AI and Us:
Upcoming Events

Explore AI and access to justice at this year's Online Dispute Resolution Cyberweek! This virtual, free, international conference explores the use of AI and other technologies in courts, mediation, arbitration and negotiation. It features five days of engaging panels and tech demos accessible throughout the program. The agenda covers a wide range of topics, including utilization of LLMs, RAGs, blockchain for dispute prevention and resolution; AI governance, liability, and safety with researchers and practitioners from Argentina, Brazil, Canada, China, Colombia, India, Nigeria, Portugal, Spain, UK, and USA. Participants can explore tech demos showcasing tools for example, for negotiation, eviction mediation, and landlord–tenant cases. Additional sessions focus on interdisciplinary collaborative research on AI and access to justice by graduate students from multiple institutions, AI mediation research, along with discussions on digital dispute system design, digital ombuds services, and ODR open data formats. Organized and hosted by the National Center for Technology and Dispute Resolution.

UMass Amherst Instructional Design, Engagement, and Support (IDEAS) group is excited to host a Discussion with IDEAS. Join us as we explore the important question of what students really want and provide you with insights and strategies to implement in your course to promote student success. The classroom is evolving and so are student expectations of technology in their classroom. Instructors are constantly surrounded by the latest buzzwords or trends, but what is it students actually want, and how to create meaningful interactions or learning experiences? How to ensure your course is accessible to all students? How can you meaningfully engage with your students? These are some of the questions we will explore and provide meaningful insights so you can make a difference. 

Co-facilitated by the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL) and Instructional Design, Engagement, and Support (IDEAS)

Hilke Schellmann, Emmy-award winning investigative reporter, journalism professor, and author of The Algorithm: How AI Decides Who Gets Hired, Monitored, Promoted, and Fired, and Why We Need To Fight Back Now, joins us to discuss how AI has taken over the world of work, creating one of the biggest civil rights issues of our time.

The UMass GenAI Platform offers faculty and staff access to multiple AI models that can enhance teaching and course design. In this interactive workshop, instructors will gain hands-on experience experimenting with different models and prompts while learning promising practices for effective implementation.

Through a series of guided exercises, participants will practice using different AI models to generate discussion questions, design interactive learning activities, explain complex concepts in accessible ways, create case studies, and draft student support materials. Each activity demonstrates practical applications that can immediately enhance teaching and student learning.

The workshop concludes with reflection and group discussion about potential classroom applications, responsible use, and how to use the UMass GenAI Platform for various purposes across teaching contexts and disciplines. Come curious, experiment freely, and leave empowered with new ideas and strategies for using the UMass GenAI Platform for teaching and course design.

Co-facilitated by Dan Cannity (IDEAS) and Kirsten Helmer (CTL)

*Affiliated events