In fall of 2025, The Ohio State University launched a university-wide AI Fluency initiative with the intent of embedding AI into the core of the undergraduate curriculum. The endeavor supports Ohio State students to understand AI tools and use them responsibly, effectively, and creatively—no matter their major or field of study. All learners will be given opportunities to develop the AI proficiencies they need to excel, innovate and lead in their future careers.
AI fluency is the ability to understand, evaluate, and use artificial intelligence within academic and professional contexts, and to do so with ethical awareness and discipline-specific relevance.
The Drake Institute for Teaching and Learning provides a range of resources and learning opportunities to build your knowledge and skills around AI fluency. Available to all who teach at Ohio State, our offerings will guide you to make informed decisions about designing learning activities that incorporate AI, communicating transparent expectations for AI use, and employing teaching strategies that promote students' acquisition of AI knowledge and skills.
Learn at your own pace
Building Students’ AI Fluency: A self-paced online course
Available to all who teach and support instruction at Ohio State, this fully self-paced online course will guide you to redesign elements of your courses to promote AI fluency. It provides background on the AI Fluency initiative, foundational knowledge related to the AI Fluency outcomes, and guidance for promoting critical thinking and academic integrity as students learn about and use AI for coursework.
Designing Assignments for AI Fluency: An asynchronous workshop
This 90-minute asynchronous workshop focuses on key concepts and strategies for designing assignments that support AI fluency. You’ll consider which fluency outcomes are relevant to your course or teaching context and how to assess student progress toward those outcomes. We'll explore strategies for effectively incorporating AI tools into assignments, supporting students’ ethical and effective use of AI, and addressing challenges and barriers.
Carmen AI Assistant resources
A new AI assistant in CarmenCanvas offers opportunities to enrich the student experience while reducing instructor workload. Course-specific AI assistants can be designed to answer common questions, clarify difficult concepts, guide reflection or practice and more. The Drake Institute has collaborated with the Office of Technology and Digital Innovation to develop resources that guide you to leverage the Carmen AI Assistant in your courses.
Explore AI Assistant resources.
To learn about the tool, explore sample assistants and consider whether it’s right for your course, visit the Carmen AI Assistant website and read the Instructor Resource.
For a step-by-step guide to designing your assistant, including support for writing a system prompt and positioning the assistant in your course, see Designing Your Carmen AI Assistant in the Teaching and Learning Resource Center.
Teaching and Learning Resource Center
The Teaching and Learning Resource Center (TLRC) website is a cross-unit collaboration designed to help you enhance your teaching skills and support student success. Explore a variety of considerations for incorporating AI in teaching, including guidance on developing your AI course policy, designing transparent assignments, and discussing AI with your students.
Explore TLRC articles.
AI Considerations for Teaching and Learning: Learn about generative AI and how to effectively incorporate it in your courses, with attention to learning goals and outcomes, transparency and academic integrity.
Developing Your Course Policy: Determine your AI course policy, craft a policy statement for your syllabus and communicate your expectations to students.
Having Conversations with Students: Explore strategies, conversation starters and activities for openly discussing AI with students.
Transparent Assignment Design: Learn how a transparent design process can simplify planning assignments that use AI.
Participate in programming
Workshops and Events
Each semester, the Drake Institute offers workshops on a range of topics, including how to incorporate AI thoughtfully into your course activities. View Workshops and Events to find upcoming sessions that meet your needs and fit your schedule.
Browse autumn workshops on AI.
- Teaching AI Fluency with Authenticity and Vulnerability | September 8, noon – 1:30 p.m.
- Supporting Student Development of AI Fluency | September 24, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- Teaching AI Fluency with Authenticity and Vulnerability: Engaging with AI Tools | September 24, noon – 1 p.m.
- Teaching to Develop AI Fluency at Ohio State | October 1, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
- Writing, Critical Thinking, and Generative AI | October 6, noon – 1:30 p.m.
- Steering into the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning and AI | October 21, noon – 1:30 p.m.
- Supporting Student Development of AI Fluency | October 27, 11:30 a.m. – 1 p.m.
AI-Infused Course Design Institute
The Course Design Institute (CDI) is a longstanding signature program in which instructors learn to “backward design” effective courses that support student learning. Since February 2026, AI has been more deeply infused into the program as we explore university-approved AI tools and how to leverage AI as a thought partner for reimagining academic activities. While this program centers on using AI to support course design tasks, it also provides opportunities to explore and discuss ideas for incorporating AI fluency into your course.
Spring Book Club
This annual offering for all who teach and support instruction at Ohio State will return in spring semester of 2027. The book selection and session registration will be announced in December. Stay tuned!
Our spring 2026 selection was Generative AI in Higher Education: The ChatGPT Effect by Cecilia Ka Yuk Chan and Tom Colloton. Five virtual book club meetings covered topics including AI fluency concepts, curriculum and pedagogy, policy principles and more. Explore the key topics and themes of discussion, chapter summaries and session notes in the Spring 2026 Book Club's PebblePad.
Pursue an endorsement
If you are ready to dive deeper into AI fluency, consider the Drake Institute's teaching endorsement, Teaching and Learning to Build AI Fluency. The program is designed to support Ohio State educators and programs to align instruction and curriculum to the AI Fluency initiative.
You can customize your endorsement pathway by selecting from core and elective learning opportunities, including both synchronous and asynchronous options. No matter the pathway you choose, you will learn to design learning experiences that help students build AI knowledge, use AI ethically and responsibly, and apply AI for discipline-specific purposes. View the endorsement.
Stay in the loop
Keep up-to-date on resources and opportunities by subscribing to Drake Institute Digest, a monthly newsletter that highlights opportunities for all who teach at Ohio State.