Posts in category: News

Dr. Julie Carpenter on AI Literacy, Attachment, and Human Learning

What are faculty and students actually saying about AI when they are given a structured space to speak honestly? In this episode of My Robot Teacher, Sarah and Taiyo talk with April Lawson, co-founder of Insight Debate & Dialogue, about what she has learned from facilitating structured conversations about AI across colleges and universities.

A conversation between Learning Lab director Lark Park and Professor Armando Fox, reflecting on the evolution of computing, coding, CS education and learning

On February 6th, California Education Learning Lab(Learning Lab) and UC San Diego, in partnership with an intersegmental planning committee also representing San Diego State University and the San Diego Community College District, convened Better Together: California Convening on AI in Higher Education. The dynamic gathering brought together faculty, staff, and administrators from California Community Colleges, CSUs, and UCs to explore the impact of AI on teaching and learning. Programming committee member and presenter Sesh Murthy shared that the diversity and number of AI projects and voices represented at the convening led to a unique opportunity for robust intersegmental exchange around AI in higher education: “What made the convening especially valuable was the opportunity to hear directly from peers who are deeply engaged in applying AI in education. It allowed us to learn from both successes and failures, and to compare notes across an unusually broad range of work, from AI in writing to AI in mathematics.” Echoed UC San Diego professor of Computer Science Mohan Paturi, “It is wonderful to be part of a gathering of faculty and academic leaders enthusiastic about harnessing AI’s power to help students learn better and to share ideas and practices for dealing with evolving technology and student attitudes.” 

The conference highlighted the power of collaborations and conversations across the UCs, CSUs, and California Community Colleges and industry. Programming included the plenary panels “Ethics and Responsibility in AI” and “Institutional Readiness for AI”, featuring faculty and administrative leadership from across the three segments, and an “Industry Insights” plenary panel, in which industry leaders shared the current use of AI in the tech, defense, law, and the entertainment industry, touching on how faculty can best prepare students for an AI-enabled workplace.

A standout of the event was the inclusion of student voices in the programming. CSU Fullerton Applied Math student Giselle Cortez-Tlaxcuapan, speaking on the AI Ethics and Responsibility panel, spoke poignantly about how AI can make higher education more equitable and accessible. She shared that as a Hispanic woman who sees few students like herself in her advanced math classes, being able to ask questions of generative AI and leverage it for notes review gave her confidence in feeling prepared to speak in classes or follow up with professors in ways she hadn’t before. While acknowledging the importance of academic integrity, she emphatically told the audience of faculty and administrators that students need support, not blanket bans in this new AI landscape: “I don’t think the answer to handling AI is purity and abstinence. I think it’s just: teach them how to do it.” In break-out sessions, San Diego City College Student Brandon Mills and his math professor, Roberto Rubalcaba had a lively conversation about how AI can support neurodiverse students through more personalized learning, with Mills explaining how learners of all types could benefit from leveraging AI to explain math concepts through individual niche interests like sports teams or Stranger Things. 

Faculty innovation across the three systems was also on display, including in several presentations and posters featuring Learning Lab intersegmental grantees. The PAIRR project (Peer & AI Review + Reflection), led by UC Davis in partnership with three CSUs and four California Community Colleges, presented their curricular approach to teaching writing through a combination of human peer and AI feedback, while Enhancing Academic Writing and Digital Literacy with an AI Coach  —a collaboration between UC Irvine, North Orange County Community College District,  Cypress College, and UC Fullerton —  showcased how students in diverse settings and disciplines use Papyrus, a faculty-developed AI tool for writing instruction support. A collaborative project between UC San Diego, San Diego Community College District, and industry partner Vocareum demonstrated how an AI-assisted math tutor integrated into classes can support math remediation, while a partnership between Sac State, Folsom Lake College, and UC Davis showed how AI tools can provide students with the necessary just-in-time guidance and metacognitive support to succeed in complex, open-ended, project-based engineering tasks. These represent just a handful of the pioneering AI initiatives and tools shared by Learning Lab grantees and other faculty and administrators at the convening.

Anoshua Chaudhuri, Senior Director for the Center for Equity and Excellence in Teaching and Learning at San Francisco State University, described the convening as “energizing and affirming, for the hard work we are doing around teaching and learning with and about AI,” continuing,“This world is constantly evolving, throwing new uncertainties making us feel like we are on the hamster wheel; but the convening was a wonderful space created that made us feel we are not in it alone and we have many others to lean on and learn from. I personally brought home many takeaways from big picture to the nitty gritty.”

Highlighting the spirit of intersegmental and regional collaboration, UC San Diego Chancellor Pradeep Khosla, San Diego State University President Adela de la Torre, and San Diego Community College District Chancellor Gregory Smith shared their thoughts at the closing reception, praising the innovation and collaboration of faculty, staff, and administrators across the three segments attending the convening, and echoing the Better Together theme: that seeking opportunities to build and work together across education systems benefits all California students. Programming committee member Elisa Sobo, whose own work on the Learning Lab-funded Equitable Alliance project models regional, intersegmental collaboration to improve AI access, celebrated the significance of this moment: “For me, the fact that high-level leaders from each of the three segments of California’s higher education system not only attended but actively participated confirmed the radically innovative nature of our efforts to break down intersegmental silos through the Better Together convening.”

Watch Recordings:
Panel 1: Ethics and Responsibility in AI
Panel 2: Institutional Readiness for AI Across the UCs, CSUs, and CCCs
Panel 3: Industry Insights – Al Impact Across Sectors
Fireside Chat: Lark Park and Pradeep Khosla on AI’s impact on higher education and the SD region