IDEAS Group to Host November Seminar on Teaching in the Age of AI

About

The Instructional Design, Engagement and Support (IDEAS) group at UMass Amherst will host the online seminar “Teaching in the Age of AI: What Matters Most for Learning?” on Thursday, Nov. 12, from 3–4:30 p.m. The seminar will stream live on YouTube.

AI can provide answers in seconds, generate ideas on demand and offer guidance across a wide range of academic and personal challenges. However, research suggests that AI can reinforce assumptions, present uncertain information with confidence and shape how people understand problems, evaluate evidence and make decisions.

The seminar will begin with a case study examining reports of AI-related psychiatric harm and the questions they raise about how interactions with AI may influence beliefs, behavior and mental health. Drawing on perspectives from journalism, technology and higher education, the panel will explore the broader implications for human judgment, critical thinking, teaching and learning.

Key discussion topics will include:

How can instructors help students critically evaluate not only the accuracy of AI-generated information, but also the assumptions and perspectives embedded in its responses?How can instructors distinguish between AI that supports learning and AI that replaces the thinking students need to develop themselves?

Speakers include: Patricia Clarke, technology editor at The Observer and a Pulitzer Center AI Accountability Fellow; Miho Kubagawa, head of strategic initiatives at The Rithm Project; Caroline DeVane, an instructor at UMass Amherst; and Julia Feldhaus, a senior lecturer at UMass Amherst.

The seminar will be moderated by Slava Yurchenkov, manager of Instructional Design at UMass Amherst.

For more information and to register for the seminar, visit the IDEAS event page