By Dr. Blake Nielsen
Director, Columbia College Center for Teaching and Learning
Columbia College faculty spent two days this May exploring one of the most pressing questions in higher education — how to navigate artificial intelligence in the college classroom — guided by a nationally recognized educator and author.
Dr. Lew Ludwig, Professor of Mathematics, AI Faculty Developer and former Director of the Center for Teaching & Learning at Denison University, visited main campus on May 5-6 as a special guest of Columbia College’s Center for Teaching and Learning.
On the first day, Dr. Ludwig led a grading workshop titled “What If They Asked ‘What Should I Learn?’ Instead of ‘What’s This Worth?’”. During this session, he invited instructors to rethink how student learning is measured and communicated in their courses. He challenged faculty to consider assessment as a tool for clarity and growth rather than a finish line.
The next morning brought a broader audience together for “Beyond the Hype: Teaching and Learning in the Age of AI”. Faculty engaged in hands-on training with AI tools, working directly with emerging technology in ways designed to move past uncertainty and toward AI literacy and practical classroom application. Dr. James McGuffee, Associate Professor of Computer Science, said he “looked forward to taking real concrete action based on what I learned from the workshop.”
Ludwig left campus equally energized. He said he “was impressed with how engaged the faculty already were with the technology. They asked sharp questions, pushed back in productive ways and shared what was already working in their courses. It’s not always like that, and it made for a much richer conversation.”
The visit coincided with the recent release of Ludwig’s book, The Science of Learning Meets AI, which connects what we know about how students learn with how educators can use AI more effectively in their courses. The demand for these conversations extends well beyond Columbia. During his campus visit, Ludwig received an invitation to travel to Google’s headquarters in Mountain View, California, to participate in the Google AI Educators Series in early June.
Dr. Ludwig will virtually return to campus this fall to find out what Columbia College faculty did with the hard questions and real tools from his May visit. If this spring was any indication, he will not be disappointed.
Readers interested in following Ludwig’s ongoing work on AI and teaching can follow his Mathematical Association of American blog, There and Back Again, where he regularly writes on AI topics in higher education.
AI Disclosure: Claude.ai was used as a writing assistant for this story. The reporting, ideas and editorial decisions are entirely my own.
