Innovation Fellows
Faculty and students across UVA are curious about what AI can do in their courses, and many are exploring it on their own, often without a place to compare notes with others in different schools.
Innovation Fellows is a new initiative run by UVA Online Education and Digital Innovation in partnership with the Center for Teaching Excellence. The focus is creating engaging, AI-enabled learning experiences. This year, we’re working primarily with Claude and Gemini to bring these experiences to life.
The program brings faculty and students together around a shared question: how can AI improve the course experience for students on Grounds and online? It gives Fellows a place to talk through ideas, bring those ideas to fruition, and test them before they reach students.
Who is taking part?
Fifteen faculty Fellows from seven schools are part of the inaugural cohort:
- School of Engineering and Applied Science
- School of Nursing
- College and Graduate School of Arts & Sciences
- School of Data Science
- School of Education and Human Development
- McIntire School of Commerce
- School of Continuing and Professional Studies
Student Innovation Fellows are part of the group, too. Tristen Davin, our Senior Student Innovation Fellow, is helping establish the work and scope of the Student Innovation Fellows this first year.
What do Fellows do?
Share ideas and learn from each other. Fellows meet monthly to swap ideas, ask questions, and learn from colleagues in other schools. Student Innovation Fellows join in, bringing a student’s view of what works in a course and learning alongside faculty..
Build with support. Faculty Fellows bring what they know about their course and their students. Student Innovation Fellows and staff from CTE and OEDI help shape the idea and build it with them. This year, OEDI is covering Claude licenses for both faculty Fellows and students in courses which require them.
Test before launching. Fellows try ideas out with the group before they reach students, so problems surface early. Student Innovation Fellows are on call to test, bringing the student perspective on how to improve and enrich learning experiences before they are implemented.
Learn what works. Faculty Fellows and the students in their courses will be surveyed along the way, to see what is working and where more support is needed.
Questions?
Email us at oedi@virginia.edu
Innovation Fellows is a program of UVA Online Education and Digital Innovation, in partnership with the Center for Teaching Excellence.
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