UCLA advisory committee will navigate AI’s opportunities and challenges in education

From aiding in research to the promise of augmenting classroom instruction and student learning, artificial intelligence is rapidly shifting the landscape of higher education. This impact is visible at UCLA, where 66% of students reported using generative AI tools throughout the academic year, according to the 2024 University of California Undergraduate Experience Survey. A majority of surveyed students reported using generative AI tools to brainstorm for a writing project, research a topic or study for exams.

Responding to these changes and their implications for instruction, Vice Provost for Teaching and Learning Erin Sanders O’Leary has established the Advisory Committee on AI in Teaching and Learning. The committee has representation from faculty, students and staff committed to advancing educational innovation and facilitating the responsible adoption of academic technology in diverse instructional contexts.

The group will offer guidance to instructors on using AI technology and support the development of new resources, programs, services and initiatives offered by the UCLA Teaching and Learning Center, or TLC. Its working groups will center around topics including AI literacy, the accessibility and impact of generative AI for teaching and learning, asset-based applications of GenAI, and instructor upskilling and training.

“Providing research-informed guidance around how to leverage emerging technologies like AI is a major priority,” O’Leary said. “The TLC hopes to thoughtfully engage with stakeholders from across campus in this important conversation to continue supporting high-quality instruction.”

UCLA senior leadership sees the committee’s potential to bring the campus together by advising on how to conceptualize AI’s role in the classroom as well as to weigh in on broader infrastructure investments needed on the part of the university, including governance, support, training and tool development.

“Entities across campus are pursuing their own paths, but we all have to come together,” said Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Darnell Hunt. “This committee convenes key campus stakeholders when it comes to AI, to provide strategic and cohesive guidance to the Bruin community about how we can best use this evolving technology in our classrooms.”

The Advisory Committee includes representation from the Academic Senate, the DataX Initiative, UCLA Digital and Technology Solutions, Division of Undergraduate Education, Student Affairs, UCLA Library and UCLA Extension. It is co-chaired by Chris Mattmann, inaugural chief data and artificial intelligence officer for DTS and the UCLA campus, and Kem Saichaie, the TLC’s inaugural executive director.

The committee’s broad membership positions it to address AI’s complex impact on teaching and learning.

Insights will arrive as the UCLA community continues to explore AI’s evolving role within higher education. Many are eager to receive guidance on how to best use the technology safely and responsibly.

“We are at a critical point and need to assess and integrate the use of AI methods across pedagogy and other operational elements of our academic mission — be it specific education, operations or other uses,” said committee member Alex Bui, David Geffen Professor of Informatics in the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA and director of the Medical & Imaging Informatics Group. 

Other members noted the opportunity to investigate how AI might effectively support the learning outcomes for specific disciplines, as well as help them adapt to the present moment.

“In the humanities, we must reinvent our traditional models of pedagogy to work within these new paradigms in order to hone and enrich the kinds of critical thinking, creative invention and humanistic inquiry that our students will need to address the challenges of an uncertain future,” said committee member Daniel Scott Snelson, assistant professor of English and design media arts. “Rather than simply decry the challenges the AI presents to traditional forms of teaching, we have a unique opportunity to reevaluate our practices in general to better understand the mission of education today.”

While guiding how AI can enhance educational innovation, the advisory committee will also identify the technology’s evolving impact on instructors and students.

“AI provides an unprecedented opportunity to take shortcuts while going through the higher education learning experience,” said committee member Elisa Kreiss, assistant professor in the UCLA Department of Communication. “This requires us as educators to rethink the learning and evaluation pipeline, so that we don't end up in the scenario where we're only grading AI work, we don't actually evaluate learning, and the student who does best is the one who pays the most for their AI model.”

Learn more about generative AI tools available for UCLA faculty, staff and students through the AI Innovation Initiative, as well as through the TLC’s guide for using generative AI reflectively and responsibly.