Learn more here | Facilitators: JMU’s Center for Faculty Innovation, JMU Libraries, UVA’s Center for Teaching Excellence, and Breana Bayraktar of George Mason’s Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning
Symposium: Educator Agency in the Age of AI: Building AI Literacy and Designing Learning in a Changing World on May 19, 2026
Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming the ways knowledge is produced, accessed, and applied across nearly every field. While these changes create uncertainty, they also present an opportunity: educators have a critical role in shaping how AI is understood and used by the next generation. This full-day Symposium session invites faculty from across Virginia to engage deeply with the question of how higher education should respond to AI—not simply through policies or restrictions, but through intentional teaching and curriculum design. Presentations and workshops developed by researchers from the AI in Teaching and Learning Project.
The morning presentation, provided both in person and online, introduces the Critical AI Literacy Cultivation Framework, developed by a research team from the AI in Teaching and Learning Project. Participants will explore the rapidly evolving AI landscape, examine research on AI’s impact on learning and the workforce, and consider the role educators play in shaping how AI develops within higher education. The session surveys three domains of AI literacy—Understanding AI, Engaging with AI, and Shaping AI’s Roles—and introduces an open educational resource designed to support institutions, departments, and individual courses.
A facilitated networking lunch will be provided in person.
The in-person afternoon workshop moves from theory to practice. Participants will explore the SKEPTICS framework, a classroom tool designed to help students assess how AI affects their learning, cognition, and academic performance. Through guided activities and collaborative discussion, participants will adapt the framework to their own disciplinary contexts and develop an implementation plan for their courses.
Together, the two sessions provide both a conceptual foundation for AI literacy and concrete strategies for implementation, helping educators move from reacting to AI’s disruption toward actively shaping its role in teaching and learning. By the end of the day, participants will have both a broader understanding of AI’s implications for higher education and practical tools for helping students engage with AI thoughtfully and responsibly.
Participants will leave with:
-A research-informed framework for understanding AI literacy in higher education
-A deeper perspective on AI’s implications for learning and disciplinary practice
-Practical strategies for integrating AI literacy into courses and curricula
-A draft plan for implementing student reflection on AI’s impact on learning
This event is organized by JMU’s Center for Faculty Innovation, JMU Libraries, UVA’s Center for Teaching Excellence, and George Mason’s Stearns Center for Teaching and Learning. It is funded by an FFEI grant administered by the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV).
Registration Information: Participants can register for the whole day to attend in person, or select only the morning or afternoon sessions along with lunch. The morning presentation will be available online. If funding is a consideration in your ability to attend in person, you will be able to request a travel stipend of $50 to support your participation and will need to register by the priority deadline of May 1. After May 1, we will email you to confirm selection for the travel stipend and collect the necessary information for payment.
Priority registration deadline: Friday, May 1
Final registration deadline: Friday, May 15
Schedule for the Symposium:
10:00 – 10:30: Registration Open. Coffee/tea and snacks available
10:30 – 12:00: Presentation: Your Role in Shaping AI’s Impact: Fostering AI Literacy in Higher Education (Hybrid)
12:00 – 1:00: Networking Lunch
1:00 – 2:30: Workshop: Supporting Students in Assessing AI’s Impact on Learning: The SKEPTICS Framework (In-person only)
2:30 – 3:00: Farewell Reception
*Adding to your calendar will not register you for the event; please register by going to: https://www.jmu.edu/events/cfi/2026/05/19-educator-agency-age-of-ai.shtml