Tech Talk Tuesdays: AI & Education

Ju-A Hwang is an Assistant Professor of English as an Additional Language Writing in the Department of English. She teaches writing courses specially designed to meet the unique needs of students who use English as an additional language along with their first or heritage languages. In addition to her teaching, she offers workshops to support instructors who may be less experienced working with multilingual student populations. Her research centers on second language reading and writing connections and academic literacy, with a particular emphasis on the synthesis composing process. She also investigates the role of generative AI technologies in second language pedagogy and the expertise development of writing and TESOL teachers and teacher educators.

Ju-A Hwang adapts generative AI technologies in her writing classes to cultivate students’ writer agency and autonomy by designing writing tasks and activities that engage their metacognitive and decision-making skills. Her research explores how writing teachers and TESOL teachers and teacher educators develop their expertise in integrating generative AI technologies into their pedagogical approaches.

Dr. Meghan McInnis-Domínguez is an Associate Professor of Spanish at the University of Delaware, where she has taught a wide range of courses spanning Pre-Columbian poetry to contemporary Latin American literature. In her classes, Dr. McInnis-Domínguez takes a dynamic approach to make Hispanic literary texts accessible and relevant to students today. She integrates current media trends and cutting-edge technological tools like social media, AI language models, and other digital platforms. Her teaching philosophy guides students to thoughtfully utilize modern technologies not just to deepen their understanding of literature, but to develop valuable skills for an evolving workforce.

She has integrated AI in her teaching from spring 2023 forward, using it to help students develop critical thinking skills in relation to writing and textual analysis. Based on her data gathering of students’ perceptions of AI and her use of LLMs and image generators in the classroom, she has created a YouTube channel, AI for the Humanities. This channel explores the intersection of Generative AI and Humanities education, covering topics such as the latest developments in Large Language Models (LLMs), their benefits, challenges, ethical considerations, and practical applications in the classroom.

In this Tech Tuesday session, we’ll explore how AI can be used creatively to bring literature and historical figures to life. Meghan McInnis-Domínguez will demonstrate how AI tools can craft original poems and images to accompany and interpret readings and  generate dynamic dialogues with long-dead authors or literary characters. This presentation will highlight the playful and educational potential of AI, offering a hands-on look at how technology can deepen our connection to cultural and historical content in unexpected ways. Perfect for those curious about AI’s role in creative fields, this talk will showcase how artificial intelligence is opening new doors for storytelling and engagement.