A team at Stony Brook University recently won a $55,000 grant from SUNY’s Innovative Instruction Technology Grants (IITG) program to build an online community of practice for faculty navigating AI and academic integrity issues.
The team is composed of staff from the Division of Undergraduate Education and the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT).
“Artificial intelligence has broken out of computer science research labs and begun to have an impact on all facets of life, including of course education,” said Rachelle Germana, senior associate provost for undergraduate education. “Stony Brook is leading the way, at SUNY and nationally, in developing thoughtful, impactful best practices for generative AI in curriculum and pedagogy, while ensuring that our students continue to develop the skills and understanding that will help them become responsible lifelong learners and live fulfilling lives after graduation.”
Led by Jenny Zhang, a CELT senior instructional designer, the community will first be available to Stony Brook faculty. Eventually, the team plans to expand it to be a resource for faculty and staff at the other 63 SUNY campuses. It will be a forum for participants to share ideas and best practices, learn from each other, and hear updates about AI and academic integrity issues.
In addition to Zhang, the team includes Yiren Kong, CELT educational research and grant development specialist; Lei Song, CELT instructional designer; Wanda Moore, academic judiciary officer in the Division of Undergraduate Education (DUE); Richard Tomczak, director of faculty engagement at DUE; and Deepa Deshpande, associate director of innovation and teaching excellence at SUNY Alfred.
“In almost every corner of every university, including here at Stony Brook, you hear conversations about how to ensure academic integrity and use generative AI responsibly as a tool for teaching, learning, and research,” said Rose Tirotta-Esposito, assistant provost for educational transformation and CELT director. “We’re finding answers to those questions here, and we’re eager to collaborate with colleagues across SUNY and share what we find more broadly.
“The cross-campus collaborations SUNY’s IITG program creates are a critical part of this work, and I look forward to seeing what the team develops.”
SUNY’s IITG program promotes research and fosters an understanding of how new technologies support academic excellence and student success. Since 2012, the program has awarded more than $5.5 million to projects across the SUNY system.
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