Connecticut College AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium: Full Schedule

1:30pm EDT

What Should Students Learn? Navigating the Paradox of AI in Liberal Arts Education

Friday October 16, 2026 1:30pm - 1:40pm EDT

What should students learn when the skills cultivated through higher education increasingly intersect with technologies capable of performing some of those same tasks? Students find themselves at the center of a paradox. Liberal arts institutions continue to emphasize critical thinking, communication, writing, ethical reasoning, creativity, and problem-solving, while employers increasingly seek graduates who can work effectively with AI.Drawing on conversations with over fifty Amherst College students during planning for a student-led AI Summit, this presentation explores how students are making sense of these expectations. Many recognize AI as important yet remain uncertain about what AI literacy and fluency mean in practice, as well as how AI should be integrated into learning.Rather than resolving the paradox of AI, this presentation explores how liberal arts education can use this moment to rethink learning for a future in which human and artificial intelligence work together to communicate, collaborate, and create effectively.

Speakers

Javkhlan Batsaikhan

Student, Amherst College

I’m Javkhlan Batsaikhan; please call me Jay. I’m an undergraduate student studying Psychology and Education Studies at Amherst College, with interests in AI, higher education, student learning, and the future of work. At the symposium, I’ll present “What Should Students Learn... Read More →

Friday October 16, 2026 1:30pm - 1:40pm EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Lightning, AI, the Liberal Arts, and the Future of Work

Company Amherst College

10:20am EDT

Beyond Summaries: Reclaiming Reading in an AI-mediated world

Saturday October 17, 2026 10:20am - 10:50am EDT

Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Global decline in reading motivation has coincided with educators assigning fewer whole books. Moreover, teaching reading has become challenging as AI offers automated-summaries, allowing students to skip deep reading. Drawing on research from the neuroscience of reading, this interactive session will address questions from both the instructors’ and students’ perspectives:What is the purpose of reading? If AI can summarize a text, what are the pedagogical implications for reading instruction?How is reading interconnected with writing and other multimodal ways of learning? What cognitive capacities are lost when reading becomes optional?What teaching practices in Liberal Arts colleges can be advantageous to make reading meaningful? Using concrete pedagogical approaches from Amherst, we will investigate how AI is reshaping students’ relationship with reading. These examples will help us together probe the ways that reading functions not an isolated skill but rather as a multimodal, social, and intellectually resilient experience.

Speakers

Jaya Kannan

Director of Technology for Curriculum and Research, Amherst College

Jaya Kannan is Director of Technology for Curriculum and Research at Amherst College, where she leads the Academic Technology Services unit. She holds a PhD in Computer Assisted Language Learning and her higher education background spans international teaching, faculty development... Read More →

Kristina Reardon

Amherst College

Saturday October 17, 2026 10:20am - 10:50am EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Teach the Room, Pedagogical Practice & The Human Element

Company Amherst College

Connecticut College AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium

1:30pm EDT

Javkhlan Batsaikhan

10:20am EDT

Jaya Kannan

Kristina Reardon

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