From Learning Without Borders to AI Across the Curriculum
Our 2014-2019 Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) was titled Learning without Borders: Internationalizing the Gator Nation. This five-year plan led to the establishment of UF’s Office of Global Learning (University of Florida, 2021b).
As UF has undertaken two major initiatives – Artificial Intelligence (AI) across the Curriculum and UF Quest, we examined the expectations of SACSCOC principle 7.2 and considered our 2024-2029 topic should be guided by this question: How can we best prepare a student body uniquely prepared for the 21st century world? We concluded that the QEP offered an opportunity for UF to develop a plan that would not only advance the growth and expansion of these two initiatives, but meaningfully and purposefully integrate them across the university to maximize their impact on student learning and success for all.
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Your Pathway to AI
- Place artificial intelligence at the center of a major, long-term initiative.
- Combine world-class research infrastructure and cutting-edge research with a transformational approach to curriculum.
- Embed AI into academic programs to ensure that every UF student develops a basic competency in AI regardless of their field of study or degree level.
- Leverage its comprehensive curricular offerings to add AI skills into every academic discipline.
- Launch new UF-wide AI certificate through the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.
(University of Florida, 2021a)
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UF Quest
- Innovative redesign of undergraduate general education, is already underway with Quest 1 and Quest 2.
- Quest 3 is set to launch in an upcoming academic year, in which students will pursue experiential learning in the forms such as internships or co-ops, study abroad, community service, research, public service, or design competitions.
- Quest 4 will offer a capstone opportunity for students before they graduate.
- UF Quest is an ideal partner for the AI initiative because it seeks to create a cohesiveness to the undergraduate curriculum through a series of interrelated courses and experiences.
- AI is a natural track or theme within UF Quest so that undergraduate students will have the opportunity to gain AI skills, ground AI coursework in their studies regardless of their majors, and grapple with the difficult questions and challenges that they will face as thoughtful adults navigating a complex and interconnected world in which artificial intelligence is part of their expected skill set. (University of Florida, 2021c)
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References
University of Florida (2021a). Your pathway to AI. Retrieved from: https://ai.ufl.edu/academics/.
University of Florida (2021b). Office of Global Learning. Retrieved from: https://internationalcenter.ufl.edu/staff/office-global-learning.
University of Florida (2021c). UF Quest’s story. Retrieved from: http://undergrad.aa.ufl.edu/uf-quest/uf-quests-story/.
