Dawson AI Update at DawsCon

At the opening of DawsCon on March 24, Dawson AI lead Joel Trudeau gave some updates about the last three years of the Dawson AI initiative:

“We are grateful to put on an event like this with our colleagues in Computer Science spearheaded by Victor Ponce and are especially pleased to have students actively contributing to the endeavour.

“Dawson AI has just finished a three-year plan to create AI opportunities inside and outside of the classroom. It was an ambitious plan. As opposed to niche offerings, we wanted to develop AI curriculum and the capacity of our faculty to deliver curricular and co-curricular activities so that all students can be exposed to AI topics. We have completed pilot projects and are now in an implementation phase as we develop an AI curriculum toolkit for college programs.

“We have had great success in our AI Community of Practice led by Robert Stephens. Since 2019 fellows from all sectors have produced portfolios and the Fall 2022 cohort will soon publish theirs.

“Our goals are to structure and extend much of the curriculum development we have done to date, to support faculty training and to provide students a variety of co-curricular and extra-curricular activities that would also find a home in a proposed interdisciplinary AI-themed certificate open to all students.”

“We have a commitment to support programs in providing learning activities and educational pathways that will help prepare students for the AI era and to bring awareness to the important social impacts of AI.

“Our partnership with the AI Launch Lab is part of a general strategy to provide training in AI and to expose students to possible pathways to higher education and the workforce. The conference highlights the engagement of our students and the need to foster an open dialogue within Dawson and in the broader community. We plan to offer the conference again next year with even more student contributions and activities.”