TLi is excited to introduce our 2024-2025 AI-Focused Digital Learning Mentors! The Digital Learning Mentor (DLM) program is back after a three-year hiatus to provide individualized peer support for faculty navigating the rapidly changing landscape of AI in higher education.
What are Digital Learning Mentors?
Digital Learning Mentors are faculty members with training, interest, and experience in digital learning. With the support of TLi’s digital learning team, they provide one-to-one peer support for faculty that ranges from exploring ways to use specific tools to broader discussions of digital pedagogy.
This year, our three DLMs are focused on supporting faculty interested in AI diffusion in higher education. They come from diverse technical backgrounds and disciplinary perspectives, so whether you’re exploring AI tools and applications for your courses or considering ways to help students make decisions about AI use and information literacy, you’ll find a supportive DLM available to help. They are also well-connected as an extension of the Teaching and Learning Innovations team, and they can point you to the right places if you have specific goals in mind.
The Fast Pace of AI
The rapid pace of change ushered in by AI developments means that we’re all learning in real time. TLi and the DLM team look forward to learning collaboratively with you and hearing about your experiences with AI in your courses and other academic work, as well as your questions and needs for future training and support.
Meet Our 2024-2025 Digital Learning Mentors
Below, you’ll find a little more information about each of our DLMs and the areas in which they’re offering mentorship, in their own words:
Breeann Austin (Library) writes:
As a librarian, I am passionate about improving information literacy skills in all of its forms, and this includes AI literacy. I am especially interested in how we can use (and not use) these tools in lesson planning, research, and accessibility. Please reach out to me if you have any questions on how to use the AI tools I’ve listed in my toolkit. I can help you navigate a tool, evaluate the information they produce, design an effective prompt, and much more. I’m interested in how we can help students understand how to use and not use AI. So I would welcome the opportunity to brainstorm and assist in designing lesson plans and activities discussing AI resources to students. So please let me know if I can help you explore AI and hopefully I can learn something from you as well.
Kristen Linton (Health Science) writes:
Ask me about: Integrating AI into teaching, research, and service. I have used AI to improve my teaching to be more engaging by creating AI patients for students to interact with. I have used it for data analysis and literature reviews. I have used it to synthesize meeting notes to recommend program learning outcomes too.
Benny Ng (Chemistry) writes:
As one of the AI-DLMs, I am happy to discuss and explore a wide range of AI-related topics with my fellow faculty members. I am particularly interested in brainstorming and using AI in all disciplines. The development of AI is so rapid that one can feel suffocating and overwhelming. I am here to support you to play with different tools in order to improve teaching and learning effectiveness as well as learning outcomes. Finally, I am eager to learn from you about your experiences with AI.
Please visit our Digital Learning Mentor website to watch an intro video from each of the DLMs, view their AI toolkits, and find links to connect with them. Mentors are partnering with TLi for the 2024-2025 academic year, and we’re thrilled to be working with them!
