In April, the CSU system launched the inaugural Artificial Intelligence Educational Innovations Challenge, asking faculty to develop instructional strategies that use AI tools. More than 750 faculty members responded to the call, putting forth over 400 proposals. The Chancellor’s Office will award a total of $3 million for 63 winning projects.
At Cal State Fullerton, one winning proposal will bring faculty and students in undergraduate STEM courses together to design and test AI-integrated assignments. The teams will use randomized controlled trials to compare AI and non-AI instructional strategies.
At CSU Channel Islands, communications students will analyze AI-generated messages and draft AI assignments themselves to better understand the necessity of human judgement calls.
According to the news release, several projects are collaborative across multiple disciplines, and some focus on professional development.
“These initiatives will explore and demonstrate effective AI integration in student learning, with findings shared systemwide to maximize impact,” Nathan Evans, CSU's chief academic officer and deputy vice chancellor of academic and student affairs, said in a public statement. “Our goal is to prepare students to engage with AI strategically, ethically and successfully in California’s fast-changing workforce.”
The challenge was designed to encourage faculty to explore how they could help students build AI fluency and move from ideation to action, addressing the need for meaningful engagement with AI. Creators of the inaugural challenge also hope to promote approaches that balance AI integration with academic integrity.
Along those lines, one winning project at Cal State Los Angeles creates a faculty learning community to discuss and develop AI ethics, and another at Cal State Monterey Bay will thread lessons about ethical AI instruction across seven courses in the secondary teacher education program.
According to the news release, the challenge reflects the university system’s AI strategy, which started in February with a partnership with major tech companies like OpenAI, NVIDIA, Intel and Adobe, providing ChatGPT licenses to faculty and staff across the state.
Throughout this month, CSU is holding free, online AI learning events for faculty, staff and students as part of its AI in July celebration. These will include keynote speakers, prompt challenges and showcases.
