The GenAI Teaching Enablement initiative is excited to announce the five projects selected as our inaugural GenAI Teaching and Learning Fellows. These educators will lead innovative projects that deploy responsible generative AI tools to accomplish goals such as elevating student engagement, scaling feedback frameworks, and transforming instructional support across our campus.
Meet the Fellows & Their Projects
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Dr. Ada Hurst; Dr. Sharon Ferguson (Faculty of Engineering | Management Science and Engineering)
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Initiative: Developing a domain-aware, multi-agent AI framework (utilizing specialized clarity, concision, and completeness agents) to provide student-facing, scalable, and formative oral communication feedback on video presentations.
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Dr. Brenda Lee (Faculty of Science | Physics and Astronomy); Joshua Crone (Faculty of Science); Mirko Vucicevich (Faculty of Science)
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Initiative: Building a scalable, multi-stage diagnostic preparation platform that guides students through guided conceptual pre-lab interviews to identify knowledge gaps, optimize TA hours, and boost readiness for experiential learning.
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Dr. Kanstantsin Tsedryk (Faculty of Arts | School of Critical and Creative Humanities); Dr. Annik Bilodeau (ITSU); Dr. Emma Betz (Faculty of Arts); Dr. Mario Bodio (Faculty of Arts); Dr. Grit Liebscher (Faculty of Arts); Mikalai Kliashchuk (Faculty of Arts); Rocky Penate (Faculty of Arts)
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Initiative: Designing customizable, task-based conversational chatbots across French, German, and Spanish courses to offer scaffolded language practice, cultural awareness, and real-time formative interaction.
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Dr. Christine Barbeau (Faculty of Environment | School of Environment, Resources and Sustainability); Dr. Erin O’Connell (Faculty of Environment)
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Initiative: Evaluating an instructor-trained "shadow grading" workflow using custom Copilot agents to generate parallel formative feedback and grades, seeking to reduce marking inconsistencies and accelerate turnaround times in large classes.
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Dr. Elena Neiterman (Faculty of Health | School of Public Health Sciences); Dr. Michelle Ogrodnik (Faculty of Health); Dr. Abel Espin Torres (Faculty of Health)
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Initiative: Developing an AI-enabled training tool that structures instructor expectations to build customized, course-specific onboarding modules, ensuring Teaching Assistants are fully prepared for highly specialized roles.
Driving Institutional Impact
Representing five distinct faculties, these fellowships aim to emphasize transferability, student privacy, and rigorous oversight. Over the next year, the fellows will develop, pilot-test, and share their work through university-wide workshops, communities of practice, and open-access resources, building sustainable institutional capacity for GenAI-enabled pedagogy.
For updates on these projects or to join upcoming teaching workshops, stay tuned to the GenAI Teaching Enablement website.