Grant funding announced recently will support two more years of collaboration between San Diego State University (SDSU), University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) and the San Diego Community College District (SDCCD) on a mission to tackle artificial intelligence equity gaps across the three regional campus networks.

The Equitable AI Alliance was launched earlier this year as a way for SDSU and its partners to pool their AI resources, giving students, faculty and staff equal access to a wider variety of AI tools and training and increasing their potential for skill-building in the AI space.

The alliance was one of five projects awarded a $1.5 million AI Grand Challenge grant from the California Education Learning Lab, housed under the Governor’s Office of Planning and Research. The grants support California higher education institutions promoting responsible AI use on campus, with special attention to bridging equity gaps that disproportionately impact students from historically underrepresented communities.

“This AI Grand Challenge grant highlights the collaborative efforts of SDSU, UC San Diego and SDCCD to foster innovation and equity in education,” said David Goldberg, associate professor of management information systems at SDSU and principal investigator for the Equitable AI Alliance. “By focusing on AI needs, literacy and access, we aim to provide all students with opportunities to develop the skills needed for success in an AI-driven world.”

Alliance put together on trio of pillars

The alliance is built on three pillars: assessing AI-related needs on campus, educating campus communities about AI resources and how to use them, and creating and scaling accessible AI tools to support learning and career readiness across institutions.

In the fall 2023, SDSU launched its inaugural AI student survey, gathering data about the needs and tendencies related to students’ AI use. Following a second survey, nearly 18,000 students have been surveyed to date, and the two surveys are believed to be the largest ever done on AI in higher education. The alliance will help expand this survey to UC San Diego and SDCCD campuses, which will lead to a better understanding of how to best serve different student and staff populations and prioritize those most impacted by inequity.

Expanded survey data will also guide the alliance as it grows its inventory of literacy training programs and resources accessible by all three institutional communities. A central component of this is SDSU’s Academic Applications of Artificial Intelligence (AAAI) micro-credential, which was created to empower students, educators and staff to leverage AI tools effectively, and responsibly in their roles on campus.

Survey data from partnering institutions will help refine SDSU’s AAAI micro-credential, which will soon be offered to students, faculty and staff at UC San Diego and the SDCCD. Furthermore, digital badging will allow those who complete the micro-credential to market their AI literacy on platforms like LinkedIn, making them more appealing to employers searching for candidates ahead of the AI curve.

“The micro-credential program is an important part of this initiative, providing students, faculty, and staff across SDSU, UC San Diego and SDCCD with a shared resource to build foundational AI skills,” Goldberg said. “By creating a common platform for AI education, we are not only enhancing career readiness, but also supporting smoother transitions for students transferring between institutions within California’s higher education system.”

Lastly, the alliance will ensure equal access to new and existing AI tools for members of the SDSU, UC San Diego and SDCCD communities, like UC San Diego’s TritonGPT, a generative AI-powered information assistant, or chatbot, alternative to other commercially available tools. The funding will assist SDSU and SDCCD in establishing their own companion chatbots.

Initiative to establish virtual innovation lab

The initiative will also establish a virtual innovation lab: a collaborative space where educators and researchers across the California State University (CSU), University of California (UC) and California Community College (CCC) systems can share best practices, develop new pedagogical approaches, and foster an intersegmental AI community of practice.

This statewide partnership is among the first steps in a larger AI resource sharing model that Equitable AI Alliance project leaders hope to achieve in California. SDSU has made its student survey available for other educational institutions to replicate and has created a CSU-wide version of the AAAI micro-credential. Project leaders envision a landscape where every student in our state’s higher education system, regardless of their point of entry, will have an onramp to AI skills-building.

The Equitable AI Alliance was one of five projects to receive AI Grand Challenge grants from the Learning Lab, joining four other collaborative missions involving CSU, UC and CCC institutions.

Together, these projects will reach approximately 146,850 students and engage 13,579 faculty and instructors across California, according to the Learning Lab.

Photo credit: Natali Gonzalez