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Session Description

Ticketed event: $30.00
Many engineering educators feel overwhelmed by the rapid integration of AI tools into student communication practices, uncertain how to address AI ethically while maintaining academic integrity and preparing graduates for AI-mediated professional workplaces. This hands-on workshop moves participants from anxiety to action by providing a practical, evidence-based framework for developing scaffolded AI-informed communication instruction across the undergraduate engineering experience.

Through five interactive activities, participants will design curriculum modules, develop AI literacy objectives, create partnership strategies, build assessment plans, and establish implementation timelines — all customized to their institutional contexts. Drawing from NC State's developmental pathway model (First-Year Engineering → Grand Challenge Scholars Program → Capstone), the workshop demonstrates how to leverage existing program infrastructure rather than creating entirely new initiatives.

Participants leave with concrete deliverables: institutional pathway maps, AI integration plans, partnership action plans, assessment frameworks, and semester-by-semester implementation timelines. The workshop addresses AI anxieties directly with clear pedagogical guidance on prompt engineering, ethical use policies, critical evaluation of AI outputs, and authentic professional applications. Perfect for faculty seeking systematic (not piecemeal) solutions to communication preparation in an AI-saturated educational landscape.

Speakers

1. Kirsti Cole

   North Carolina State University at Raleigh

   Kirsti K. Cole is a Professor of English and Co-Director of the Campus Writing and Speaking Program (CWSP) at NC State University. Her interdisciplinary work bridges rhetoric and composition, engineering education, and ethical AI integration. She leads faculty development initiatives focused on writing across the curriculum, communication equity, and institutional change, including the WOLF program and the university’s 14-Day Writing Challenge. Dr. Cole collaborates widely across engineering, communication, and STEM education to support inclusive and sustainable communication practices, with current projects involving AI-informed pedagogy, ethical frameworks for faculty evaluation, and the rhetoric of sustainability in engineering curricula.

2. Dr. Olgha Bassam Qaqish

   North Carolina State University at Raleigh

   Olgha Bassam Qaqish, Ph.D. is a prominent figure in engineering education and research, currently serving as the director of the Engineering Grand Challenges Scholars Program (GCSP) at NC State University. With a diverse background encompassing education, research, mentorship, and innovation, Dr. Qaqish is a driving force in shaping the academic landscape.

3. Aimee Allard

   North Carolina State University at Raleigh

   Dr. Aimee Allard is a member of the Senior Design Center faculty in the Department of Computer Science at NC State. As the Communications Coordinator, she works with students on writing- and communications-based milestones: task planning, documentation, reports, editing strategies, presentations, and more. She is passionate about Senior Design because not only do students gain real-world experience developing proofs-of-concept and prototypes for sponsors in the tech, education, and non-profit sectors, but the course itself is an innovative model of multidisciplinary pedagogy, with instructors from CS and Communications backgrounds working together to teach and mentor soon-to-be NC State graduates.