At Blackhawk Technical College, understanding how artificial intelligence intersects with our students, their careers and our work is a strategic priority. As part of this initiative, Academic Affairs team members are sharing their expertise on different facets of AI use in education as presenters at a variety of conferences. 

“With a quickly-evolving field like artificial intelligence, a strategy that has worked well for us is to stay in regular communication both with our faculty in regard to what they are experiencing in the classroom and with colleagues at other institutions to compare their ideas, strategies, successes and challenges with our own,” Jon Mladic, Blackhawk’s director of teaching and learning resources, said. “This approach has allowed us to consider adapting possible solutions at a quicker pace than working on our own. It’s also reassuring to hear that a challenge for us is also a pain point for a peer institution, and it’s motivating to discover areas where we are ahead of the pace of other institutions.”

The topics were selected in part based on the audience for each conference, Mladic said.

At the Online Learning Consortium – Elevate conference in August, Mladic and Blackhawk’s Dean of General Education and Transfer Pathways Tiffany Garrison shared a presentation titled “Evolving to a Sustainable Model for AI Innovation.” This session tracked Blackhawk’s progress on initiatives related to AI from the release of ChatGPT in November 2022 through today. It touched on the Blackhawk faculty’s community of practice, the AI task force, the CITL team’s work in the AAC&U Institute and practical outcomes, such as the collection of WIDS AI syllabus language for faculty members.

Mladic also presented at the College Reading and Learning Association conference at the end of October along with Dr. Mulcahy-Ernt from the University of Bridgeport in Bridgeport, Connecticut. That presentation was titled “Learning, Leading, and Thriving with CAS Artificial Intelligence and Program Assessment Standards.” This session covered the CAS, or Certificate of Advanced Studies, standards as a programmatic self-assessment tool, with an emphasis on the Learning Assistance Program standards. CAS recently released Cas+, an AI tool that Blackhawk demonstrated live during the presentation to show how the tool can leverage its controlled knowledge base of CAS standards to guide the CAS self-assessment process for practitioners.

This month, Academic Affairs team members Nic Manogue, Tim Hall and Karli Kurth shared “Building an AI Classroom Culture” as a concurrent session at the Fox Valley Technical College Game Plan for Student Success conference. This session focuses on practical strategies for effective AI integration in the classroom through active engagement activities such as developing an AI alignment map and creating course-ready resources. Classroom integration examples include creating syllabus language, assignment-specific AI guidance, and authentic assessment practices. 

All these presentations reinforce Blackhawk’s commitment to increasing AI literacy within the college community.