Stuart Landers (Stu) has been a university-level ESL, EFL, and EAP instructor since 1994. He has taught in English language programs at the University of Florida, South Korea's Kyungnam University, the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, and Missouri State University. He has been an ESL and EAP Instructor at Colorado State University since 2013. He holds an MA in TESOL and a Certificate in Language Program Administration from the Middlebury Institute of International Studies at Monterey, as well as a Cambridge University / RSA CELTA from the Australian TESOL Training Centre in Sydney.
Though creativity cannot be taught, it can certainly be nurtured. Find a routine that works for you. Routines can be positive if they reinforce a healthy, creative mindset; they can be counterproductive if they actually keep you from being creative. While breaking your routine once in a while to force new ways of thinking is good, what if growing/learning/experiencing new things was built into your routine as a given? The people who speak negatively about routine have probably not developed a routine that puts them on a path of internal growth. The key is to discover creative rituals that put you in a more creative mindset.


Title: AI in ESL Assessment: Unleashing the Potential of Artificial Intelligence for Efficient, Objective, and Enhanced Scoring and Feedback of Academic Writing

Artificial intelligence (AI), took the world by storm in November 2022 with the introduction of ChatGPT, a sophisticated technology capable of producing human-like responses and analyses to practically any question asked of it.
Importantly, these open-sourced technical tools are available to classroom instructors with no need for advanced coding or computer skills. This presentation aims to explore the integration of AI into ESL (English as a Second Language) classrooms for the assessment and scoring of student academic papers. As ESL educators and professionals, our primary goal is to foster language proficiency and academic success. Incorporating AI-based solutions can enhance the assessment process by using AI to effectively act as a second reader, or teacher’s assistant, tasked with scoring written responses and providing useful, constructive, and timely feedback for students.
The objectives of this presentation are:
· to provide an overview of available, open-source AI technologies relevant to ESL assessment;
· to discuss the importance of a well-designed and clearly articulated rubric for evaluating responses reliably; and
· how to craft prompts to ensure more accurate, more pertinent, and more useful AI responses.
Participants will hopefully gain a better understanding of the ways in which they can incorporate AI into their assessment of student writing and take advantage of the benefits that AI offers, including efficiency and objectivity. This presentation hopefully will equip ESL educators with the knowledge and tools necessary to harness AI's potential for enhancing the assessment and scoring of student academic papers.

Summary: This presentation will introduce ESL educators to the use of AI for assessing and scoring student academic papers. The presentation will cover available AI technologies, the importance of a well-designed rubric, and how to craft prompts for accurate feedback. Participants will learn how to incorporate AI into their assessment practices to improve efficiency and objectivity.