AI Dialogues

I talk with Sarah King, who’s the Manager, Academic Experiential Education at McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business. Sarah’s been leading the experiential learning strategy for the McLean Centre for Collaborative Discovery , a space deliberately designed around a different vision of what university education could be. We talk about her journey to this work, what generative AI means for the assump...

Nicole Sorokin, President of MacHacks, an event run by the McMaster AI Society , talks about what really happens at hackathons and how generative AI is reshaping these spaces. This is part one of a two-part series. Next episode I’ll be joining the hackathon and interviewing participants throughout the day to capture the experience in action.

In this follow-up episode, Jon Kruithof, the Lead Learning Technologist at the MacPherson Institute, offers an institutional perspective on D2L’s Lumi. Jon reflects on where generative AI may offer real value, the risks institutions need to navigate, and how today’s moment echoes earlier shifts in higher education.

Jack Pinette, D2L’s Vice President of Product Strategy, joins the conversation to discuss Lumi, D2L’s AI-powered toolkit integrated into Brightspace. Jack offers a product and design–focused perspective on generative AI in EdTech, walking through Lumi’s core capabilities and the principles guiding its development.

This episode is a recording of a recent panel I moderated in which instructors share how their conversations with students about AI have shifted over time, what’s been easy or difficult to navigate, and how students are responding. Panelists include: Michael Wong, Assistant Professor in the Department of Psychiatry & Behavioural Neurosciences Jennifer Ma, Assistant Professor in the School of S...

 Kelly Webb-Davies, Lead Business Technologist at the University of Oxford’s AI Competency Centre, draws on her experiences as a neurodivergent educator in linguistics to offers a personal and practical perspective on accessibility, linguistic justice, and generative AI in higher education. We talk about digital translanguaging, separating idea development from academic phrasing, and rethinking cl...

Jutta Treviranus, Director of Inclusive Design and Professor in the Faculty of Design at OCAD University, talks about the Framework for Accessible and Equitable AI in Education , which looks at AI from the perspective of people with disabilities who stand to experience the extreme benefits and risks of AI. If you're interested in learning about more about AI and accessibility, check out: IDRC’s In...

After a longer than planned hiatus, I’m excited to kick things off again with a conversation with Professor Mollie Dollinger who’s the Director of Assessment 2030 at Curtin University.  Earlier this year Curtin University released an Assessment 2030 Strategic Planning Document , outlining their approach to reimagining assessment for the future of higher education. Mollie and I talk about how she a...

This special episode of AI Dialogues features a recently recorded Instructor Panel at McMaster University. The panel was moderated by Ben Lee Taylor, the Academic Skills Program Coordinator with the Student Success Centre, and brings together the following panelists who engages in writing instruction and support for students: Dr. Jonathan Cannon, Assistant Professor, Psychology, Neuroscience &...

In March 2025, the Higher Education Strategy Associates hosted the AI-Cademy conference, a Canadian AI summit for post-secondary education. While I was at the conference, I interviewed 8 attendees to capture their perspectives on conference topics that resonated, things they'd be bringing back to their institutions, and gaps in the conversation. Listen to insights from : Erin Aspenlieder, Asso...

This podcast episode is focused on a project coming out of one of the AI expert panels at McMaster around AI futures.  Shane  Saunderson, who  is an  assistant  professor in Information  Systems  in  the DeGroote  School  of Business and  a  member of the AI Research Expert  panel, talks about how the team plans to undertake this project using something called strategic foresight. Have feedback or...

Learn about the change that's in store for season 3! If you have guests or topics you'd like to hear on the show, ⁠reach out⁠ with your suggestions!

Sarah O’Byrne, Senior Legal Counsel at McMaster University, discusses the evolving legal landscape of Generative AI. We explore key issues like copyright, intellectual property, and data privacy, focusing on two pivotal Canadian cases about data scraping and AI authorship. Have feedback or questions or want to continue the conversation? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reach out!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ A transcrip...

In this episode, I'm joined by Adam Renkosinski, Director of AI Talent Initiatives and Analytics at the Vector Institute. Adam and I dig into some of the key findings of the report, Artificial Intelligence Talent in Canada: Emerging AI Skills and Future Workforce⁠ , talking about the evolving landscape of AI talent in Canada, and what it means for the future of the workforce and post-secondary edu...

As a follow-up to last week's episode, you can catch my interview with Deep Learning Dialogue hosts, Katrina Gouett and Whitney McKinley, as I answer their questions about what's been happening around Generative AI at McMaster. Have feedback or questions or want to continue the conversation? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reach out!⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ A transcript for this episode is available ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠ here⁠⁠...

Katrina Gouett and Whitney McKinley, student achievement consultants for learning innovation with the Waterloo Catholic District School Board and hosts of Deep Learning Dialogues , share their insights into how generative AI is playing out in the K-12 sector and what this means for post-secondary education.  Have feedback or questions or want to continue the conversation? ⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠⁠Reach o...

This special episode of AI Dialogues features a recently recorded Instructor Panel at McMaster University. The panel was moderated by Sam Scott (from S2 E7), and brings together four educators with different experiences and perspectives on using AI and generative AI for evaluation purposes. The panelists discuss advantages and disadvantages of automation in grading, how generative AI differs from...

In this episode, Soroush Sabbaghan, an Associate Professor (Teaching) and the Director, Equity, Diversity & Inclusion at the University of Calgary’s Werklund School of Education, talks about engaging with generative AI through an EDI lens, highlighting the importance of human-centered design to mitigate bias, empower educators, and maintain transparency. Have feedback or questions or want to c...

Patrick Thibaudeau, York University's Director, IT Innovation and Academic Technologies at York University, talks about the artificial intelligence platform, AURA, that his team launched at the end of August. We discuss why York decided to build its own AI platform in house, what went into development, and how the platform is being used across the university.   Have feedback or questions or want t...

Sam  Scott, a teaching Stream Associate Professor in the  Department of Computing and Software at McMaster and part of the AI Expert Panel in Teaching and Learning that worked on revising the University's  Generative  AI Teaching  and  Learning  Guidelines , shares his experience working with the expert panel and talks through some of the changes made to the guidelines.   Sam references the follow...

In this episode I check in with some students and see how they would react if they saw a disclosure of GenAI use statement on their course materials. I interviewed 4 different students, 2 grad, 2 undergrad, from Cognitive Psychology, Life Science, Political Science, and Philosophy. Their perspectives offer interesting nuances on differences in use, course context, and types of course material. Hav...

I’m joined by Susan McCahan, who’s the Vice-Provost of Academic Programs and Innovations in Undergraduate Education at the University of Toronto.   Susan discusses her role as the Provost’s Advisor on Artificial Intelligence and teaching and learning co-chair of U of T's AI Task Force Steering Committee, and we talk about updates to their FAQs , including the decision to allow students to use...

I’m joined by two people from the Higher Education Quality Council of Ontario (HEQCO), Alexandra McFarlane, who’s one of the Directors, and Ryan Tishchoff who works as a Researcher.  They’re here to talk about some of the research their group has been spearheading around Generative AI and how they hope to support further research in this area by creating a Consortium on Generative AI that’s made u...

Jeff Casello, the Associate Vice President of Graduate and Postdoctoral Affairs at the University of Waterloo, and chair of the Generative AI working group for the Ontario Council of Graduate Studies, talks about the impact of generative AI on graduate education, the role of supervisors and students in guiding GenAI usage, and the need for open conversations when integrating AI into research proce...

This is the second episode that delves into the use and disclosure of GenAI in teaching. Marc Watkins, an Assistant Director of Academic Innovation and Lecturer in Writing and Rhetoric at the University of Mississippi, talks about how to incentivize and recognize the professional development instructors need around Generative AI, how transparency in AI usage can help build trust, and the importanc...