Presenters

Justin Shaffer, PhD

Justin Shaffer, PhD, is the Associate Dean of Undergraduate Studies and a Teaching Professor in Chemical and Biological Engineering and in Quantitative Biosciences and Engineering at the Colorado School of Mines. Justin is the author of the book High Structure Course Design which gives practical advice for creating STEM courses that engage students in and out of the classroom and the creator of the Alignment and Practice card decks which help instructors explore course design and students explore study strategies, respectively. Justin is an award-winning educator who has taught 9000+ students since 2012 in the areas of chemical engineering, biomedical engineering, biology, and anatomy and physiology and has published 25+ peer-reviewed journal articles and teaching materials on the efficacy of high structure courses, active learning, and related topics. Justin is the founder of Recombinant Education where he provides STEM program characterization and professional development to faculty and administrators in the areas of course and curriculum design, evidence-based teaching practices, and discipline-based education research.

Session Title: Designing Effective and Engaging College Courses to Promote Student Success (despite AND with the aid of AI).

Student success in college courses depends on many things including how the courses themselves are designed and taught. Designing effective and engaging courses based on evidence has always been critical but is even more so now in the current age of AI which can be considered a blessing or a curse depending on how you view it. In this session, participants will explore evidence-based strategies that they can immediately incorporate into their own courses that will lead to higher levels of student engagement and success. Additionally, these strategies will be couched with the benefits and drawbacks of using AI and participants will reflect on how they want to incorporate these strategies knowing that AI is out there.

Matthew J. Kruger-Ross, Ph.D.

Matthew J. Kruger-Ross, Ph.D., is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Philosophy of Education at West Chester University of Pennsylvania whose work brings phenomenology and philosophy of education into dialogue with pedagogical theory. Drawing on Heidegger and hermeneutics, his scholarship explores teaching as an ontological, world-forming, and play-inflected practice grounded in experience, subjectivity, and professional identity.

Session Title: Will It See What We See? Examining Bias in AI-Assisted Qualitative Research

This session draws on a funded exploratory study that examines how multiple AI-assisted qualitative analysis platforms compare with human coders, with particular attention to how bias appears in AI-generated themes. Guided by implicit bias theory and social identity theory, the project investigates whether AI tools replicate, reinforce, or amplify societal biases embedded within their training data and what this means for researchers, educators, and doctoral programs. The session will present findings from interviews with alumni of a cohort-based EdD program, which were hand-coded by researchers and then processed through several major AI analysis tools. By comparing human-generated themes to AI-generated themes, the project illuminates how bias manifests in AI outputs, where alignment occurs, and where significant distortions emerge. Participants will also learn about the study’s development of bias-mitigation scripts and prompting strategies designed to help researchers train AI systems toward more equitable and context-sensitive analysis. Attendees will leave with a clearer understanding of the affordances and limitations of AI tools for qualitative research, practical implications for research supervision and doctoral education, and concrete strategies for using AI responsibly in ways that protect human subjects and uphold ethical research practices.

Heather R. Schugar, Ph.D.

Heather R. Schugar, Ph.D., is a Professor of Educational Leadership and Literacy at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Her work examines literacies in the Digital Age, most recently focusing on considerations for partnering with AI in research and K-16 students’ eReading comprehension. Dr. Schugar’s research has been featured in media outlets such as The New York Times , NPR , Education Week , NBCNews , Real Simple magazine , and Men’s Fitness .

Session Title: Will It See What We See? Examining Bias in AI-Assisted Qualitative Research

Sean Legnini

Sean Legnini is a scholar and educator developing an ecophenomenological approach to education that roots learning in the lived, perceptual, and ecological realities of place. His work bridges rigorous philosophical thinking with the practical design of pedagogical experiences that help learners dwell meaningfully in the more-than-human world. Sean’s research centers on the experience of learning and how cultivating experiences for our students builds identity and a sense of being with the world.

Session Title: Will It See What We See? Examining Bias in AI-Assisted Qualitative Research

Mary Hurley, Ed.D

Mary Hurley, Ed.D., is a global education school leader and scholar with over 20 years of experience serving school communities across the U.S., the Middle East, and East Africa. Currently an Educator and Researcher in the San Francisco Bay Area, Dr. Hurley serves on her district’s AI Task Force, where she explores how teachers can lead the ethical and critical use of AI. Her passion is connecting teachers across borders to empower them and their practices. Her doctoral research focused on teacher agency within a global Community of Practice and reimagined how COPs can provide a framework to empower teachers and shift school change. She brings a unique cross-cultural lens to the conversation on empowering educators to thrive in an AI-driven world. Her doctorate from ASU (2024), is in Leadership & Innovation in Education, and she holds a Master’s in Teaching.

Session Title: Teacher Agency and AI

Teachers with agency exhibit a high self-awareness within their contexts and partner with colleagues to discern and take action on problems they see in their practices. So how do agentic teachers work with AI? In this session, I will explain how my recent doctoral dissertation found that teacher agency can be effectively grown quickly, online, and across national boundaries. I will extend my dissertation findings to the use of AI in the secondary classroom and show how straightforward techniques can be easily built into existing teaching and professional development practices. The way forward with AI in schools means teachers need to lead, but what small percentage of secondary teachers are actually leading? To grow this teacher leadership, educators need agency and the strategies to grow it. Agentic growth occurs as teachers make meaning and choices. Together, they can discern and evaluate their actual AI problems and successes in a community of practice (COP) while utilizing a critical inquiry process. Today, we will briefly experience this process as we examine AI, its uses, benefits, and potential harms to teaching and learning. Join us, and be the change.

Dr. Lauren Kelley

Dr. Lauren Kelley, Educational Technology Consultant and AI Learning Designer in Academic Technology Services, University of Delaware Office of the Provost.

A designer at the intersection of AI and teaching, learning and research who is an AI literacy advocate, Lauren crafts AI-enhanced curriculum and pedagogical frameworks that empower learning facilitators to scaffold generative AI into their learners’ experiences. She specializes in developing comprehensive AI integration frameworks and co-leads organizational initiatives that provide AI literacy across educational landscapes.

Lauren believes that AI should amplify human creativity. As a human with pedagogical expertise, she collaborates with AI to moderate and balance it in pedagogy and with mental health guardrails. She loves to translate complex AI concepts into digestible, interactive experiences that accommodate diverse learning needs.

Lauren has worked hard to connect with fellow educators, learning designers, and AI enthusiasts who are committed to responsible innovation in education. This has enabled her to become a leading voice across higher education in genAI for teaching and learning.

Session Title: Doing the Work: Scaling AI Literacy and Communication as Prerequisites for Student Agency

There is no easy button for AI integration; it requires a commitment to trust and transparency over speed. This workshop presents the WHEW Model as a guide for educators ready to establish literacy and communication as the foundation of student learning. We will move beyond unilateral policies and discover how to do the pedagogical heavy lifting required for collaborative AI integration. Instead of quick fixes, we focus on the slow, intentional work of building trust. Participants will walk away with concrete planning templates and tools designed to establish a foundation for student agency.

Michelle Keso

Michelle Keso is a GCU alumna and Senior Adjunct Professor in the College of Education, currently in her ninth year in the role. She also serves as a Site Supervisor, Subject Matter Specialist, COE Christian Education Content Lead, and co-sponsor of the Impact Student Club.

Beyond GCU, Michelle serves as the Southwest Regional Director for Christian Educators, where she encourages, equips, and connects Christian teachers in their communities. She also serves nationally as a Student Engagement Specialist, supporting college students as they prepare—academically and spiritually—for their future classrooms.

Michelle has been married to her husband, Len, for 39 years. They are GCU basketball season ticket holders and active members of the Lopes Club. Their two married children are GCU graduates, and they enjoy spending time with their grandson. Together, they have traveled to all 50 states and visited 57 national parks.

Session Title: AI and Teacher Prep: Tools, Ethics, and Best Practices

This 45-minute session introduces teachers to practical, ethical, and instructionally sound ways to integrate generative AI into K-12 instructional practices. Participants will explore how AI can support lesson planning, differentiation, assessment design, and student feedback while maintaining academic integrity and alignment to teaching standards. Teachers will receive applicable resources, ready-to-use examples, assignment ideas, and clear guidance to enhance their use of generative AI in their classrooms.

Demi Skinner

Demi Skinner is an educator and school leader with experience across public, private, and charter school settings. She holds a bachelor’s degree in Elementary Education and a master’s degree in Educational Leadership from Northern Arizona University. Demi has also founded a micro school, reflecting her passion for innovative, student-centered learning. She lives in Anthem, Arizona, with her husband and their three daughters.

Session Title: AI and Teacher Prep: Tools, Ethics, and Best Practices

Greg Lucas

Faculty Chair, Colangelo College of Business, Greg Lucas, MBA is an education futurist and expert at the forefront of AI and education, redefining learning through emerging technologies.

He serves as Faculty Chair at Grand Canyon University’s Colangelo College of Business, driving innovation in online learning and AI-driven education solutions. With a background in renewable energy, real estate, and manufacturing, Greg brings a strategic vision to the intersection of AI, education, and business. He holds an Executive MBA in Global Business from ASU.

Session Title: From Literacy to Leadership: Weekly Immersive AI Labs for First-Term Undergraduate Business Students

This session unveils a transformative curriculum model designed for first-term undergraduate business students, where weekly, hands-on AI activities empower learners to become not just AI-literate, but creative collaborators with generative AI. In response to the accelerating demand for AI proficiency across business and industry sectors, our introductory business course reimagined digital literacy by embedding active, iterative learning experiences that reflect real workplace expectations. Attendees will discover how each week’s “AI Experiment” blends in-class discussion, targeted prompt design, comparative analysis of AI and traditional tools, and real-world application using platforms such as Perplexity, ChatGPT, Gemini, and AI image generators. Students move beyond passive exposure, engaging in prompt engineering, analyzing AI’s strategic value, and leveraging AI to prototype branding, solve business challenges, and consider ethical implications. This hands-on approach not only demystifies AI, but also fosters a mindset shift—positioning AI as a creative and productive “coworker.” The session will provide practical frameworks, sample activities, student reflections, and blueprint templates, so participants leave equipped to implement weekly AI engagement in their own settings. Discover how bridging AI literacy, curriculum, and professional practice can transform first-term learners into confident, adaptive leaders ready for an AI-powered workplace.

Lisa Tourek

Lisa Tourek is a Curriculum Developer at Grand Canyon Education, where she has specialized in developing and enhancing GCU’s academic courses since 2014. Lisa has over 20 years of educational experience teaching middle and high school English language arts, technology, and social studies and serving as an adjunct instructor at several higher education institutions. In addition, she led a private consulting firm focused on instructional design and professional training for both educational and corporate clients for 13 years. At GCU, Lisa is committed to advancing learner-centered, innovative curriculum that aligns with the university’s mission of academic excellence. By leveraging her broad experience across K–12, higher education, and professional learning settings, she collaborates with faculty to design engaging, high-quality educational experiences that support student growth and success.

Session Title: Designing Aiden: A Practical Guide for Adding a Custom AI Coaching Agent to an Online Program

Michael Medlock

Michael Medlock is an instructional designer with three decades of experience in education spanning classroom teaching, online instruction, instructional design, and academic leadership. He currently serves in Curriculum Design & Development at Grand Canyon Education, where he researches industry needs and applies theory- and data-informed approaches to designing competency-aligned curricula for online and traditional learners on the College of Education team.

Michael has led large-scale initiatives in course design, accessibility, educational technology integration, and open educational resources, and has overseen the design and delivery of hundreds of online and hybrid courses. Beyond his current day-to-day work, his current interest and side projects focus on ethical and practical applications of generative AI to improve curriculum development, collaboration, and instructional design workflows.

Session Title: Designing Aiden: A Practical Guide for Adding a Custom AI Coaching Agent to an Online Program

The GCU College of Education launched Aiden, a custom-built generative AI coaching agent, as the university’s first formally integrated AI tool embedded directly into curriculum and assessment. This session shares the full roadmap—from early ideation through multi-stage testing, faculty onboarding, operational guardrails, and cross-department collaboration—that enabled Aiden to move from concept to implementation. Participants will explore how Aiden was designed to support AI literacy, ethical practice, and professional coaching within graduate-level instructional technology courses. The session highlights the practical decisions behind curriculum alignment, scenario design, and student engagement offering a transparent look at what it takes to deploy an AI agent that students are required to use for learning and assessment. Attendees will leave with a framework for imagining, designing, and integrating a custom AI agent into an online program. The session provides insight into effective collaboration among faculty, college leadership, curriculum design, and technical teams, and demonstrates how AI coaching can strengthen teaching, learning, and professional preparation in a future-ready ecosystem.

Jillian Hartman

Jillian Hartman is an Assistant Professor in the College of Education at Grand Canyon University, where she has been dedicated to preparing future educators since 2013. Following the completion of her Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education in 2007, Jillian spent several years teaching at a K–8 school. She holds a Master of Science in Elementary Education with an emphasis in Instructional Media from Wilkes University and has extensive experience supporting teacher candidates and developing instructional resources. At GCU, Jillian serves on the Artificial Intelligence Committee and is passionate about integrating educational technology to enhance student engagement and achievement.

Session Title: Designing Aiden: A Practical Guide for Adding a Custom AI Coaching Agent to an Online Program

Lindi Hash

Linda “Lindi” Hash, MSSW, LCSW, CCM, is a licensed clinical social worker with over 25 years of professional experience in higher education, healthcare, and behavioral health. In her role as Faculty Lead in the Online Bachelor of Social Work Program at Grand Canyon University, she engages and supports faculty in developing approaches that strengthen students’ critical thinking, ethical decision-making, applied learning, and values-driven social work practice. Her scholarly interests include AI literacy and ethics in higher education, AI and mentorship, compassion fatigue among helping professionals, and the role of engagement in online student retention and success.

Session Title: Mentorship and AI: Opportunities for Higher Education

This session gives a quick look at the history of mentorship and highlights the main models universities use today. We’ll also look at how AI tools can responsibly support mentorship—helping faculty give feedback more efficiently, communicate more clearly, promote student independence, and strengthen key academic and professional skills.

Marcy Baughman

Marcy Baughman brings two decades of expertise in educational research to her role as Vice President of Learning Science & Research at Macmillan Learning. She oversees the end-to-end lifecycle of digital tool development—from foundational evidence-based design to rigorous impact evaluation.

Having collaborated with hundreds of universities, Marcy specializes in translating instructor and student needs into high-performing educational programs. Her work, which includes serving as Principal Investigator for a Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation grant, is regularly published in peer-reviewed journals and presented across major industry conferences

Session Title: Fostering Student Belongingness Using an AI-Enabled Digital Resource

A strong sense of belonging is key to student engagement, persistence, and success, yet many students report feeling disconnected in their learning environment. The presenter conducted a research study funded by the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation to examine the impact of a digital tool, co-designed with instructors and students, to support student belongingness and the correlation of usage to student outcomes for Black, Latino, Indigenous and lower-income students. Students that utilized the belongingness digital resource experienced improved course performance of 8% compared to their peers who did not use the resource. Feedback from participants led to a revision of the digital resource to include AI support to facilitate a wider variety of topics to attract student digital interactions, as well as more efficiently surface themes of commonality among students. Participants will gain insights through the findings of the research study and experience the digital tool and updated AI functionality.

Derek Reinhold

Derek Reinhold works to solve challenges in teaching, learning, and leading in PreK-12 schools through innovative approaches. His current work (as Dean of Innovation and Learning at Southwest Christian School in Fort Worth, Texas) sits at the nexus of instructional design, educational technology, artificial intelligence, and professional learning across all organizational levels. Derek has over a decade of experience in the classroom and in school leadership, and has had the honor of presenting at local and national conferences. He also organizes the annual Christian School Academic Innovation Leadership Summit (Christian SAILS), hosted at Southwest Christian School and attended by professionals from across the West South Central region.

Session Title: Preparing PreK-12 Teachers for Responsible AI Integration

Responsible AI integration in PreK-12 classrooms begins with teachers who possess their own ethical grounding and critical thinking skills. This interactive workshop guides current and future educators through a framework for ethical decision-making and AI evaluation in their own professional practice. Then, participants will collaboratively draft their own protocols for modeling and teaching these same capabilities to students. The essential thread through all this work is a firm focus on what makes us human, with an emphasis on AI as an augmenting tool that preserves teacher judgment and student agency.

Dr. Phillip Davidson

Phillip L. Davidson, Ph. D. is a faculty member of the GCU College of Doctoral Studies, working as a dissertation chair, methodologist, and a research consultant. Dr. Davidson received his doctorate in Human and Organizational Systems from The Fielding Graduate University, and has advanced degrees in Organizational Development, Industrial/Organizational Psychology, and Public Administration, with certifications in Data Analytics and Space Psychology. He is a consultant on healthcare information systems internationally. His research focuses on expanding the use and the integration of Artificial Intelligence for augmenting research. Dr. Davidson’s research has focused on disruptive changes in difficult sociological environments which include studies in the Middle East and Africa as well as working with NASA on Holographic Teleportation. Additional research involves cognitive technologies in healthcare. Client countries include the UK, Australia, and the Netherlands.

Session Title: The Collaborative Intelligence Model: Architecting Human–AI Partnerships

The arguments pro and con about AI and its appropriate application grow and changes almost every day. AI has evolved from a basic tool into a sophisticated collaborator. This session moves beyond the “AI replacement” myth to provide faculty and industry leaders with a practical framework for building Collaborative Intelligence (C-IQ) models where humans retain interpretive authority. We will explore how AI can act as a “reflexive mirror” for qualitative researchers and a “precision engine” for quantitative studies, ensuring the human remains the primary instrument of inquiry. Attendees will learn to implement “Human-in-the-Loop” governance and “Transparency Logs” to protect academic integrity while significantly accelerating the synthesis of complex data. Participants will leave with a clear roadmap and a “Thought Partner” checklist designed to empower doctoral students and professionals to use AI ethically and rigorously.

Dr. Lisa Blue

Dr. Lisa Blue is the inaugural Director of Artificial Intelligence Strategies at Eastern Kentucky University, where she leads institution-wide efforts to integrate generative AI responsibly into teaching, learning, and policy. A national leader in faculty development and AI literacy, she is known for turning complex technological shifts into clear, usable strategies that help educators teach smarter, not harder. Her talks and workshops reach audiences across the country, supporting institutions as they redesign curriculum, update academic policies, and prepare students for an AI-intensive future.

Session Title: Cheating, Overusing… and Refusing: The New AI Challenge for Faculty

Explore why some students reject AI use on ethical, environmental, or pedagogical grounds and how to respond without losing sight of learning goals. Identify what refusal reveals about student values and how to balance autonomy with institutional expectations for AI literacy. Use real examples to determine when to offer alternatives, when to hold firm, and how to turn resistance into a catalyst for deeper engagement.

Thomas C. Pantazes

Thomas C. Pantazes, Ed.D. is an assistant director of reflective practice & scholarship with the Teaching & Learning Center at West Chester University. In addition, Dr. Pantazes is the executive producer and co-host of the podcast ODLI on Air. His research explores the intersections of digital content such as instructional video, extended reality, and simulations with pedagogical practices of higher education faculty. His most recent publications have appeared in International Research in Higher Education and Teaching and Learning in Nursing.

Session Title: Six Degrees of AI Assignments: Methods to Address AI in Your Practice

AI tools are precipitating a reconsideration of instructional practices. In this session a professor and instructional designer overview a method for examining a course to identify the essential skills and content of a discipline to identify those that will remain relevant even amid AI technological advancements. Then the method is applied to a series of six practical AI learning activities used by West Chester University professors. Leave with at least one idea for an AI grounded learning activity you could use.

Adam M. Rainear

Adam M. Rainear (Ph.D., University of Connecticut, 2019) is an Associate Professor of Media and Culture and the Graduate Coordinator in the Department of Communication & Media, at West Chester University of Pennsylvania. Dr. Rainear teaches courses in Media Campaigns, Media Literacy, and digital production. His research utilizes technology – such as social media, robotics, and artificial intelligence – to understand how individuals access information and communicate about risks such as weather, climate, and environmental hazards. He is the co-editor of Evolving Journalism Research Methods: Applications, Trends, Analyses, published in the Routledge Research in Journalism Series, and currently serves as an Associate Editor for Weather, Climate, and Society.