From Understanding to Implementation: East Carolina University Leads the Way on AI in Education

Late in January 2026, nearly thirty faculty members from East Carolina University (ECU) took off their teaching hats, and played the roles of students presenting on an AI integration project they had done the previous semester. Just like students and professionals everywhere, faculty at universities like ECU are trying to understand exactly what AI is, how it can support their work, and how to use it safely, effectively, and ethically. Throughout the fall semester, the faculty members had been implementing a specific use of AI in their teaching or research, the result of a novel workshop series delivered by the Artificial Intelligence Teaching and Research Institute (AITRI) at ECU (ECU anchors RSC’s Southeast Hub).

About two years ago, AITRI didn’t yet exist. Leadership in the ECU College of Education pulled together a group of faculty interested in AI for generative conversation and brainstorming, eventually forming the working subgroup that became AITRI. “We started doing research together, and ultimately developed the AI Teaching and Research Institute” shares Dr. Kristen Gregory, Associate Professor of Elementary Education, one of the members of AITRI. In addition to Dr. Gregory, Dr. Todd Finley, Associate Professor of English Education, Dr. Xi Lin, Associate Professor of Adult Education, and Dr. Ken Luterbach, Professor of Instructional Technology lead AITRI. Eventually the new institute came together underneath the Center for STEM Education, led by director Dr. Katie Schwartz, and began mapping out ways to support teaching and learning across eastern North Carolina.

AITRI facilitates professional development around AI education, with a special focus on its implementation in both teaching and research. AITRI has run sessions and workshops in area schools, in addition to supporting faculty, keeping the five faculty members more than busy as they continue their regular teaching duties. While the integration of AI in teaching is a much-discussed topic nationally, there is less conversation around its use in research. Dr. Gregory and her team seek to support faculty members in understanding “which tools you might use for data analysis, which tools you might use for supporting with your idea generation, and what is ethical in terms of how you are using AI for potential manuscript production or support.”

The first workshop led by AITRI came in late May 2025, and the interest among faculty was high. Registrations exceeded capacity–no small feat for an audience of professors recently on summer break– and extra spots were added to accommodate the enthusiasm. “We focused the week on supporting the faculty with learning about general AI literacy and ethics, and also how to apply it into their classroom. Each faculty member completed a capstone project, where they developed it over the three days, and then implemented it during the fall” describes Dr. Gregory.

One attendee was Dr. Loni Crumb, Associate Professor, Counselor Education Program, who also serves as RSC’s Southeast Hub lead. For Dr. Crumb, attending the workshop served as an opportunity to better understand an emergent technology that has come to permeate education: “Over the past three years, I have observed an increase in students using generative AI in course assignments. Although I was initially unfamiliar with AI, I recognized the importance of becoming more knowledgeable so that I could better understand how to thoughtfully incorporate it into teaching and learning.”

Dr. Allison Fears, Assistant Professor, Counselor Education, felt a similar need to better understand the intersection of AI and counselor education: “I decided to attend the workshop because I was already noticing increased student use of AI in my courses, often without clear guidance on ethical or responsible application. At the same time, there was growing pressure to prepare future school counselors to engage with AI in practice despite limited guidance or models for how to do this in counselor education. While I had some experience with AI, I knew there was a lot more for me to learn so I went in with an open mind and eagerness to learn more.”

Both faculty members, along with 27 of their peers, utilized the workshop to prepare an implementation strategy that would take place during the fall semester. Dr. Crumb focused on an assignment in one of her courses, Integrated Behavioral Health in Rural Settings. She used her new-found knowledge to “re-envision an existing assignment in a way that allowed students to engage with generative AI while also giving the instructor insight into how students interact with the technology. The redesigned assignment invited both students and instructor to explore the use of AI-generated images for the Rural Mental Health Display photo elicitation assignment.”

Dr. Fears implemented her learning at the workshop to “focus on integrating AI-based discussion boards and structured reflections into our foundation school counseling course: Counseling in Schools. The goal was to strengthen school counseling-specific skills (consultations, intervention planning, advocacy, data-informed decision making) and to help students develop ethical, reflective, and critical approaches to AI. Students used AI as a brainstorming partner while learning to evaluate outputs, recognize limitations and bias, and apply insights to real-world school counseling contexts.” Both professors expressed enthusiasm for the opportunity to put their learning into real-world applications and scenarios.

Both professors, along with their peers who attended the workshop, reported that the experience has been of great value. Dr. Fears shared that “the workshop and team leaders provided both incredible strategies and a supportive space to reflect and practice using AI without fear of being judged or criticized. It also validated the importance of slowing down and continuing the learning process to ensure AI adoption is intentional and focused on pedagogy, ethics, and (most importantly) student learning.” With the positive momentum of the first workshop and fall implementation in the rear-view, the AITRI team is looking ahead to what comes next.

This coming May, AITRI plans to lead a level II workshop, which will focus specifically on the use of AI in advanced teaching and research. Additionally, they plan to do a second introductory workshop for faculty on AI in teaching. AITRI also hopes to continue expanding their work beyond ECU’s Greenville, NC, campus; last summer AITRI led a four-day workshop for K-12 teachers, and hope to keep supporting rural teachers across eastern North Carolina to better understand and utilize artificial intelligence. Similarly, AITRI is collaborating with other College of Education faculty on a K-2 AI and Literacy professional development project with area teachers, to positive results.

Whatever the promising future holds for AITRI, it has already produced a snowball effect in the work of the faculty who congregated in late January to share and celebrate their implementation projects. Dr. Fears was recently awarded a 2026-2027 ECU Teaching Grant, and she shares that her work will begin this summer. The award will “fund an innovative re-design of a counseling course, Counseling in Schools. The course redesign will include structured, AI-integrated discussion boards that enhance students’ school counseling competencies and ethical discernment in AI use. . . Overall, the resources and knowledge gained from this workshop will support student services in rural schools, which is my passion area!”

Rural Schools Collaborative would like to thank Drs. Loni Crumb, Kristen Gregory, Jerry Johnson, and Allison Fears for their support of this story, and for their continued partnership with Rural Schools Collaborative.