RPTA 125: Leisure, the Individual and Contemporary Society

AI, UDL, Connection

Course Description

Catalog Description: Provides an understanding of the social science of leisure in contemporary society by examining the philosophical, socio-cultural, ethical, economic, behavioral, political and historical dimensions of leisure; exploration of the interrelationship between individuals, groups, and society in the context of leisure. The course also examines beliefs, values, and social structures, and compares and contrasts them with individual and social influences such as race, ethnicity, gender, gender expression, sexuality, age, economic status and ability. Units: 3.0

General Education Area/Graduation Requirement: Social and Behavioral Sciences (4-A), Writing Intensive Graduation Requirement (WI)

This course is typically offered in Fall and Spring. It includes the prerequisite of passing the WPE/WPJ or Eng 109W/E prior to enrollment. This course generally hosts 35 students and is offered in hybrid, synchronous and asynchronous formats.

Overview of the Redesign Project

This course redesign was motivated by two factors, AI and connection. Teaching a writing intensive course in the time of AI presents unique challenges. These challenges were increased because this semester (Fall 2025) because I was teaching this course in an asynchronous format for the first time. My previous format of hybrid allowed me to have much more real time experiences with the students, helping me to better understand their writing capabilities. Which provided me with a better understanding when the use of AI might be unethically involved in their writing. Another factor was my participation in two CSU trainings (over the past six months) that focused partially on AI. With that, I feel much more comfortable and capable to introduce its use into my classroom.

I believe it is my duty to show my students how AI can benefit them and their future careers. This especially important because the goals of the College of Health & Human Services is to strive to teach innovation and empowerment, promote well-being and best practices. I am also newly shifted to the Kinesiology Department (from Recreation, Parks and Tourism Administration) where we focus on a unique blend of physical, mental and emotional/social dimensions of learning. Helping my students develop the basic skill set for using AI can greatly enhance my students ability to addressing problems and enriching lives as part of our department's purpose.

With the growth of AI, academics would benefit from developing an ethical framework, in contrast to an unenforceable ban. Coming to this conclusion helped guide me to proactively involve AI in my class in a manner that was ethical and beneficial for my students.

As noted earlier, I was also focused on ensuring a strong connection with my students, especially since this semester we is in an asynchronous format. Having a strong connection with my students is very important to me as an instructor, so the asynchronous format motivated my focus. I also feel that a successful writing process requires honest feedback and dialogue. To achieve this students often need to feel comfortable and safe asking questions and sharing challenges. In addition, some of the writing prompts can ask students to share personal information, so creating an environment of psychological safety was important to achieve an optimal learning environment.

1. 1. (AI & UDL) Draft/Outline Assignment #1 - This was an assignment to start the brainstorming process for their Reflection Paper #1 - Leisure and Identity. This is their first writing assignments towards the 5,000 word total for the semester. The prompt for this assignment often causes challenges in this initial stage because it asks them to reflect on a personal "coming of age" media piece. Such as a book, television show, song, movie, etc. Students often struggle remembering what this item was for them during their younger years. Knowing that, I felt AI was a perfect tool to assist in this process. Also acknowledging that not all students would be comfortable with AI I felt adding in choice would be important. When I updated this assignment to include the AI option, I also created a second option of a Mind Map. This is a brainstorming method that works well for visual learners or those who have several ideas, but are finding challenges in organizing the ideas and finding connections.
    1. Option #1 - Create a Mind Map for brainstorming the topics and supporting details
    2. Option #2 - Use Chat GPT for brainstorming topic ideas
  2. (UDL) 4 Ways Leisure Promotes Mental Health - The idea of providing options for the students to choose between to complete their educational goals has always resonated with me, so incorporating it into this assignment was natural. In this assignment students were asked to read a journal article on the above topic, then provide an example of one of the four ways that leisure promoted mental health. They were given the choice to reflect on a personal example, OR an example from a video that we watched the week prior.
  3. (Connection) Dear Dr. B Letter - It is important to note that the idea and format for this assignment was borrowed with permission from a colleague. I have had the idea of incorporating this assignment for a few semesters now. Having both of my sections shift to asynchronous was the final motivation I needed to implement this assignment. In first week of class they are given this assignment using the quiz tool in Canvas to complete a series of questions asked by their instructor. The intent being, the answers to the questions would work as a letter to the instructor outlining them as a student, their current challenges, how many units they are completing, whether they are also working, their preferred learning styles, their responsibilities outside of class, and any other items that they want to share that would be helpful for me as their instructor. The questions are asked in an essay format so they can type their answers open-ended. I then went through each quiz, provided a personal response and coded their answers (for my private use) to help me understand my student's challenges and how I can support them best.

Assessment of the Redesign Project

This table shows three ways I assessed my course redesign.
AI	Universal Design Learning	Dear Dr. B
ChatGPT Logo in black and white with a circular knot. To conclude whether the introduction of ChatGPT was helpful to my students I compared the grades for the Reflection Paper #1 from Spring 2025 to Fall 2025. But there was not much difference. I then remembered that I included a reflection piece with the Draft/Outline Assignment #1. I went through both of my sections and calculated the students responses. I have a total of 61 students between my two sections and 24 students choose to use the Chat GPT option for this assignment. Out 24 students, 20 found using Chat GPT helpful to very helpful. Three students did not find it helpful and 1 was neutral. It also occurred to me, the help that Chat GPT provided may have simply negated the struggles that my students from the Spring semester had trying to address the prompt of the reflection paper. The prompt asks students to reflect on a "coming of age" piece of media (television show, movie, song, book, etc.). I have found that simply thinking of an example is challenging for students and that I specifically why I chose this assignment to incorporate AI. While the benefits to the reflection paper may go immeasurable, I believe there is great benefit in showing students the one ethical way that AI can be used in academics. To further support this I am also creating a Extra Credit AI Unit for the students to complete which provides further explanations and examples of what is ethical and what should be avoided. Screenshots of 3 student reflections about the use of AI; #1 #2 #3	Purple box that has an outline of a human and a light bulb and the words Universal Design for Learning (UDL). Below is a screenshot of the assignment details for the first assignment where I incorporated choice; Here is a screenshot of a student submission for the assignment "4 Ways Leisure Promotes Mental Health" - the student choose the option of reflecting on a recent class video instead of a personal reflection: In contrast, here is an example of a student sharing a personal reflection;	Clip art of a envelope, letter and a pencil. While, I do not have empirical evidence to assess my Dear. Dr.B letter, I believe I have informal anecdotal evidence. I believe beginning the semester with this welcoming exercise may had lead my students to being more comfortable and open with me than otherwise. I suggest this based on a separate assignment we completed just past the midpoint of the semester. We were focusing on the concept that leisure can help support individuals during time of stress or major life events. The idea being, when life is "hard" we should lean into leisure (exercise, hobbies, walks) instead of dropping those activities due to the challenging experiences. The students were asked to share a personal reflection about a challenging time in their life where they turned to leisure for support and it benefited them. I was brought to tears on more than one occasion with the truly personal and monumental stories many students shared. One should acknowledge there could be a disinhibition effect from being online and hence they felt safe to share. But I like to think the exercise at the start of semester helped to establish an environment of safety to share. Even if the exercise did not affect the students, I personally found it grounding to help remind me of the many various factors are students are managing these days. They are vast, diverse, and sometimes beyond what should be asked for their experience level. Every human can continually benefit from being reminded often, that others challenges and perspectives are as unique as they are. Here are the questions that were included in the "quiz" with the answers being open-ended essay format;

Reflection

I have gained a great deal from this redesign project and I believe my students have as well. This project has continued to reinforce the idea that our courses should be ever evolving and adapting. It seems with each year our society is changing exponentially and hence, our courses, our delivery and our understanding of our students must keep up at that accelerated pace. I learned that AI can be a very useful tool for many students when provided the proper direction. I was reminded that our students' learning styles are diverse and providing choice helps support and encourage that. I also learned that it is possible to create trust and connection while being asynchronous.

My future plans are to continue to incorporate these changes so I can compare future semesters to validate my observations. I also plan on continuing to include more "choice" in assignments as I continue to edit and update assignments each new semester. I plan on exploring additional ways AI can be used in my courses, especially focusing on assignments or concepts that have proven to be challenging for students.

Faculty Biography

This table includes my faculty biography.
Above: A head shot of Dr. Catharine Bening. Also a photo of two young girls sitting on a paddle board in Tahoe with a yellow lab sitting between them.	Dr. Cat Bening has been a part-time lecturer in the Recreation, Parks, and Tourism Administration (RPTA) Department at Sacramento State since 2007. Beginning in Fall 2025, the RPTA program became part of the Kinesiology Department, forming the new Recreation and Sport degree. In addition to her work at Sacramento State, Cat taught at San Francisco State University for five years and at Sierra College from 2006 to 2020. Prior to teaching, Cat spend over 12 years coaching both softball and basketball from youth to college. She served over 15 years working with the YMCA in program areas such as camps/caravans, youth sports, aquatics, youth and teen programs, special events, and more. Her extensive background in recreation, athletics, and higher education—spanning multiple institutions—enhances her teaching and her ability to engage with diverse student populations. Outside the classroom, Cat enjoys walking her yellow Labrador, lifting weights and doing CrossFit at Aquila Fitness, playing indoor soccer, indoor rock climbing, and spending time with her two daughters. She is an active volunteer in their athletic activities, often serving as a coach, and she enjoys baking for school events and fundraisers.

**Program Sponsors**
	This work was supported by: Sacramento State Academic Affairs - Center for Teaching and Learning