CSU awards three CSUMB instructors AI grants

By Mark Muckenfuss

Three Cal State Monterey Bay instructors will be at the forefront of introducing artificial intelligence into the California college curriculum. Each has received grants through the CSU Artificial Intelligence Educational Innovations Challenge Awards.

The Office of the Chancellor said it is providing a total of $3 million to 63 programs across its 23 universities to support new AI programs showing the “potential to enable transformative teaching methods, foster groundbreaking research and address key concerns about AI adoption within the academic environment.”

Earlier this year, the Chancellor’s Office announced plans to incorporate AI into courses across the system, embracing but also regulating its use. Erin Ramirez, an associate professor with CSUMB’s College of Education and one of the grant recipients, said that such an approach is essential. 

“If we turn our backs on AI, we’re doing everyone a disservice,” Ramirez said. “Let’s harness it for good and teach students how to use it, when it’s appropriate and when it’s not.”

She’ll be using the grant money to bolster an educator preparation program, integrating the use of the technology into seven core classes that students working toward a secondary teaching credential are required to take. Tasks in the courses will highlight ethical uses of AI and how to teach AI in grades 6 to 12.

She likened the introduction of AI to the advent of the internet 30 years ago. 

“The way we used to think about search engines is how I now think about AI,” she said. “When Google came about, you learned how to ask it the right search prompts to get better results.”

There is a clear learning curve involved, said Zurine de Miguel, associate professor of psychology. The rapid development of AI means instructors have to constantly adapt.

“I love being able to learn with AI,” de Miguel said, “because it really pushes me to ask questions. The surprising thing, which actually became a valuable lesson, is realizing its limitations. It was a little bit disappointing at first, because I thought it would do more for me.”

Still, she said, it’s a useful tool and it’s important for students to know how to work with it.

“AI is already being integrated into these jobs,” de Miguel said, referring to the field of mental health. “This program really positions them to engage with AI in more sophisticated ways.”

De Miguel’s program is aimed at senior-year students working on capstone projects. As part of the process, she said, students will have to decide not only how best to use AI in their work, but when it is appropriate to do so. 

“It definitely is impacting therapy and assessment,” she said. “But the critical question becomes: how do we interpret and utilize the information that AI is going to produce? Students won't just apply it; they have to critically assess the ethical issues and implications of that data.”

Those decisions, she said, will be aligned with the White House Blueprint for an AI Bill of Rights and UNESCO’s AI guidelines. 

“They are going to develop a better understanding of what AI can and what it cannot do, and what it shouldn’t be doing.”

Lecturer Jill Hosmer-Jolley would like to give students a sense of that well before their senior year. She has developed four general education courses on AI, one for each year of a four-year track. Students can take all four courses, if they choose, as there will be little overlap in subject matter. The idea, she said, is to develop students who are literate in the use of AI. 

“The main thing is to get them ready for the outside world,” Hosmer-Jolley said. “They'll go into the workplace and be able to help that workplace adapt processes using AI technology.”

The courses, she said, have been developed as an adaptable model. 

“They will be able to be customized by any of the 23 CSU campuses, and they can easily be customized to any of the majors in any of the campuses,” she said. “So for example, a history department can use the shell that we're creating and turn it into a history general education AI class. I see that part as critically important because it accelerates the creation and adoption of AI.”

Which is the point of the awards. De Miguel said she is happy to see the CSU embracing the new paradigm.

“I think we’re taking the lead,” she said. “CSU is one of the few schools that is implementing AI for every student. I think it's just embracing the challenge.” 

Ramirez thinks there is little other choice.

“This is a huge deal, and it's evolving so rapidly that we have to address it,” Ramirez said. “Otherwise, we’re going to be producing a generation that can’t think for themselves.”