond.

We’d like to extend a special shout-out to the talented team behind this resource:

  • Renee Watson, Head of Research Service
  • Emily Cook, Research and Instruction Librarian
  • Jenny Carlos, Research Services Resident Librarian

Their hard work and expertise have made this guide an invaluable asset for our academic community.

Please take a moment to share this link with your students: https://libguides.wlu.edu/vis-research/. It’s an impactful way to support their growth as scholars and communicators.

To request a 15-minute in-class session about effective poster design, please contact library@wlu.edu.

Posted on

Developing Feedback-Literate Students is Key for Career Readiness

colorful speech bubbles overlapping one anotherFeedback literacy is the ability to effectively seek, give, receive, process and use feedback and it’s a critical skill for students to develop to be successful in both the classroom and in their future careers.

The five key dimensions of feedback literacy include:

  • Giving Feedback: Teaching students to provide clear, respectful, and actionable feedback to others.
  • Seeking Feedback: Encouraging students to proactively seek constructive insights to improve their performance.
  • Receiving Feedback: Helping students learn to actively listen and understand feedback without immediate judgment.
  • Processing Feedback: Guiding students to reflect on feedback and decide its applicability.
  • Using Feedback: Encouraging the application of feedback to make informed improvements.

As educators, we are in the perfect position to guide students in understanding and practicing the many facets of feedback they will encounter professionally.

Cameron Conaway, adjunct professor in the Professional Communication master’s program at the University of San Francisco and a team leader in the People, Policy & Purpose organization at Cisco, outlines a 5-step approach for developing feedback literacy in the classroom:

  1. Discuss feedback and co-create a definition with students. Share why feedback has been important in your own career and have students work together to define effective feedback.
  2. Introduce the concept of feedback literacy. Explain the 5 components – giving, seeking, receiving, processing, and using feedback. Discuss each with real examples.
  3. Plan progressive feedback practice. Start with encouraging positive feedback, then provide assignments where students practice giving and receiving feedback in pairs. Seek feedback from students as well.
  4. Mix synchronous and asynchronous feedback opportunities. Provide both in-class feedback exercises and asynchronous opportunities for students to provide feedback on each other’s work.
  5. Ensure students get feedback on their feedback literacy skills. Reinforce when students demonstrate effective feedback skills and create opportunities for peers to provide feedback to each other on their feedback.

By intentionally incorporating feedback literacy development into our teaching, we can help students build the skills and comfort with feedback that will serve them well in their careers. As a bonus, seeking and using feedback from students can make us better educators as well.

To learn more about developing feedback literacy in your students, including specific exercises and discussion guides, be sure to read the full article at 

Posted on

Need Help to Craft an AI Policy for your Syllabus?

Keep Calm and Read The Syllabus

Dr. Chris Heard, Director of the Center for Teaching Excellence at Seaver College at Pepperdine University, created a terrific tool to help instructors construct a statement about the use of generative AI for their syllabus.

This web-based decision tree tool, built using Twine, provides a customizable and interactive way for educators to draft statements that reflect their specific attitudes and policies regarding the use of generative AI in their courses. This resource ensures that faculty can clearly communicate their expectations and policies on AI usage to students, by working from a place of trust,  fostering transparency, and encouraging dialogue in the classroom.

Inspired by Heard’s work, this decision tree tool was recreated and tailored to W&L’s institutional needs. The Provost’s Office strongly recommends including an AI policy statement in every syllabus.

screenshot of the Generative AI Syllabus Statement Tool homepage

Access the Generative AI Syllabus Statement Tool! 

Should you have any questions or issues about using the tool, please stop by the Harte Center (LL1 in Leyburn Library). 

Posted on

Did you miss Derek Bruff’s take on how AI can improve assignment design?

At the top, it reads

“I like to say that tools like ChatGPT speak, but don’t think.”

Derek Bruff, Ph.D.
Strategic Advisor, UPCEA, and Visiting Associate Director, Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning, University of Mississippi

Bruff’s insights shed light on the nuanced relationship between AI tools and educational objectives. By sharing personal anecdotes and professional observations, Bruff underscores the importance of critical thinking and authentic assignments that prepare students for real-world challenges. He highlights AI’s limits and its potential to complement rather than replace human intellect, encouraging educators to rethink traditional assessment methods.

Don’t be sad if you missed it! We have Top Hat’s resources below: