Campus Connection

AI Summit May 17 brings together faculty, staff to discuss perspectives, emerging practices and critical issues 

Artificial Intelligence has been advancing rapidly, both enhancing and disrupting the work of professionals across career fields. In higher education, faculty have been experimenting with innovative applications and assessing the potential and limitations of AI for teaching and learning.  

While the technology has the potential to speed processes and spur creative projects, it has also opened the door for academic misuse and abuse of the technology. College students across the country have received mixed messages, with some instructors banning the use of AI and others requiring it for assignments.  

With the great deal of uncertainty about AI, an AI Summit at UW-La Crosse aims to bring together faculty and staff from across campus to share diverse perspectives, emerging practices, and critical issues related to AI in higher education. 

UWL will hold an Artificial intelligence Summit from 9 a.m.-1 p.m. Friday, May 17, at the Student Union. UWL faculty and staff can register for the free summit on the AI Summit website. Early registration is encouraged. 

The goal of the summit is to help faculty and staff:

• Recognize the importance of working with AI as an emerging career competency for students. 
• Gain ideas for classroom applications, including AI-enhanced assignments, feedback, and other activities that will benefit student learning. 
• Participate in dialogue about, and hear diverse perspectives on, academic integrity, ethics, and responsible use. 
• Learn about current attitudes toward, and uses of, AI technologies among students and instructors. 
  

The event will include opening remarks, concurrent sessions, panel discussions, roundtable discussions and more.

During an “AI & Academic Integrity” panel at 11 a.m. members of the campus community will discuss issues of plagiarism, cheating, and appropriate uses of AI technology in the classroom. The panel will include the College of Business Administration Dean, representatives from Faculty Senate and Student Life, as well as a UWL student. “We hope that this kind of conversation will lead to greater consistency and transparency as the university tries to shape policy over the coming semesters,” says Chris McCracken, UWL assistant professor of English. 

During a session “AI Across Campus” at 1 p.m. different stakeholders from across campus, including the ACCESS Center, the Office of Research and Sponsored Programs, Career Services, and the Murphy Library will provide essential advice and perspectives that will impact all instructors, students and administrators. 

The AI Summit isn’t the first time the UWL campus has engaged in dialog about AI. UWL’s Center for Advancing Teaching and Learning has and will continue to offer events and programming related to AI, including an AI Community of Practice where instructors regularly discuss their experiences, challenges, and opportunities with AI. The Science of Learning Institute: Enhancing Student Learning with AI is another opportunity this summer for faculty to learn how to use AI as a teaching and learning tool.