Conference: CRA Summit on AI Undergraduate Education

Computing Research Association, Washington DC

Investigators

Abstract

The Computing Research Association (CRA) will convene leaders of undergraduate computing programs for the CRA Summit on Undergraduate Artificial Intelligence (AI) Education. The pace of technological innovation in AI is outstripping the ability of educational institutions to keep up with both the demand for AI education and the changes required to all undergraduate computing courses. This creates a gap between the skills demanded by industry and those imparted through existing educational opportunities, necessitating a paradigm shift in computing courses, an increase in access to AI curricula, and a reevaluation of educational approaches. Expanding opportunities for AI education should ensure all computing students learn AI and are ready for an AI world. The purpose of the CRA Summit on AI Undergraduate Education is to gather leaders in undergraduate computing programs to share expertise, knowledge, and best practices in a dynamic forum where learning can be disseminated quickly to the many institutions engaged in computing education. The goal of the CRA Summit on Undergraduate AI Education is to create community and action to mobilize the country to increase capacity in AI education and discuss how to adapt undergraduate computing programs for the AI era. In sharing best practices and new findings, the information can quickly disseminate amongst attendees, their home institutions, and beyond. In a rapidly changing landscape, the CRA Summit on AI Undergraduate Education meets the needs of robust discussion and broad impact through participation. This project provides an analysis on the state of undergraduate AI education. Furthermore, because this analysis will be automated, this project provides a way to track how U.S. institutions are adapting to fulfill this new education need. The CRA Center for Evaluating the Research Pipeline (CERP) is engaged to conduct a formative evaluation of the CRA Summit on Undergraduate AI Education via a post-survey that collects quantitative and qualitative data from attendees. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.