On Building a AI Policy for Teaching & Learning
How students drove the development of a policy for students and faculty
Hey folks—we have a policy and I’m pretty sure it’s the first of its kind in the country. So let me back up and explain. Over the course of 2023 as generative AI appeared and institutions scrambled to figure out what they were going to do, I had a thought about how my institution could deal with it in a way that made sense for us. I realized it would be important for the policy to include and even be driven by our students. So in December 2022 (yes, when ChatGPT was just a wee lil thing), I convinced my Provost to let me run a course on AI & Education. In it, the students and I would play with, learn about, and consider how generative AI fits into education. From that, we would develop a policy for usage for faculty and students, test it out, and then make that our policy (You can get the fuller detailed process in this post.).
Well, last month, the policy was finally approved by our Faculty Curriculum Committee and we can finally share the final version: AI Usage Policy. College Unbound also created (all-human, no AI used) a press release with the policy and some of the details.
It’s been so cool to be a part of this process and work with the students to make this happen. It’s not only something that I believe deeply about in how we create and facilitate deep learning but it speaks to the ethos of College Unbound and to the students who I certainly learned much from and helped me think about AI in ways I just would not have.
Now comes the next interesting challenge—how to implement and support such a policy across an institution. Stay tuned for that!
Meanwhile, I’d love to hear where readers are at their institution with policy and implementation. Do you have a policy/guidance? How did it get created? Has there been any strategies or attempts to implement (or has it been just “here it is, figure it out”)?
Upcoming Opportunities
I’m sharing a few events that are coming up that I think folks might be interested. Most are having to do with AI but all have to do with supporting faculty in teaching and learning.
A free online summit on Saturday, April 27th, 2024 from 9-5 p.m. ET
Description: This one-day virtual event offers educators and school leaders a unique opportunity to progress from the practical to the possible. Kick off the day by building your AI skills and learning from leading experts before moving on to an afternoon of hands-on experimentation with the latest AI tools. Your experience then culminates with a collaborative exploration into the future of education designed to spark your innovative thinking and start dreaming big.
EDUCAUSE Teaching & Learning Symposium
An online program on June 12, 2024 from 10am-4:30 ET. For pricing, see here.
Description: The 2024 EDUCAUSE Teaching and Learning Symposium brings together our community of higher education teaching and learning professionals for an immersive online conference of shared learning, co-creation, and storytelling.
Supporting Faculty With MVP: Minimum Viable Practice For Sustained Learning - Online Workshop
A 2-day online workshop on Thursday, June 20, 2024 and Monday, June 24, 2024 from 10:00 a.m.-11:30 a.m. ET. For pricing, see here.
Description: Ever feel like you aren't as engaged in an ongoing manner when supporting faculty? Maybe it's because that support and learning often involve big projects or one-off approaches. Learning often benefits from many smaller interactions and opportunities to practice and reflect over a period of time.
Enter what we call MVP, “minimum viable practice,” where we identify what are the smallest types of interactions and communications that can help sustain learning. This approach helps teaching and learning staff view any interaction as an opportunity to provide incremental help or guidance that fosters some means of transformation for faculty.
Join us for the two-day workshop where we'll guide teaching and learning staff through a series of activities which will help shape and develop their "minimum viable practice". We'll focus on how we can accumulate small wins that add up to larger change over time, moving away from the one big event approach and into a more systematic practice of development that is short, concise, and directly applicable to the daily teaching practices of faculty.
AACU Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum
A year-long virtual program running from September 2024 to April 2025 (see For pricing, see here.
Description: In September 2024, AAC&U will launch the inaugural Institute on AI, Pedagogy, and the Curriculum. This new, fully online institute is designed to help departments, programs, colleges, and universities respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities artificial intelligence (AI) presents for courses and curricula. Throughout the 2024–25 academic year, the institute will engage participating teams via virtual events, mentorship, and interactions as they develop and implement AI action plans for their classrooms, curricula, and campuses.
AI+Edu=Simplified by Lance Eaton is licensed under Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International
