By Laurel White
Helping teachers examine and harness artificial intelligence to support their work is at the heart of a new fellowship offered by the UW–Madison School of Education.
The Disillusioning AI for Teachers Fellowship, which launched this month, offers four in-depth sessions and robust out-of-class engagement opportunities aimed at increasing educators’ skill in using artificial intelligence thoughtfully, ethically, and productively with their students. This fall, the fellowship offers in-person sessions on the UW–Madison campus. A virtual-only fellowship will be held in the winter. Educators to students of all ages are welcome to participate.
Shamya Karumbaiah, an assistant professor of educational psychology, developed the fellowship with support from Sandra Taylor-Marshall, an outreach program manager at the School of Education’s office of Professional Learning and Community Education (PLACE). Karumbaiah has spent more than a decade researching the use of artificial intelligence in educational settings, always with an eye on practical application in the classroom. She sees the fellowship as an opportunity to share those findings with educators in Wisconsin and across the country.
“I think of this as the Wisconsin Idea in action,” Karumbaiah says. “We hope to give teachers the full picture of AI — how it can be a useful tool and how to be careful about some of the very obvious continuing issues.”
Karumbaiah frames the fellowship as an opportunity for educators to put artificial intelligence into practice and collaboratively reflect on what works and what doesn’t.
“In the last couple of years, I’ve seen the most enthusiasm from teachers surrounding AI,” she says. “We’re trying to address the hype and talk about what AI can and can’t do.”
Karumbaiah says one thing artificial intelligence certainly can’t do is replace teachers.
“That will not happen,” she says. “We know enough about teaching and learning that we know that is impossible.”
Karumbaiah argues artificial intelligence should be framed as a tool for teachers. With that in mind, she urges investment in efforts to support teachers’ artificial intelligence literacy.
While fellowships for this fall and winter are full, plans for a summer 2026 session are underway. Interested educators are encouraged to join a waitlist to receive information about upcoming offerings.