Why All Students Should Attend the Symposium

Meets course learning goals

The symposium as a whole, many concurrent sessions, and work with Dr. Elizabeth M. Adams and Dr. Katherine Elkins regarding their plenary content, are designed to directly address Concordia course learning goals such as:

• Analyze and critique claims made by others, using principles of logic, epistemology, and critical thinking
• Analyze the differences between human-generated and AI-generated theatrical and musical content in terms of emotional authenticity, interpretive choice, and audience impact
• Develop an appreciation of the ethical implications of decision-making, and be able to evaluate ethical alternatives
• Develop an awareness of contemporary national, regional, and global political developments
• Develop ethical advocacy and public speaking abilities
• Differentiate between inductive and deductive reasoning in nursing research
• Describe the ethical considerations when doing responsible research
• Understand key ethical implications of using various technologies
• Use equations to model patterns found in real-world data sets

Students will hear perspectives they might otherwise not

• One concurrent session, hosted by Cobber Speech and Debate, explicitly and deliberately presents multiple perspectives in a single session
• Local law enforcement personnel, business owners, and political leaders are likely to present
• Elkins and Adams present holistic and systemic critiques of AI beyond merely its use in courses or at a college

Students learn about being responsibly engaged in the world

• AI tools are unique because the way in which an individual uses one shapes the tool itself; this is highlighted in many sessions
• AI tools, like many technological advances, can easily be used for nefarious purposes; sessions include various discussions of ways in which this can happen
• AI tools are already being used in almost every industry, in multiple ways; students will have the opportunity to see many of these demonstrated and discussed

Post-matriculation concerns are directly addressed

• Nationally, AI tools are already making it harder to find a job, as noted by Time magazine, Forbes, industry analyses, and others; students at the symposium will directly engage these ideas.
• Students tell the Career Center, their advisors, and the AI Council they are concerned about AI literacy and prompt engineering skills; the symposium provides a chance for students to develop these.

It’s easy to integrate symposium concepts into your course

Attendance reports are available by CRN

• Students can use their devices to automatically register physical attendance
• Students without devices can sign a clipboard at the front of the room
• Faculty will be able to search session attendance by CRN the following week

The symposium committee will have a series of five-minute activities that can be implemented in many courses

• These exercises are not limited to symposium material
• Exercises teach various concepts regarding AI, including:
  • Responsible use of AI
  • Ethical concerns of AI
  • Effective AI prompting