Artificial intelligence (AI) is more than the latest buzz word – it is a fast-growing technological reality with undeniable impact, particularly in the classroom. Moraine Valley Community College is using a nearly $1 million grant from the National Science Foundation to help faculty become familiar with and teach AI.
The “Leveraging Artificial Intelligence Skills in Community College Classrooms and Technical Careers” award is under the charge of Dr. John Sands, Moraine Valley professor of local area networks. The initiative will bring together an interdisciplinary cohort of Moraine Valley faculty to include every area from English and physical science to math, career programs and health sciences. Participants will engage in a series of workshops to become AI experts.
“The first part is to teach faculty how to use AI to develop material to engage students. We want to show them how to build everything in the classroom including exams, presentations and lab exercises. We’ll show them which AI program to use,” Sands explained. “Few faculty know how to use these things, but every single discipline can benefit from it and use it to improve the way we teach and teach students how to use it because every job will require some literacy in AI.”
Sands explained how other colleges have used AI to create effective graphic materials, such as mind maps and flowcharts, images of how arteries function, storyboards demonstrating the writing process and more. Faculty even can create an entire online presentation using their voices. Through the workshops, participants will engage with all aspects of AI, including ethical usage and how students use it to cheat on coursework.
After equipping faculty with practical AI skills, the grant team will develop a comprehensive library of AI-powered educational resources for educators on campus that, after a year, will be shared among other community colleges. The team will then create additional content, workshops and activities highlighting best practices for teaching AI with the goal of helping students develop an ethical understanding and practical usage of this technology in their careers.
“Moraine Valley will prepare students for modern career demands while establishing itself as a national leader in community college AI integration,” Sands noted. “I want to get faculty excited about it. When I was in high school, we started to use calculators, and teachers said it was the end of math. We have to use these tools while building foundational skills.”
This four-year grant will include a new cohort every year, and other community colleges eventually will be invited to participate.
For news media inquiries, contact Maura Vizza, Moraine Valley communications specialist and sports information coordinator, at (708) 974-5742 or Vizzam@morainevalley.edu.
