There should be a joint understanding in a department or even a company in terms of what AI mean[s]. ‘How are we going to use it? What is acceptable use? What is non-acceptable use?’ I think we need to be asking those questions so that we are on the same page when it comes to what we’re doing with artificial intelligence. We might need to entertain the question of ‘when?’ because I know so many people have turned away from it. They don’t want to use it. They almost don’t want to acknowledge that it exists. They are determined to say that AI does not impact them, but what I am learning is that AI will impact almost all of what we do in some way eventually. So [I’m] asking: ‘What do we want? How will we respond when that happens?’ Can we be more intentional in our planning?
Kim Whiteside
Workforce Instructional Designer
Creative / Dreamer / Teacher“I work in the workforce area of a community college. We can provide learners with training or micro-credentials to make them employable immediately. I want to help people reach their dreams and aspirations. The position that I have right now enables me to do that, and I am so very grateful. I can actually see the benefits of what I’m doing when people move from a course or workshop or program right into a job that pays them a livable wage. That’s my goal: to help people improve their lives.”
Designing for Growth
Human-driven growth
“I think back to when I was growing up. I have to give a lot of credit to my grandmother. She was an amazing woman and a wonderful role model. She had her own personal way of saying, ‘this is how to be a respectful human being and this is how to respect others.’ I credit her for a lot of who I am today. Then, I had a lot of great teachers when I was coming up, and one thing I remember that seems to be common about those teachers is that the ones who were so impactful for me always went off script. There was what they were supposed to teach in their lesson plans, and then there was what they knew we needed as students. It was interesting to me when I look back: a lot of them said, ‘this is not part of the curriculum. However, I am going to share this with you. I’m going to teach this to you.’”
AI-driven growth
“I think AI can have a really pivotal role in supporting human growth and development because it can be like a partner, buddy, or brainstorming and process[ing] [tool]. It can give us additional ways to think of things. I like thinking of AI as your own professional assistant or personal assistant, so that you always have a way to challenge your thinking. That is really important, especially if we want to grow personally and professionally. We have to be able to push out of the boundaries of our own thinking. We have to be able to intentionally go off script, and I think AI can provide that for us.”
AI vs. Human-driven growth
“One of my projects that I’m working on now is helping to create a micro-credential for biotechnology. I wanted to know what else was out there – what other organizations were doing in terms of biotechnology education. I asked my AI assistant to take [research] data that I [was collecting] and to provide me with a list of commonalities. [It] identified all of these nodes of conjunction between different institutions, colleges, universities, and some other private businesses that are doing biotech education and training. It came up with ten common themes that [helped] me then take a deeper dive. [Normally] it would have taken me at least a week, probably a lot longer to analyze all that data and come up with the common themes and explanations of those common things. [It] was so helpful [with] data analysis.”
Designing for Agency
Human-driven agency
“[Some] people have been informal mentors for me and have helped me create a roadmap for my career. Just seeing what those individuals have done and accomplished with their careers has been like a lighthouse, a beacon for me to say, ‘this is a role model, this is a path that I can learn from and apply to my own life and career.’ I’ve participated in mentoring programs and gotten a mentor and that has been very helpful, especially [with] some specific questions that I had. In terms of an overall view or focus of what I can do and where I can go, people have provided me with some insights about me that I didn’t even know or wasn’t even aware of.”
AI-driven agency
“I think AI can enable someone’s sense of agency because if you have a partner that you think is going to help you with your job, you feel [you] can tackle anything. What I hope doesn’t happen is that people become hamstrung by the AI, where they don’t want to use their brains anymore – I hope people don’t start having thougths like: “I don’t have to think of my next step. I just asked the AI what the next step is, and then I apply that exactly and precisely as it is, you know, presented to me. I don’t make any adjustments. I don’t try to apply any better methods. I don’t use my own ability of analysis to make sure that this is the best course of action.” People could just take what AI provides and run with it, which I hope people are not doing.”
AI vs. Human-driven agency
“I believe the mission, vision, values, [and] strategic plan of our businesses should start, and at least be initiated by, humans. We can get assistance and guidance sometimes from AI, but I think our core foundational purposes, either for ourselves or for our businesses or departments, companies, institutions, [should] be human-led. [However,] when we are trying to brainstorm through potential solutions or potential approaches, I think AI is perfect for that. I also think that for extensive and detailed analysis, AI is wonderful.”
Designing for Belonging
Human-driven belonging
“If I am working with a subject matter expert [SME] to design a course or workshop, one of my goals is to try to foster a sense of community. I talk with [them] about how to create a community of learners, the learning environment within that learning experience. [We talk about] how important it can be for many of the assignments or activities to foster a sense of community. A lot of people say that learning is a social activity that enables the best learning to occur. So I really try to encourage my SMEs to include those kinds of activities and I work with them to help develop them.”
AI-driven belonging
“There are so many [programs] that rely on data and information that come from systemic ways in which people have been excluded and discriminated against. When you are relying on that kind of data and information, it may not give you the best means of including people because it’s based on data that often excludes people. The information that it returns — the suggestions, ideas, or topics — are not as robust. They’re not as rich. They’re often incorrect, because we do not have enough data about diversity, about different cultures, and the data that we do have is too often incorrect.”
AI vs. Human-driven belonging
“If we’re talking about inclusion, if we’re talking about anything [to do] with culture, I think it starts with us as people. I think it starts with humanity first. Especially because we can actually physically or even virtually include all of the groups that we want to make sure are included. Then, we can use AI to refine some of our approaches. So trying to figure out a way to mitigate the bias that can be returned by an AI is something that we need to be mindful of, and work toward as a valuable priority.”
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