Introduction
AI in Higher Education Innovation Exchange: Welcome
by Barbara Brown
Welcome to this special collection of case studies showcasing how educators in higher education are exploring and applying artificial intelligence (AI) in their teaching practices. This book emerges from a shared commitment to critically and creatively examine the possibilities AI offers in higher education. The cases in this collection were developed as part of the AI in Higher Education Innovation Exchange, a one-day event held on June 12, 2025 in the Centre for Artificial Intelligence Ethics, Literacy, and Integrity (CAIELI) at the University of Calgary (UCalgary). The event brought together postsecondary educators, researchers, and leaders to share insights, spark ideas, and build a community around AI-enhanced teaching and learning. The innovation exchange helped foster synergies and dialogue throughout the day about the implications for using AI in teaching and learning, and responsible, ethical, and critically informed AI use across campus in fields such as education, computer science, ethics, social sciences, the humanities, and libraries.
The event featured lightning talks by six members of the UCalgary community alongside focused sessions for ideating and guided writing to crowdsource and capture best practices and innovative ideas about AI use in education. The lightning talk presenters and participants contributed to this volume, drawing on their own experiences and aspirations to shape rich, diverse cases. What makes this collection especially unique is the process through which it was created. During the event, contributors were invited to use a custom-built AI Case Study Studio application (shown in Figure 1), an experimental tool designed to scaffold and accelerate case development using generative AI. The tool also provided authors with guiding questions to help refine their case and included a mechanism to upload case submissions.
This process for case development allowed authors to imagine what becomes possible when AI is used not just as a subject of inquiry, but as a co-authoring partner in knowledge creation. In many ways, the development of this book itself models how AI can extend human capability, enabling what might otherwise take several months to be drafted, refined, and completed in a much shorter time frame.
We hope this collection provides inspiration for further experimentation, the development of actionable strategies for ethical, responsible and critically informed AI practices in education, and collaboration across disciplines. This collection stands not only as a snapshot of current practice, but also as an invitation to imagine what teaching and learning in the age of AI can become. So go ahead and dive into the cases, explore the ideas, and let your curiosity lead the way. Each case is a doorway into real experiments, thoughtful questions, and bold moves in the world of AI-enhanced teaching. The authors of this collection are part of a growing community of educators reimagining what’s possible, and we hope you will join the conversation.
We invite you to not just read, but to reflect, remix, and reach out!
