On January 13 at 9:00am ET, Ithaka S+R’s Mark McBride will present the keynote at SUNY Niagara Community College’s Professional Development Days event, on navigating AI’s role in teaching and learning for college instructors.

In the unfolding story of higher education, a new protagonist has entered the scene: artificial intelligence. As college instructors, you are no strangers to transformative tools, from blackboards to Zoom rooms, but AI demands something deeper—a rethinking of what it means to teach, to learn, and to connect. This keynote will explore the opportunities AI offers to revolutionize pedagogy, from personalized learning to streamlined grading, while also confronting the profound challenges it presents. AI can generate perfect lesson plans, possibly adapt to individual learning styles. But can it replicate that electric moment when a student’s worldview cracks open during a passionate seminar discussion? Can it model the moral courage needed to question one’s own assumptions? Will the rise of AI enrich our human connections in the classroom or erode them? We’ll delve into how AI can free instructors to focus on the heart of teaching—the dynamic exchange of ideas and fostering curiosity—while considering the risks of outsourcing too much of our intellectual labor. Can algorithms teach empathy? Should they? And what happens when the machine becomes not just a tool, but a collaborator?

Through a mix of practical insights and provocative questions, this keynote will discuss how instructors can embrace AI without losing the soul of education. Because while machines may sharpen our efficiency, it’s still the human spirit that animates the classroom. The real question isn’t whether AI belongs in education—it’s whether we’ll use it to teach better humans or just smarter machines.