Undergraduate research is credited with helping students develop cognitive abilities along with an understanding of the way that research happens, among other benefits, when done well. Some characteristics of high-quality undergraduate research include working on unsolved research problems (Bhattacharyya, Chan, and Waraczynski 2018) working closely with faculty  having some autonomy in the research decisions (Gilmore et…

My first career after college was as the Data Manager for a nonprofit in Kentucky that provided services to survivors of domestic violence and sexual assault. As an overly ambitious 23-year-old, I was the inaugural holder of that title and…

Though the use of data for analysis is often framed as a way of answering questions about the world, it also helps us come up with new questions, questions more aligned to the mysteries that drive us to ask questions in the first place. We (Amanda and Cora)…

Recently, I downloaded Grammarly’s 2025–26 AI Trends Report. It had an interesting statement in its introduction: “Higher education is no longer at the beginning of its AI journey, but clarity of direction is still emerging” (2). Given other things I…

Would you use AI to create materials for a tenure portfolio? How about a reference letter for a student’s graduate school application? For a conference? If so, what would you do with it? As faculty consider the risks and benefits of AI use, one area to think about is the…

Black Digital Humanities scholars have often grappled with the contradiction that digitizing slavery’s archives, in the words of historian Jessica Marie Johnson, “threatens to replicate the death work of the slave ship register,” re-enacting the commodification of the people whose lives and histories they…

Is it time to teach kindergarteners prompt engineering, yet? This New York Times article is about grade school education, but I thought the subhead was telling: “Artificial intelligence companies are urging teachers to prepare students for an ‘A.I. -driven future.’ What that means varies from…

There’s a concept I’ve seen in many papers investigating generative AI (genAI) in education—the human in the loop. It’s important enough that Anthropic, makers of Claude, include it in their usage policy, stating, “When using our products or services to provide advice, recommendations, or in subjective…

There are different origins and interpretations of what liberal education means, but a favorite of mine is the idea that a liberal education liberates. You gain the ability to think critically and to know how to learn, which liberates you to learn other things, enabling you to act in line with your values. Generative AI (GenAI) tools have…

Generative AI offers both potential and limitations for minoritized and disabled students. Recent publications show a clear tension: these tools can expand—making access and participation a reality for some learners who might have been excluded.  At the same time, generative tools have the potential to strengthen the very…