Connecticut College AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium: Full Schedule

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10:20am EDT

“Under Review – Liberal Arts Edition”: Using a Table Top Role-Playing Game for AI Literacy

Saturday October 17, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am EDT

This hands-on workshop uses a tabletop role-playing game format to build practical AI literacy in an engaging, low-stakes environment. Participants take on characters facing real-world scenarios, such as drafting a research paper, responding to a workplace email, evaluating a suspicious source, and must decide how, when, and whether to use AI tools to help. Dice rolls and simple game mechanics introduce chance and consequence (a "critical fail" might mean an AI hallucination slips into a report; a "success" might mean catching a bias in a generated summary), turning abstract concepts like ethical decision-making, verification, bias, and academic integrity into lived experience rather than lecture material.

Speakers

Gerard Gadigian

Connecticut College

Lori Looney

Research and Data Librarian, Connecticut College

Susan Purrington

Harold F. Wiley Generative AI Teaching and Learning Fellow, Connecticut College

Saturday October 17, 2026 10:20am - 11:20am EDT
Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

Workshop, Academic Integrity and the Honor Code

Company Connecticut College

11:30am EDT

Take My Hand and Tell Me What You See: AI and Museum Accessibility

Saturday October 17, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm EDT

Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

At Amherst College, Mead Art Museum and Academic Technology Services work to apply innovative applications of technology including enhancement of digital accessibility. Emerging AI technology has recently brought us together in collaboration focused on making the Mead’s digital collection more searchable, discoverable and accessible through the production of multimodal collection descriptions.In this workshop, we share an activity we have developed with relevance to art pedagogy in the classroom: inviting community members to critically evaluate the technology’s potential for good when responsibly applied to a specific context, and to lend their voices to make a direct impact. Participants may bring their own device to try the activities themselves.Our larger project centers student engagement and participation in developing the project’s workflow and evaluation. We will discuss how to further trustworthy museum metadata, how to facilitate critical evaluation of the potential benefits from AI applications, and propose models for peer institutions.

Speakers

Prakhar Agrawal

IT Student Researcher, Amherst College

Prakhar is a rising junior at Amherst College, pursuing a triple major in Computer Science, Mathematics, and Economics. He is deeply interested in leveraging emerging technologies to solve interdisciplinary challenges and advance accessibility initiatives. With experience working... Read More →

Andres Fernandez

Mead Art Museum Student Worker, Amherst College

Andres is a rising sophomore at Amherst College, pursuing a double major in English and Mathematics. He is curious about the applications of AI in a range of fields, including museums. He is passionate about channeling his curiosity of AI into learning about the various ways by which... Read More →

Douglas Hall

IT Research Computing Specialist, Amherst College

Doug Hall provides support across the disciplines for academic research computing and emerging technologies. This includes pedagogy-driven consultation and workshops for high performance computing and artificial intelligence applications. He has a Ph.D. in Polymer Science and Engineering... Read More →

Miloslava Hruba

Manager of Collections Access and Academic Engagement, Mead Art Museum, Amherst College

Dr. Miloslava Hruba is an accomplished museum professional and researcher dedicated to bridging the intersections of art collections, pedagogy, and digital accessibility. Her current work focuses on the ethical integration of generative AI within academic programming, exploring how... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2026 11:30am - 12:00pm EDT
Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

Workshop, Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Innovations

Company Amherst College; Mead Art Museum

1:00pm EDT

Grappling with Pedagogical Practice that Centers the Human Element — in the Context of AI

Saturday October 17, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT

Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

This workshop is designed for educators who want to help students learn how to formulate meaningful questions as researchers and thinkers in the liberal arts while creating classroom spaces where critical engagement with AI can occur.First we will share artifacts from Pratt Institute classrooms that highlight faculty and student exploration of new forms of inquiry. Second, we will introduce conceptual maps created within our faculty learning community as tools for “charting new courses” in an AI-infused educational landscape. Together, these artifacts model an open, experimental, and collaborative approach to learning that prioritizes process over product and illuminates the power of the human dimension of education in response to the current technological shift. After discussing these materials, participants will engage in a conceptual mapping activity adapted from our faculty learning community, followed by reflection and assessment exercises that can be applied in their own teaching contexts.

Speakers

Liz Knauer

Adjunct Assistant Professor, Pratt Institute

Karyn Zieve

Saturday October 17, 2026 1:00pm - 2:00pm EDT
Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

Workshop, Pedagogical Practice & The Human Element

Company Pratt Institute

2:15pm EDT

The Evidence I Wish I Had: Reframing the Detection Spiral

Saturday October 17, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT

Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

This workshop is for any instructor who has sat in front of a paper wondering whether the words on the page truly represent the work of the student who submitted it. How do we preserve the valuable intellectual work fostered by extended writing projects while maintaining confidence that the submissions we receive reflect what students can actually do? Some instructors seek certainty by moving most writing into the classroom; this workshop explores another approach: building confidence in out-of-class work through low-stakes in-class activities that provide meaningful checkpoints for student capabilities. Starting from the question “What evidence would help me determine whether this student wrote this paper?,” participants will identify the evidence they wish they had and work backward to design activities that generate it. Participants will leave with a collaboratively developed collection of activities that offer snapshots of current student abilities while doubling as scaffolding for learning.

Speakers

Melissa Forbes

Saturday October 17, 2026 2:15pm - 3:15pm EDT
Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

Workshop, Academic Integrity and the Honor Code

Company Gettysburg College

3:30pm EDT

Designing Cross-Departmental AI Initiatives for Your Campus

Saturday October 17, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT

Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

Navigating generative AI in a liberal arts context requires breaking traditional silos to foster campus-wide dialogue. In this interactive workshop, leaders from Smith College share a collaborative framework developed with the Student Government Association and the Sherrerd Center for Teaching and Learning. This partnership bridges the faculty-student divide through an automated syllabus AI policy generator, student-led residential and classroom discussions, and a faculty learning cohort. After a brief showcase of these initiatives, participants will transition into an active session. Working in small groups, attendees will analyze their own institutional ecosystems, identify cross-departmental partnership opportunities and co-design a low-stakes AI literacy project tailored to their home campuses.

Speakers

Jean Ferguson

Director of Learning, Research and Technology, Smith College

Jean Ferguson is the Director of Learning Research and Technology at Smith College, a joint appointment between the Libraries and Information Technology Services. In this role, she leads a team of instructional technologists, media producers, research librarians, and a scholarly communications... Read More →

Travis Grandy

Associate Director, Learning Research & Technology, Smith College

Travis is the Associate Director of Learning Research & Technology at Smith College, and is committed to empowering faculty to learn and adopt new instructional technologies in ways that best meet their teaching objectives. He has experience teaching undergraduate classes in blended... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2026 3:30pm - 4:30pm EDT
Blaustein Hood Room (First floor)

Workshop, Interdisciplinary and Collaborative Innovations

Company Smith College

10:20am EDT

11:30am EDT

1:00pm EDT

2:15pm EDT

3:30pm EDT

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