Moving the Needle

Co-host Dave Bunnell speaks with Cheryl Fisher and Cory Stephens Co-Directors of AIM-High - AI in Maryland Higher Education. Maryland's statewide professional development program that helps academic and clinical nurse educators integrate generative artificial intelligence in their teaching. 

Host Scott Riley joins AI, Unscripted hosts, Jennifer Potter and Mary Crowley-Farrell to reflect on episodes from Season 2. They discuss what they consider the most impactful takeaways as well as how to best build on the conversations that were started by the AI, Unscripted series.

Cohosts Jennifer Potter and Sam Collins welcome Virginia L. Byrne, Associate Professor of Higher Education & Student Affairs, Morgan State University studies technology equity and AI's impact on student privacy. Dr. Byrne reframes AI literacy not as learning to use tools, but as developing the critical thinking to push back against vendors and protect what matters most: student agency, equity,...

Scott Riley and Dr. Eric Belt discuss the concept of phenomenology and how it can be useful when conducting educational research. 

Cohosts Mary Crowley Farrell and Ron Hansen welcome Dr. Kris McGee, Professor, Department of Educational Professions, Frostburg State University.  Dr. McGee explains how she uses transparency and modeling to teach pre-service teachers how to use AI as a partner while keeping the teacher's voice and human connection at the center of learning. From creating differentiated texts for diverse reading l...

Hosts Jennifer Potter and Mary Crowley-Farrell welcome Dr. Burch Fisher, Associate Research Scientist, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science. Burch helps to unpack the data behind the environmental impact of AI and why informed decision-making beats all-or-nothing thinking when it comes to responsible AI use in education.  

Scott Riley and Dave Bunnell  discuss the current global shift in health professions education known as Competency-Based Medical Education (CBME) that emphasizes demonstrated competence rather than time spent in training. Dr. Bunnell explains the reasons for the change and how it is being implemented.

Cohosts Mary Crowley-Farrell and Ron Hansen speak with David Leasure, Director of Faculty and Professor, First Year Experience Department, University of Maryland Global Campus. David shares how his team is using AI to help faculty communicate more effectively while saving time for what matters most.

Cohosts Jennifer Potter and Mary Crowley-Farrell welcome Zach Runge, Assistant Professor of Communication Studies at Harford Community College and an adjunct professor at Towson University. Zach explains how he built custom AI tools to integrate into writing assignments for students in his speech class that support student voice, confidence, and ethical engagement without replacing authentic learn...

Cohost Erin Hagar welcomes Dr. Krista Tookhan, Assistant Professor in the School of Medicine. Dr. Tookhan explains how she brings fun and creativity into her classroom inventing games that inspire her students and lead to better performance overalll.

What if the solution to AI policy challenges isn't stricter rules but bringing students into the conversation? AI, Unscripted returns for another season on MTN with Yasmine Kotturi, Assistant Professor, UMBC. Dr. Kotturi shares her groundbreaking approach to AI governance in higher education with co-hosts Jennifer Potter and Mary Crowley-Farrell. Instead of top-down policies that students resist,...

Cohost Dave Bunnell welcomes Dr. Rayne Loder, PhD, PA-C, Tufts University School of Medicine. Rayne discusses her innovative approach of using music to teach foundational concepts in medical education.

Erin Hagar welcomes back Dr. Mary Jo Bondy and Dr. Karen Gordes. Following up on their introduction of Trauma Informed Pedagogy introduced in episode 27, they discuss a faculty development initiative they designed to share their knowledge of trauma informed pedagogy across the UMB campus, its impact, and their hopes going forward.

Scott Riley joins the hosts of AI Unscripted to answer questions from the audience about AI in the classroom and to reflect on what the team learned while working on the series as well as what they'd like to explore in future episodes.

Jennifer Potter and Mary Crowley-Farrell talk with Liyan Song, PhD, Towson University, about how she leverages Blackboard Ultra’s AI companion to prompt deep reflection in her instructional design students.

Erin introduces a new cohost, Dave Bunnell who chats with his first guest, Jenn Aumiller about what she learned about mentorship, equity, and belonging in academic science through her research on mentoring experiences of Indian biomedical postdocs in the U.S.

Co-hosts Mike Mills and Mary Crowley-Farrell speak with Denyce Watts-Daniels, Associate Professor in Nursing at Coppin State about her use of Generative AI to create case studies relevant to her nursing students.

Cohosts Jennifer Potter and Mary Crowley-Farrell interview Eleanor Welsh, Professor of English Chesapeake College. Eleanor recounts her journey from AI skeptic to advocate, showing how she now uses AI to enhance research writing and film studies. Her approach to source verification and critical evaluation offers accessible entry points for humanities faculty. 

Cohosts Mike Mills and Mary Crowley-Farrell talk with Derek Willis from the Philip Merrill College of Journalism at the University of Maryland about how he teaches students to use AI to evaluate data and question truth claims in the journalistic process. He offers a crucial civic and interdisciplinary perspective, grounded in journalistic ethics and process thinking.

Host Erin Hagar speaks with Dr. Hee Hwan Park, DDS, Clinical Assistant Professor and Ryan Kasraii, a 4th year Dental student at UMB School of Dentistry. Dr. Park and Ryan talk about their mentoring relationship and how it fostered connection and became a powerful motivator for learning.

Amanda Draheim, PhD, Goucher College explains how she is using custom bots and AI tools for case conceptualization and student reflection. Her approach blends creativity, ethics, and wellness, making AI feel humane and pedagogically sound.

Cohosts Mary Crowley-Farrell and Mike Mills speak with Bill Carter, Associate Professor, University of Baltimore Merrick School of Business, about how he is incorporating AI into his assignments to boost engagement and critical thinking skills.

In this week's episode, co-hosts Jennifer Potter and Mary Crowley-Farrell kick off the AI, Unscripted mini-series on MTN with a conversation with Ben Shaw from University of Maryland, College Park. Ben shares how he developed an accessible AI literacy module that faculty across disciplines can implement. His approach focuses on helping students evaluate AI-generated content critically—a foundation...

In this episode, Scott Riley is joined by the team that is behind a new special edition limited series of Moving the Needle, called AI Unscripted. This mini-series features Maryland faculty from across the state sharing their experiences of how they are utilizing AI in the classroom. The team talks about their motive for creating the series, guests that will be featured, ideas that will be explore...

Host Scott Riley and Dr. Eric Belt discuss building community in a virtual environment, establishing instructor presence and building a framework to maintain rigor.