Roanoke joins grant-funded project to integrate artificial intelligence

Roanoke College has joined a grant-funded collaboration with four other Virginia higher education institutions that will assist faculty and students as they work to ethically integrate artificial intelligence into the educational experience.

The work will be funded by a $75,000 grant awarded to George Mason University as part of the 2024 Fund for Excellence and Innovation (FEI) grant program, which is administered through the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV). George Mason will lead a project team consisting of Roanoke, Bridgewater College, James Madison University and the University of Virginia to develop cross-disciplinary research and resources, as well as a series of workshops, aimed at helping faculty to integrate AI into the classroom. The team’s efforts will be bolstered by an advisory board made up of business and industry leaders.

Two additional $75,000 grants were awarded to Old Dominion University and Virginia Commonwealth University, which will each partner with other educational institutions to form similar project teams. The idea, said SCHEV interim director Alan Edwards, is for the work of those three project teams to establish a foundation that other educators in Virginia can stand on as they find responsible ways to use AI.

“I am excited about the multi-institutional collaboration under this grant, aiming to ethically integrate artificial intelligence into education,” said Meghan Jester, director of career exploration at Roanoke. Jester and Gwen Nuss, assistant director of institutional research, effectiveness and planning, are leading the project at Roanoke. 

“This partnership among several of Virginia's leading institutions is a powerful platform for developing innovative supports that prepare faculty and students across the state for the AI-driven workforce,” Jester said. “Together, we are setting a standard for responsible AI usage in academia, ensuring our students are ready to navigate and thrive in a future where AI is prevalent.”

The five institutions on the George Mason team will work together to develop guidelines and teaching strategies to enable student success and a culture of ethics around the use of AI. The educational resources they create will be evidence-based and informed by research and scholarly literature, and outcomes will be assessed in each of three separate phases over the course of two and a half years. Findings will be used to create developmental materials for instructors across the state, including workshops and other learning opportunities.

The Virginia Educational Development Collaborative (VEDC), a consortium of faculty developers from centers for teaching and learning at colleges and universities across the state, will also contribute resources to assist in the project, as will the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning (SoTL) Collaboratory at George Mason.

The Fund for Excellence and Innovation was established by the General Assembly in 2016 to improve collaboration among public universities, community college systems and public school divisions, as well as expand access to education and reduce costs. The work conducted through these FEI grants is expected to help address concerns outlined in Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s Executive Directive Number 5, “Recognizing the Risks and Seizing the Opportunities of Artificial Intelligence,” and Executive Order Number 30, “Implementation of Standards for the Safe Use of Artificial Intelligence Across the Commonwealth. “

The work established by the three FEI project teams is meant to address the rapidly emerging relevance of artificial intelligence by empowering faculty and students to use it in smart, responsible ways within the guardrails of safety and transparency.  

“The ethical and responsible use of AI in our schools, colleges and universities is key to preparing Virginians for the workforce of the future,” Edwards said.