Black Hills State University was selected in August by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) to participate in an initiative that is aimed to help universities adjust to the rise of AI in education and the workforce.
The initiative, which is known as the AI, Pedagogy, and Curriculum Institute brings together institutions from across the country to discuss how AI is reshaping classrooms and professional settings. BHSU’s participation in the initiative is part of the university’s effort to integrate AI into teaching in both a thoughtful and ethical way.
“This January, we launched an AI Literacy Working Group on campus through the Center for Faculty Innovation,” said Nicholas Van Kley, director of the Center for Faculty Innovation. “The group is working on a framework that describes key literacies students need to be successful across disciplines in an AI-saturated world.”
This group has 16 members, including faculty, staff and students who are exploring how AI affects learning and workforce readiness. The project gained more momentum when behavioral sciences professor Emilia Flint, then Chair of the School of Behavioral Sciences, began to develop a sabbatical proposal which was focused on building faculty resources for teaching with AI. Flint led the application process that later turned into BHSU’s selection in the initiative.
“Education has fundamentally changed because of widely accessible generative AI,” Van Kley said. “Traditional methods for teaching and assessing students are fragile in the face of these tools, and students are heading into industries where AI is already integrated.”
Through its participation, BHSU plans to pursue two faculty-led projects. The first is a university-wide toolkit for faculty designed to provide up-to-date guidance on how to incorporate AI into coursework. The second, led by Flint during her sabbatical, will involve surveying local businesses to better understand how AI is being used in the workplace.
“The toolkit will likely include training for faculty, suggested uses of generative AI in classrooms, and ready-to-use materials such as class policies, assignments, and activities,” Van Kley said.
One of the main goals of this initiative is to prepare students to engage with AI in a more critical and informed way than they may be used to, regardless of whether they choose to use the tools themselves.
“Students who have pushed generative AI tools to accomplish tasks are going to be better able to see their limits, recognize when it’s appropriate or beneficial to use them, and even articulate why they might choose not to use them,” Van Kley said. “All of those effects are likely to make students more resistant to AI hype and more adaptable when new tools emerge.”
One student expresses some skepticism on how AI might be used within the curriculum.
“I feel like professors might use it as a way to get out of working,” said BHSU freshman Conor Paulson. As he’s concerned that the use of AI could affect the interactions between professors and their students.
He’s not all too pessimistic though.
“I think if we know more about AI, we can use it more efficiently and expand on the ways we use it,” Paulson said.
These comments reflect one of the challenges the initiative hopes to address, which is to ensure students not only understand AI tools but also develop the skills to use them responsibly.
Integrating AI into the curriculum will come with challenges though. Van Kley noted that the rapid pace of change in AI technologies means faculty must continuously revise and update their teaching strategies.
“We can’t design assignments and activities and assume they’re going to model future professional uses of AI,” he said. “We have to figure out how to sustain long term attention to AI-infused curriculum and keep the resources we build relevant.”
As well as teaching skills and technical literacy, Van Kley said ethical concerns remain a central focus of the group.
“Everyone involved in this project is deeply aware of the ethical questions at stake, from climate and energy use to cultural preservation and the impact on creative labor,” Van Kley said. “We’re challenging ourselves to make resources that reflect a commitment to human well being, especially the well being of our students.”
As BHSU continues to work through the AAC&U initiative, the faculty team is hoping to release early versions of their toolkit during the upcoming academic year.