Tech Tailgate
Technology Tailgate 2025
The Technology Tailgate is an online mini-conference exploring innovations in teaching, learning, and institutional advancement at ECU. The 2025 Tech Tailgate theme is Artificial Intelligence in education, research, and work productivity and will be held on March 27!
This event will delve into the latest AI advancements and applications across campus. This event is an opportunity for educators, researchers, technologists, and AI enthusiasts to come together, share insights, and discuss best practices for integrating AI into their work.
Don’t miss this chance to connect with peers, gain valuable knowledge, and discover how AI can enhance your professional endeavors.
Sessions
| Session Title | Description | Presenter | Session Time | Session Link |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The AI Toolbox: Leveraging Multiple AI Tools for Student Success | This session examines how AI tools can be leveraged to drive student success. It highlights best practices for integrating and utilizing AI tools for course content creation. Participants will explore how AI can be utilizing to enhance the backwards design approach to teaching and improve the quality of their courses. By the end of the session, participants be able will add an additional AI tool to their teaching toolbox. | Michael Daniels, & Kelly Reinsmith-Jones | 9:00 - 9:20 AM | Join Now |
| Artists in an AI world | In an era of growing AI innovation, it is crucial to have the knowledge and skills to incorporate AI appropriately to improve productivity and overall quality. In this session, we will explore some of the creative tools that use generative AI and showcase some of the many tasks these tools can perform. | Emily Leach | 9:30 - 9:50 AM | Join Now |
| Using ChatGPT to Help with Data Processing | Explore the potential of ChatGPT and learn how to craft prompts for ChatGPT to generate MS-Excel macros that can be used to process, visualize, and present data in various disciplines. | Jason Yao | 10:00 - 10:20 AM | Join Now |
| Using Chat GPT to Summarize Qualitative Assessment Data | This presentation explores the use of ChatGPT as a potential tool for assessment. ChatGPT was used to help summarize qualitative data collected from the Global Understanding post-course survey. The session highlights how ChatGPT was used to conduct a sentiment analysis and identify key themes in student responses, providing valuable insights into the program that can be used in multiple ways. | Jami Leibowitz | 10:30 - 10:50 AM | Join Now |
| Incorporating ChatGPT Into Online Discussion in a Literacy Course: Impact and Students' Perceptions | This study utilizes the IDEE framework (Su & Yang, 2023), which focuses on identifying desired outcomes (I), determining appropriate levels of automation (D), ensuring ethical considerations (E), and evaluating the effectiveness (E) of using ChatGPT, to explore its role in enhancing discussions in a graduate-level asynchronous online literacy course. ChatGPT was integrated into two graded discussions, with sixteen students following specific guidelines and reflecting on AI-generated content. The results indicate that while concerns about the tool's effectiveness and authenticity remain, ChatGPT enhances engagement, promotes critical thinking, sharpens analytical skills, and offers new teaching opportunities. | Ran Hu, & Xi Lin | 11:00 - 11:20 AM | Join Now |
| AITRI: Building Human-Centered, Tech-Informed AI Innovation in Education | The AI Teaching and Research Institute (AITRI), housed in the College of Education’s Center for STEM Education, is a regional and digital hub dedicated to advancing AI literacy and innovation in education. In this session, AITRI’s founding members will showcase how they help faculty integrate AI into their teaching and research, create AI tools, as well as foster ethical and creative applications. Attendees will gain insight into collaborative opportunities, including student support, research partnerships, and AI literacy initiatives that drive educational transformation. Join us to explore how AITRI can amplify your work with AI, connect you with a network of forward-thinking educators, and provide hands-on support to bring your AI ideas to life. | Kristen Gregory, Ken Luterbach, Xi Lin, & Sarah Sconyers | 11:30 - 11:50 AM | Join Now |
| CIO Updates | Zach Loch | 12:00 - 12:30 PM | Join Now | |
| Innovative AI Integration in College Writing Instruction: Enhancing Learning While Upholding Academic Integrity | This presentation will examine innovative approaches for integrating AI tools into college-level English writing instruction, with a focus on maintaining academic integrity while supporting the development of essential writing skills. The presentation will emphasize practical strategies for using AI as a pedagogical support tool—enhancing instruction rather than diminishing the writing process. The presentation will further explore how carefully structured AI integration can promote student engagement, deepen critical thinking, and streamline aspects of writing instruction without compromising personal voice, creativity, or mechanical accuracy. | Carla Pastor | 1:00 - 1:20 PM | Join Now |
| Curate Learning through Dialogue: The NotebookLM Research Experience | NotebookLM combines source curation with AI-powered dialogue to create learning environments that foster explorative research and writing. It can help transform learning from a linear step-by-step process into a workflow based on inquiry and curiosity. This presentation demonstrates how this approach can lead to deeper learning and unexpected insights. | Michelle Eble | 1:30 - 1:50 PM | Join Now |
| High-Impact Pedagogy: AI Learns, Students Teach | When they are assigned the role of teacher, students are encouraged to deeply understand concepts in order to explain them. Drawing on Chen et al. (2024), whose work on ChatGPT as a “teachable agent” demonstrates stronger student mastery when learners teach AI, this session will show you how to set up “explaining to AI activities” in your own courses. Discover how to craft prompts that challenge students to articulate core concepts clearly and critically evaluate AI’s responses. | Todd Finley, & Sarah Sconyers | 2:00 - 2:20 PM | Join Now |
For any inquiries or questions, please email learningtechnologies@ecu.edu.