Are you a K-16 classroom teacher who works with linguistically and racially diverse students? Are you intent on creating more diverse, classroom environments? Have you been dabbling with artificial intelligence (AI) on your own? Are you interested in learning how it might or might not support your work in the classroom in responsible and equitable ways? Join us for the Disillusioning AI for Teachers Fellowship!
With the advent of generative AI, teachers are faced with the difficult choice of trusting advanced technologies such as Large Language Models (e.g., Chat-GPT) to take advantage of their transformative potential. Trusting educational AI is getting harder as these systems become less transparent, less predictable, and raise equity concerns. During this fellowship, you will have the opportunity to collaborate and learn alongside fellow K-16 classroom educators to improve your AI literacy, engage in hands-on exploration of AI tools, and discuss what you’re learning with colleagues. Participants who successfully complete a pre and post survey and all four (4) in person or virtual sessions will receive a $250 stipend for participation.
Program Details
Learning Objectives:
1) Explore AI’s potential in the classroom to support teaching and learning
2) Gain specific knowledge about and hands-on experience with AI models to educate and inform decision-making
3) Explore AI biases in assessment
4) Analyze stereotypes in AI-generated images utilizing a stereotype analysis tool
5) Discuss, deliberate, and engage in role play exercises to consider various perspectives related to responsible AI values and their trade-offs
6) Learn about and understand the ways teachers are engaging with AI in the classroom so that AI tools can be improved
In-Person or Online
Option 1: In Person from 4:45 – 8:00 pm CT
*Dinner will be provided and available at 4:45 for each in-person session.
- September 9, 2025 – UW-Madison’s Education Building, Wisconsin Idea Room
- September 23, 2025 – UW-Madison’s Education Building, Wisconsin Idea Room
- October 7, 2025 – UW-Madison’s Education Building, Room L138
- October 21, 2025 – UW-Madison’s Education Building, Wisconsin Idea Room
*Address: UW-Madison Education Building; 1000 Bascom Mall; Madison, WI 53706
Option 2: Virtual via Zoom from 5:00 – 8:00 pm CT
- January 13, 2026
- February 10, 2026
- March 10, 2026
- April 14, 2026
Program Fee (non-refundable): $50*
Sign up now! Space is limited!
*Disillusioning AI for Teachers Fellowship is hosted by the UW-Madison School of Education’s Department of Educational Psychology and the office of Professional Learning and Community Education (PLACE). This partnership was made possible by the generosity of the School of Education Dean’s Office.
Program Partners
Shamya Karumbaiah
Assistant Professor, Learning Sciences Area
Karumbaiah studies human-centered AI for teaching and learning. Her current research focuses on constructing a scientific and critical understanding of equitable and responsible use of AI in classrooms. After being a computer scientist for over ten years, she earned a PhD in learning sciences from the University of Pennsylvania. Her dissertation empirically investigated sources of biases in AI-based learning systems. Before joining UW-Madison, she spent a year as a postdoc fellow at Carnegie Mellon University where she studied ways to augment teacher practices in human-AI partnered instruction.
Yaxuan Yin
Position title: PhD Student
Yaxuan is a PhD candidate in Information Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, where she studies how sociotechnical systems reflect and reinforce cultural and geographical disparities. Her work bridges social computing and human-computer interaction to uncover inequities in digital participation and to design interventions that promote fairness and representation. Currently, she is also exploring how upstream data disparities shape the behavior of AI systems and large language models. Before joining UW–Madison, Yaxuan earned a Master’s in Urban Informatics and Data Science from New York University.
Sandra Taylor-Marshall
Position title: Outreach Program Manager
Sandra is an Outreach Program Manager at PLACE who develops and facilitates programs with UW-Madison faculty that exemplify the Wisconsin Idea in action. A passionate leader and coach, Sandra strives to create high quality, engaging experiences that utilize job-embedded coaching, advance equity, and integrate authentic opportunities to put research into practice. A former PK-5 literacy coordinator, instructional coach, classroom teacher, and interventionist, Sandra earned her Master of Science degree in Education with an emphasis on reading. She received her reading specialist license from Concordia University Wisconsin.
Interested in learning more?
Check out these articles featuring Dr. Karumbaiah’s work!
- UW–Madison’s Karumbaiah receives early career award in learning analytics (April 25, 2025)
- Karumbaiah Awarded Grant from Spencer Foundation to Study how AI Tools Can Better Support Multilingual Learning (March 31, 2025)
- UW–Madison’s Karumbaiah awarded American Family Insurance funding for research on bias in artificial intelligence (May 17, 2024)
- UW–Madison’s Puntambekar and Karumbaiah examine how AI can help teachers and students succeed (April 4, 2024)
For additional Information about Dr. Shamya Karumbaiah and her work, visit:
- Shamya Karumbaiah’s Website
- UW-Madison Institute for Diversity Science: Shamya Karumbaiah
- UW-Madison School of Education’s Wisconsin Center for Education Research: Shamya Karumbaiah was awarded $75,000 from the Spencer Foundation for “Blurring the Language Boundaries: AI Support for Translanguaging in Classrooms” through June 30, 2027.