November 11, 2026

Vol. 1, Issue 9

AI may be moving fast, but UTA faculty should help shape where teaching and learning go next. That is what makes the CRTLE AI Teaching Brief distinctive: we center faculty voices, questions, experiments, and expertise rather than simply reporting on the latest AI tools. Each issue connects those insights with practical resources for navigating AI while keeping student learning and human judgment at the center. -- Dr. Peggy Semingson, Interim Director of CRTLE 

Artificial intelligence has arrived in higher education with remarkable speed, challenging faculty to reconsider familiar ideas about teaching, learning, authorship, assessment, and even what it means for students to develop knowledge and skills. The Pedagogy NEXT blog post “Wrestling with the ‘Brave New World’ of A.I.” written by Dr. Charles Travis invites educators into that larger conversation.

The title itself captures an experience many faculty members may recognize: we are not simply learning how to use another digital tool. We are navigating a rapidly changing environment in which generative AI can produce writing, generate ideas, summarize information, and assist with increasingly complex academic tasks. Those capabilities raise important pedagogical questions. What should students still learn to do independently? How might assignments need to change? Where can AI enhance learning, creativity, or exploration? And where do educators need to establish thoughtful boundaries?

These questions provide an opportunity to move the conversation beyond whether faculty should simply embrace or prohibit AI. Instead, faculty can consider how course goals, learning activities, and assessments might evolve while keeping meaningful student learning at the center.

Read “Wrestling with the ‘Brave New World’ of A.I.”

Dr. Charles Travis

Department of History

AI in Action: Inside the Performative AI Lab

How can AI expand the possibilities of design? Faculty and students are invited to experience AI in action during the Performative AI Lab Opening Reception at UTA's School of Architecture. Hosted by Dr. Shermeen Yousif, the event offers an opportunity to explore AI-driven architectural work and experience a featured presentation on the lab's immersive LED wall.

Monday, November 16

11:30 a.m.–1:00 p.m.

CAPPA 324

Lab open until 2:00 p.m. for faculty and students.

Free Online Resource!

Students are already using generative AI. How can faculty design assignments that preserve academic rigor while encouraging creativity, critical thinking, and responsible AI use?

In Designing Online Assignments for the AI Era, a microlearning course from the Online Learning Consortium, faculty will explore practical ways to move beyond simply preventing AI use and instead create meaningful learning experiences that require students to analyze, apply, create, and reflect. The course introduces the Post-AI Learning Taxonomy, strategies for transparent and ethical AI integration, and examples for addressing academic integrity, equitable access, and faculty workload. Participants will also critique an assignment and consider how to adapt it for deeper learning in an AI-supported environment.

Start small. Choose one assignment, establish clear AI-use guidelines, and redesign it with student learning at the center.

Explore OLC Microlearning at UTA

Dr. Peggy Semingson

Interim Director of CRTLE

Quite a lot.

In her research on synchronous online learning, Peggy Semingson found that some of the most valuable learning happened when students could exchange ideas, bring their own experiences into the conversation, and learn from one another. Instructor presence also mattered, as did thoughtful decisions about how technology was incorporated into the learning environment. 

Those findings take on new relevance in the age of generative AI. As tools become increasingly capable of generating explanations, ideas, and content, educators face an important design question: How can we use AI to create more opportunities for learning without crowding out the student voices and human relationships that make learning meaningful?

Read Bridging Distance: Fostering Digital Community and Student Voice in Real-Time Synchronous Learning.

How are you using AI in your teaching? From innovative assignments to program-wide initiatives, we want to showcase faculty-led AI integration across UTA. Share your example with crtle@uta.edu and help inspire new ideas across campus

On October 30, 2026, CRTLE brought faculty, staff, and GTAs together online for the AI Course Redesign Institute, a hands-on day focused on moving beyond conversations about AI and putting new ideas into practice. With the theme“Teach Boldly. Design Smarter. Empower Students,” participants were encouraged to select an actual course, assignment, assessment, activity, or policy and begin redesigning it for an AI-enhanced learning environment.

Throughout the institute, participants explored AI literacy and career-ready learning, AI-assisted course design with Cidi Labs, Adobe Firefly and Express, student creativity, authorship, communication, accessibility, and responsible AI integration. Structured design sprints gave participants time to apply these ideas directly to their own courses rather than simply hearing about new technologies. 

A central question guided the redesign process: What meaningful role should AI play in student learning, and what should remain distinctly human? Participants worked toward tangible outcomes such as revised assignments, AI-use directions for students, AI literacy learning outcomes, rubric language, student reflection or AI-disclosure prompts, and Adobe-supported learning activities. 

Missed the Institute? Explore the Canvas Course

The learning doesn't have to end with the live event. Faculty can self-enroll in the companion CRTLE AI Course Redesign Institute Canvas course to access resources and continue exploring strategies for incorporating AI intentionally into course design.

👉 Self-Enroll in the AI COURSE REDESIGN Canvas Course

Watch the Institute Recording

▶️Watch the AI Course ReDesign Institute Recording

Watch the past AI Institute Recordings

▶️CRTLE AI Institute Playlist

Keep the Redesign Going

The institute emphasized that meaningful AI course redesign does not require rebuilding an entire course at once. Start with one assignment, one learning outcome, or one course policy. Consider where AI can meaningfully support learning, establish clear expectations for students, and preserve the critical thinking, creativity, judgment, and human connection that you want students to develop.

👉 Explore the full AI Course Redesign Institute resources 

Implementation Strategies and Case Studies in Healthcare

Bridging Artificial and Human Intelligence: Implementation Strategies and Case Studies in Healthcare explores what happens when artificial intelligence and human expertise work together rather than compete. Edited by Ursula H. Hübner, Giovanni Rubeis, Connie White Delaney, and UTA professor Dr. Marion J. Ball, the 2026 book examines how AI can augment human capabilities in healthcare while emphasizing the continued importance of human judgment and oversight. Topics range from AI implementation and generative AI for physicians to health equity, leadership, assistive technologies, ethics, and legal and regulatory considerations. 

The book offers an especially timely perspective for higher education because many of its central questions extend beyond healthcare: How do we thoughtfully integrate AI into professional practice? Where does AI add value? What responsibilities should remain human? And how do we prepare learners to work effectively and ethically alongside AI? Through case studies and implementation strategies, the book encourages readers to view AI not simply as a technology to adopt, but as a tool whose effectiveness depends on thoughtful human leadership, ethical consideration, and responsible implementation.

One of the editors, Dr. Marion J. Ball, also recently stopped by a CRTLE AI Roundtable conversation, giving our faculty community an opportunity to connect with a UTA colleague whose work is contributing to the broader conversation about the relationship between human and artificial intelligence.

Download a PDF copy of Bridging Artificial and Human Intelligence Here

As AI reshapes higher education, how can we ensure it expands opportunity rather than creates new barriers? The Urban Adult Learner Institute is introducing new AI-enhanced content that considers this question alongside accessible, relevant, and responsive approaches to supporting adult learners. UTA faculty and staff can register by December 2 at no cost. 

Wednesday, December 2

2:00 pm - 3:00 pm

Trinity Hall, Room 105

In-person Only

Join us for a peer-based dialogue and knowledge sharing on Designing Human-Centered Learning That Matters. FOCUS: Strengthening connection, belonging, curiosity, collaboration, and purpose as AI becomes more capable.

This CRTLE event makes room for an essential question: what should remain distinctly human in higher education? Participants will explore how instructor presence, peer learning, mentorship, experience, and reflection can give learning meaning that efficiency alone cannot provide. The dialogue will help faculty protect human connection while making thoughtful use of new tools. Coffee and Cookies provided.