Connecticut College AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium: Full Schedule

10:50am EDT

Literature as Information Control: How Understanding Narrative Increases AI Literacy

Saturday October 17, 2026 10:50am - 11:20am EDT

Narrative is deeply embedded in everything from our personal habits to socioeconomic guidelines and the operation of digital systems. This presentation introduces how—by connecting the study of literature to daily interactions with these systems—we can increase the value students discover in their literature courses, and better communicate how they apply that value to their personal and professional goals. Through this process, systems like social media, algorithms, and AI become organic topics of discussion in context of story structure and narrative form. By articulating how the study of narrative unlocks the tools and techniques of systems designed to gain our attention and stir emotion, students learn to use those same tools and techniques to take greater agency in the control of information and their own meaning-making. Practical uses of AI will be explored that supplement and augment this process, without diminishing practice of critical skills.

Speakers

Ryan Crawford

Director of First Year Writing/Assistant Professor of Practice, University of New Haven

Ryan Crawford is Assistant Professor of Practice and Director of First-Year Writing in the Department of English at University of New Haven. His research, including the book Emotional Value in the Composition Classroom: Self, Agency, and Neuroplasticity, combines neuroscience, composition... Read More →

Saturday October 17, 2026 10:50am - 11:20am EDT
Shain Library Chu Room (First floor)

Teach the Room, Pedagogical Practice & The Human Element

Company University of New Haven

Connecticut College AI and the Liberal Arts Symposium

10:50am EDT

Ryan Crawford

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