This piece is sponsored by South Dakota State University.
Regionally and nationwide, South Dakota State University quietly has positioned itself as a leader in integrating artificial intelligence in higher education.
“Our approach is to promote AI literacy and competency across the university,” said Victor Taylor, vice provost for graduate education and extended studies.
“We see AI as an essential tool for everyone on campus, and we are emphasizing its ethical and appropriate use across organizational areas. What we’re realizing is that SDSU is standing out as a leader in approaching AI technology and addressing AI issues related to teaching and learning.”
SDSU has approached AI with an in-depth internal focus as well as developing broad external connections within higher education through participation this year in the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ Institute on AI, Pedagogy and the Curriculum.
Provost Dennis Hedge and David Overby, vice president for technology and security, organized an internal 20-person working group, which began this spring with conversations and campus surveys around addressing AI in academic affairs and across campus.
“We were getting a lot of questions from faculty and students about policies and guidelines around AI use, so we put together a broad group from across campus, including academic affairs, enrollment management, information technology and various academic units to address AI topics and issues,” said Taylor, who serves as chair.
“We did an environmental scan — read reports and white papers from other universities and sent out a campus survey to see where people were in terms of their familiarity with AI and what they wanted from the university in terms of moving forward with AI in their work. We identified resources, and faculty, students and staff were connected to Coursera-based courses and other materials on artificial intelligence.”
Some members of the SDSU working group
The group was tasked with considering:
- Appropriate use of AI in classrooms and learning laboratories.
- Appropriate use of AI in research laboratories.
- Appropriate use of AI for business operations.
- Educating and professionally training students, faculty and staff so their education, skills and abilities are resilient with respect to changes driven by AI advancements.
- Development of structures, policies and guidelines for ongoing support and proper utilization of AI technologies.
- Possible future applications of AI in anticipation of future AI advances.
“We found that faculty and staff were fairly aware of AI technology, especially ChatGPT, and we had a high number of students using AI for research — basically replacing other search engines like Google with AI options,” Taylor said. “Students indicated using AI to create study guides, for notetaking in class and to help them outline a paper or suggest ideas for one.”
The one thing students didn’t report doing was using AI to actually write their assignments, he said.
“That was a little bit of a surprise, but what we saw in national surveys is that students are concerned about being falsely accused of using or misusing AI, so they’re very careful with their AI use,” Taylor said. “They seem to be using it within ethical guidelines, which was very positive.”
In spring, an SDSU team was accepted to participate in the American Association of Colleges and Universities’ Institute on AI, Pedagogy and the Curriculum, which was launched in 2024 as a way to help departments, programs, colleges and universities respond effectively to the challenges and opportunities artificial intelligence presents for courses and curricula.
“The rapid emergence of generative AI has resulted in profound opportunities and challenges for nearly all disciplines in higher education,” C. Edward Watson, vice president for digital innovation at AAC&U, said in a statement announcing the effort.
“AI competencies and literacies are quickly emerging as necessary workforce skills. This demands that associated learning outcomes become a part of our curriculum; however, evoking AI into the classroom can create challenges regarding academic integrity and student learning. This institute is designed to help campuses navigate these complexities, engage in curricular and pedagogical reform, and address the array of related concerns associated with AI in higher education, including questions about policies, ethics and the future of higher learning.”
SDSU has started participating in virtual workshops with other universities nationwide, which has included creating the school’s own action plan to further promote AI literacy and competency across campus.
“The emphasis we have at SDSU is AI literacy and competency across the curriculum,” Taylor said. “We’re not just focused on one disciplinary domain for AI literacy, or it’s not just for computer science and engineering students. While they will have AI literacy and competency, so will humanities, social sciences, STEM and other students. The institute will help us refine and come up with ideas for how to make AI a more comprehensive conversation on campus.”
Through the institute, SDSU had support in creating guidelines for students and faculty and also was able to identify an online course to offer faculty additional skills in teaching with AI.
“We’ve already had about 65 faculty complete that self-directed course on effective teacher with AI, which I thought was very positive,” Taylor said. “At the institute, they keep telling us we’re far ahead of many institutions and doing well, so we want to continue to build on that great work.”
The next step will be creating a Center for AI Innovation and Emergent Technologies at SDSU, which will function “as a hub for all things AI,” he said. “It will help facilitate conversation in academic affairs, coordinate on AI in research and in AI with our admissions teams or any other aspect of the university that can be helpful.”
The center will have an advisory group available to consult with faculty, staff and students on AI use as well as to develop programming and initiatives.
“What people in the AI world like to say is that today’s version of AI is the weakest, least sophisticated version we’ll see. It will continue to rapidly advance, and even the experts aren’t clear what the trajectory is. It’s exponential in terms of how much it can change and transform,” Taylor said. “Part of what the center will to do is track AI trends, anticipate and make sure the university is well-prepared to benefit as the technology changes.”
AI outreach
Are you a business or nonprofit leader looking to leverage AI in a practical way for your organization, but don’t know how to start? SDSU’s Consulting Club will hold a free workshop from 11:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Dec. 5 at Startup Sioux Falls, 100 E. Sixth St. in downtown Sioux Falls. You’ll learn:
- How AI chatbots and analytics tools personalize customer experience.
- How to identify where AI can save your business time and money.
- How to build your first AI-powered chatbot with a step-by-step demonstration.
- A framework for making smart AI corporate decisions.
Registration is required, and space is limited. Click here to learn more.
