Jordan H. Davis
@jordanhdavis.bsky.social
Faculty Development Specialist at Wilmington University. Substacker. Keynote Speaker. Podcaster. Providing breakfast restaurant recommendations. Join our Substack community of Unteachers: unteaching.substack.com
This past Wednesday, I worked with Pre-K-8 teachers at St. Mark School in Catonsville, MD. I delivered a workshop on trauma-informed teaching as part of their teacher prep week. The workshop was the first in a three-part series of trainings, with the following two planned for September and October.🙌🏿
"Share two truths and a lie." "Give us a fun fact about you." Every college student has heard at least one of these icebreaker prompts before. I offer a lively alternative to repetitive, static class introductions. open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
What if campus supports for first-gen college students weren't mainly about learning to fit in and to catch up? What if first-gen students also learned about campus power networks sustaining exclusion and unequal opportunity? Sparked by @jordanhdavis.bsky.social ghost.edandclass.com/power-mapping/
Learning Power
When I was an undergraduate, I did volunteer work with a remarkable 2nd grade teacher in an elementary school in a working-class neighborhood. The year before, the children had noticed that traffic o...
ghost.edandclass.com
My first ever piece in Inside Higher Ed was published this morning! In it, I argue that preparing students for life after graduation requires making our courses less—not more—like the workplace. #insidehighered #collegeteaching www.insidehighered.com/opinion/care...
Corporate Classroom Cultures Don’t Serve Students (opinion)
It’s not helping their students.
insidehighered.com
How do we address an avalanche of AI slop without spending copious amounts of time scheduling and conducting one-on-one meetings with students? I give two options in this week’s article. I want to hear your strategies—share them below! open.substack.com/pub/unteachi... #cognitiveoffllading #ai
At Elon University’s 22nd Annual Teaching and Learning Conference, I'll be delivering a 20-minute session on co-creation and digital critical pedagogy! Click the link below to register for the in-person or online conference: www.elon.edu/u/fa/technol...
I'm thrilled to facilitate a workshop on co-creation for a global audience at UDL-CON International! Click the link below to register. www.cast.org/connect/even... #udl #conference #facultydevelopment
After months of struggling with co-creation, I’ve finally landed on an activity that any instructor can use to co-create an AI policy with students. Read more about my approach here: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
If you’re a college instructor who’s looking to set clear expectations around AI use in your courses, then this week’s Substack piece for you. I’ve always tried to set expectations with—not for—students, and AI policies are no different. open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
An Approach to Co-Creating AI Policies with Students
What I'm planning to do in my course this summer
open.substack.com
Read this week’s piece about why AI writing scores shouldn’t be trusted: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
A handful of tech companies are nearly single-handedly keeping AI developers afloat. www.bloomberg.com/graphics/202...
A Guide to the Circular Deals Underpinning the AI Boom
A web of interlinked investments raises the risk of cascading losses if AI falls short of its potential.
bloomberg.com
It turns out that AI isn’t as inevitable as some are lead to think. Tech companies increase each other’s stock value through circular transactions that give the illusion of AI demand. Read more about how I’m resisting: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi... #ai #genai #highered
Question for college instructors: What’s your approach to managing students’ personal device use in the classroom, and why? How do you communicate/negotiate those expectations? #collegteaching #teaching #highereducation
Let’s stop and ask our students, “What do you think?” About AI (policies), about assignment formats, about their performance in the course. Implement their recommendations. Validate their insights. This is what student empowerment looks like #teaching #highered #facultydevelopment
Our stances on technology—whether students should use generative AI and mobile devices in general—don’t actually matter as much as how we determine and enforce these expectations in our teaching. Read this week’s piece: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
Critical Digital Pedagogy: A Brief Manifesto
Why technology-saturated classrooms need a more critical approach.
open.substack.com
Should classrooms mirror the workplace? When career preparation goes too far, and how to strike the right balance, in this week’s Substack piece: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
Faculty are bringing corporate culture into the classroom. It's not helping their students.
Should classrooms mirror the workplace?
open.substack.com
In celebration of #mlkday, I reflect on the powerful words of an 18-year-old Dr. King in his essay, “The Purpose of Education”, and what they say about higher ed’s current climate. Read it here: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
This is what I do it for ❤️. I’m so grateful to the Association of Faculties for Advancement of Community College Teaching (AFACCT) for inviting me to set the tone for their 36th annual teaching and learning conference. What a way to start the new year and new semester. #conference #keynote
As the opening keynote for AFACCT’s 36th Annual Conference, I shared an approach to setting learner-centered policies and expectations about technology with—not for—students. More conference fun tomorrow 🙌🏿❤️ #bmore #communitycollege #conference #facultydevelopment
This is an example of a personal device police that you might consider using in the Spring. It’s specific, transparent, and allows for discussion. What will be your approach to personal devices in the spring? #collegeteaching #highered #pedagogy #teaching #facultydevelopment
Are students so addicted to their phones that the only way to eliminate classroom distractions is to ban them altogether? I tackle the question, and share two strategies for setting personal device expectations in classrooms: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
Are phones harmful enough to justify stripping students of their agency by outright banning them? I explore answers in this week’s Substack article: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
Beloved friends and colleagues! This week's article-about the over-professionalization of higher ed, and its impact on students—will be shared tomorrow (Thursday) morning. Subscribe today to make sure it lands in your inbox. Sign up here: unteaching.substack.com
Read about how AI agents are already disrupting higher ed classrooms in my most recent piece: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
Students and instructors can now use agentic AI browsers like Perplexity’s Comet and ChatGPT’s Atlas to complete and grade online assignments respectively without even needing to log into their LMS. Read more below: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
Your Students' Secret Agent
Agentic AI browsers are yet another AI disruption, with immediate implications for online tests and quizzes
open.substack.com
Good teaching is unconventional teaching. To teach well, you have to go against teaching traditions that have been around since the 13th century. It sometimes requires winning over students who expect an efficient yet disconnected learning experience that involves consumption and recitation.
For those looking for guidance on how to respond to students when their work appears to be AI generated. Hint: Plagiarism checkers aren’t as helpful as you think they are. Read more here: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
Because plagiarism checkers are so unreliable, and because it’s nearly impossible to definitively prove that a student quoted or paraphrased AI without attribution, I don’t even bother accusing or investigating AI misuse. Here’s what I do instead: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
How to Respond to Cheating While Not Being A Jerk
A playbook for navigating academic plagiarism
open.substack.com
Read this week’s piece, “The Problem with Punisihing Plagiarism”, on Substack: open.substack.com/pub/unteachi...
