Navigating Generative AI in Higher Education: Exchanging Best Practices, Confronting Challenges, and Unlocking Transformative Opportunities
Abstract. Generative AI has rapidly emerged as both a transformative tool and a disruptive force across universities. Faculty, administrators, and students alike face uncertainty about how to responsibly integrate AI into teaching, learning, and research. While the technology promises personalized tutoring, automation of routine tasks, and enhanced creativity, it also raises profound concerns around academic integrity, sustainability, and the very nature of learning. This workshop explores the transformative role of generative AI across all dimensions of academic life — in education, research, innovation, and administrative operations. As universities adapt to rapid technological change, this session brings together scholars, administrators, institutional leaders, and students to critically examine how generative AI is reshaping knowledge production, pedagogical practices, and the inner workings of academic institutions. This interactive full-day workshop brings together diverse voices from higher education to explore how institutions can move beyond fragmented policies and polarized debates. Through reports from the trenches and breakout sessions, participants will exchange proven practices, share experiences, and co-develop actionable strategies for responsible adoption. By the end of the day, participants will have gained a deeper understanding of both the promise and perils of generative AI in academia, as well as practical steps for realizing it in their own institutional contexts.
Target Audience. This workshop is designed for faculty, academic leaders, instructional designers, educational technologists, researchers, and students who are grappling with the disruptive impact of generative AI on higher education. This workshop is for you: if you are a faculty member unsure how to adapt your teaching to keep up with your students’ use of generative AI technology; a student eager to shape the conversation about how generative AI can augment—not replace—your learning, critical thinking, problem solving, and research skills training; or an administrator seeking frameworks that unite rather than divide.
Before you go. The following brand-new, excellent online resource (video, slides, materials) sets the stage perfectly for this CSCON 2025 workshop: “From Policy to Practice: How to Make AI Work for Teaching and Learning in Higher Education” by Dr. Sidney Shapiro, Dhillon School of Business and Adjunct Professor of Computer Science, University of Lethbridge.
Come prepared to share your generative AI experiences, what works for you, and contribute to building a community of genAI practice. Together, we can move from reactive policies toward proactive, inclusive, and innovative practices that empower higher education to thrive in the age of generative AI.
Agenda.
Session 1: 10:30 to 12:00
- 10:30 to 11:00 Introduction and setting the stage with challenges and opportunities:
- Hausi Müller: why this workshop? Why now?
- Elisa Baniassad: challenges and opportunities in teaching
- Jörg-Rüdiger Sack: challenges and opportunities in research
- Kelly Lyons: challenges and opportunities in administration
- 11:00 to 12:00 Invited speakers:
- TBD: perspectives on teaching
- TBD: perspectives on research
- Dr. Norha Villegas, Dean Faculty of Engineering, Design and Applied Sciences, Associate Professor, Computing and Intelligent Systems, Universidad Icesi, Colombia and Adjunct Professor, University of Victoria: perspectives on administration
- Dr. Ivey Chiu, Senior Manager of AI Research Partnerships, AI for Good and Innovation at Telus who will be speaking on “Gen AI in the Workplace and Industry: governance, technology and applications”.
Lunch: 12:00 to 1:00
Session 2: 13:00 to 14:30
- 13:00 to 13:15 Organize breakout groups
- 2-3 breakout groups as follows, depending on the number of participants (Recruit recorders and reporters)
- Teaching & Learning in the presence of pervasive generative AI
- Research in the generative AI era: New tools, new workflows, and new frontiers
- Administration & Policy
- 2-3 breakout groups as follows, depending on the number of participants (Recruit recorders and reporters)
- 13:15 to 14:30 Breakout Groups Meet
Break: 14:30 to 15:00
Session 3: 15:00 to 16:30 Report back
- 15:00 to 16:00
- Reports from breakout groups
- Discussion and cross-pollination
- 16:00 to 16:30
- Discussion & cross-pollination
- Wrap up and next steps
Post Workshop:
- Share a reports of the breakout groups and a repository of resources and tools
Call for Papers
This workshop has invited speakers and opportunities for collaboration among participants. There is no call for papers.
