Intentional AI: Get the 411 on the QEP
Over the past year, the College has made some exciting progress with its quality enhancement plan for AI literacy and ethics in student learning.
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The QEP has made exciting progress over the past year, bringing together campus leaders, faculty, staff and students to advance a shared vision for AI literacy and ethics in student learning. From establishing the QEP committee and refining student learning outcomes to launching focused subcommittees and developing course content, assessment tools and new ideas for web-based resources: The initiative is building a strong foundation for meaningful, future-focused learning opportunities across the campus community.
In September 2025, a new stage in the QEP began with the selection of economics professor Calvin Blackwell as the QEP director. The director held productive conversations with a wide range of stakeholders, including deans, schools, departments and First Year Experience leaders. These discussions helped lay a strong foundation for a collaborative and inclusive planning process.
“The last 12 months have been about focus,” says Blackwell. “AI is here to stay. The College must respond to this new reality, and this QEP helps us adapt to the challenges AI brings.”
Fall 2025
The QEP Proposal Development Committee was officially established in November 2025, and in December, the group held a workshop to refine student learning outcomes and develop meaningful assessment measures. This work has helped clarify the knowledge and skills students will gain as they learn to engage with AI in informed, responsible ways.
“The QEP Proposal Development Committee worked hard to put ‘meat on the bones’ of the plan that was chosen last summer,” says Blackwell, explaining that – to help students acquire AI literacy and AI ethics as soon as possible, the committee agreed that this material should be presented and assessed in the First Year Experience Seminar. “The committee developed assessment and training in AI literacy and ethics to the First-Year Experience Seminar, ensuring that all CofC students can quickly gain a basic understanding of AI’s uses and limitations.”
To address AI literacy, students will build a stronger understanding of how AI and large language models work, practice writing effective prompts and learn to recognize important limitations and risks such as bias, hallucinations and overreliance on AI-generated responses.
Th address AI ethics, students will explore what responsible AI use looks like in practice, including the importance of transparency, accuracy, accountability, context and the protection of personal information when using AI tools.
Spring 2026
During the spring semester, the QEP Proposal Development Committee expanded its efforts by forming four subcommittees focused on AI literacy, AI ethics, QEP writing and microcredentials. Together, these groups helped move the initiative from planning into active development.
AI Literacy Subcommittee
The AI Literacy Subcommittee developed eight multiple-choice questions to assess the AI literacy measures identified in the fall. This committee also began generating ideas and mockups of the AI literacy content module that will be given to students in the First Year Experience Seminar.
AI Ethics Subcommittee
The AI Ethics Subcommittee made strong progress on assessment and content, producing four multiple-choice and two short-answer questions while helping develop material that will prepare students to think critically and responsibly about AI.
By the end of the semester, the AI Literacy and Ethics Subcommittees’ efforts coalesced into innovative ideas for web-based tools aimed at delivering vital AI learning content to first-year students. These tools, designed to take approximately 30 minutes to complete, cover fundamental AI literacy and ethical understanding, ensuring that all CofC students gain a foundational knowledge of AI and its ethical implications.
QEP Writing Subcommittee
This group worked hard to draft the QEP document, ensuring that QEP team’s vision and objectives are clearly articulated.
Microcredentials Subcommittee
The Microcredentials Subcommittee explored strategies to encourage participation in AI-related microcredentials among students, faculty and staff.
In May, a call for volunteers for the QEP Implementation Committee was sent to faculty and staff. This committee is charged with assessing student performance on the literacy and ethics student learning outcomes, developing strategies to encourage faculty, staff and students to complete microcredentials and developing a communication plan for the QEP.
What’s Next
“As the QEP rolls out, the Implementation Committee will identify bottlenecks, fix what breaks and measure what matters,” says Blackwell. “Continuous improvement is our focus. At the same time, we’ll keep learning how to use AI in ways that are both effective and ethically sound.”
