The UCI Digital Learning Lab (DLL) and UCI School of Education will launch an Artificial Intelligence (AI) in Higher Education course for instructors starting in summer 2026.
The online course will be delivered synchronously over Zoom, tailored for higher education faculty, lecturers and supporting staff. The course aims to enhance AI literacy in the college classroom by providing a “foundational understanding of generative AI.”
According to the course description, instructors who have finished the course should be able to explain and responsibly teach important AI concepts and ethical issues, critically evaluate the use of AI tools in their classes, use AI tools to support their own teaching, and “create an AI-infused lesson tailored to their own students and subject area.”
Tamara Tate — associate director of the DLL — spoke with New University about the course and the utilization of AI as a learning tool.
“There are ways to use [AI] that can make sense and not hinder your ability to know what to do,” Tate told New University. “And so we’ve learned, and are learning and are evolving, that there’s sort of a process or a set of habits that seems to help keep the humans in charge and the learning in charge.”
Tate discussed how the course would encourage instructors to be clearer about their assignments — especially ones related to writing — and reevaluate their learning objectives as AI use becomes more and more popular.
“I think one of the things that we want teachers to know is that it’s good to think about why you’re having your students write,” Tate said. “And then to explicitly and clearly tell your students, ‘Hey, this is why we’re having you write.’”
The AI in Higher Education course is based on the prior AI in Education Certificate Program, a collaboration between the DLL and UCI Teacher Academy for K-12 educators and instructors. There has been a fair amount of demand for both courses.
“I think that people are like, ‘Oh, a real university is doing a real class, not just somebody who’s going to make money off of it’ … It matters that we’re using it in education,” Tate said. “It’s not the same as if you’re using it in marketing, right? And so, I think teachers are rightly careful about what they bring into their classrooms.”
When asked about the polarized views on AI among UCI teachers and faculty, Tate said that the course would be a “safe space” to discuss AI use in higher education.
“There’s going to be a range of opinions, and no one is a tech evangelist … It’s going to be an actual productive, realistic space to [discuss] it,” Tate said. “If your view is just that it’s evil, I don’t think it’s going to be very helpful.”
Tate also acknowledged potential issues when it comes to ensuring students did the work themselves, especially in the humanities and composition.
“But I want to help instructors figure out how to get students to do their own lifting,” Tate said. “And maybe we’re more precise about what muscles we lift or what muscles we engage.”
Hugo Lai is a News Staff Writer. He can be reached at hlai7@uci.edu.
Edited by Mia Noergaard.