The Future of Teaching: Meeting the Challenge of AI-Aware Education
Friday, September 25, 2026
Murphy Auditorium · Iona University 715 North Avenue, New Rochelle, NY
Meeting the Challenge of AI-Aware Education
Artificial intelligence is no longer a future challenge for educators—it is a present reality reshaping how students learn, how teachers teach, and how institutions define their purpose. As AI systems become increasingly capable of synthesizing information, solving problems, writing essays and performing complex tasks, how can teachers ensure fundamental skills are developed in their students? How do they foster the engagement, trust, and human connection essential to both teaching and learning?
At the Gabelli Center for Teaching & Learning’s Fall 2026 conference, these questions will take center stage as we explore what it means to build truly AI-aware education.
Featuring a keynote address by Marc Watkins, co-author of “The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching” and one of the nation’s leading voices on AI literacy, the conference will explore an array of practical strategies for teaching with confidence in the age of AI. Sessions will delve into adolescent development, attention and digital distraction; the challenges—and opportunities—generative AI poses to the learning experience; and Iona University’s pioneering Education in Real Life initiative, which examines AI and the future of work through a distinctly human lens. Together, these conversations will offer timely insights for educators at every level, from K–12 through higher education. We look forward to welcoming you to Iona University for an impactful and productive conference.
Keynote Speaker: Marc Watkins
Internationally recognized expert on generative AI’s role in education, writing expert and educator
Marc Watkins directs the AI Institute for Teachers and is an Assistant Director of Academic Innovation at the University of Mississippi, where he is a Lecturer in Writing and Rhetoric. He has led research initiatives, exploring generative AI’s impact on student learning, training workshops for faculty on AI literacy, and multiple institution-wide AI institutes. His work with generative AI in education predates ChatGPT and he advocates approaching the technology’s integration in education with curious skepticism. When training faculty in applied artificial intelligence, he believes educators should be equally supported if they choose to work with AI or include friction to curb AI’s influence on student learning. Watkins’ work with training faculty in AI literacy has been profiled in The Washington Post. He regularly writes about AI and education on his Substack Rhetorica.
CONFERENCE SCHEDULE
Friday, September 25
- 8:30-9 a.m. | Check-in and Continental Breakfast
- 9-9:15 a.m. | Welcome Message
Tricia Mulligan, Ph.D., Provost and Senior Vice President for Academic Affairs - 9:15-10:15 a.m. | Keynote Speaker: Marc Watkins
AI-Aware Education: Teaching with Confidence in the Age of AI
Q&A to follow. - 10:30-11:20 a.m. | What We Expect vs. What They Need: Teaching Today's Student
Christy Solorio, Ph.D. & Allyson Compton, Ph.D. - 11:30 a.m.-12:15 p.m. | Fixing What Chatbots Broke
Eric Abrams, Ph.D. - 12:15-1:15 p.m. | Lunch
- 1:15-3 p.m. | Education in Real Life: An Experiment in Teaching & Learning
Rob Kissner, Ivy Linton Stabell, Ph.D., Dean DeFino, Ph.D. & Student Panel
Event Descriptions
Marc Watkins
Assistant Director of Academic Innovation and Director of the AI Institute for Teachers, University of Mississippi
Co-author, The Norton Guide to AI-Aware Teaching
AI is the subject of provocative pedagogy. It is contested, consequential, ethically tangled, and changing weekly. How can we help students develop discernment when they approach AI? Marc Watkins’ keynote presentation will cover analog responses to AI, responsible uses of AI, and advanced AI use cases. He will build the platform for the talk using AI code and make it accessible and shareable for attendees.
A Q&A will follow the keynote presentation.
Christy Solorio, Ph.D. MS, RN, CNE, CPN, assistant professor, Nursing Department, Iona University
Allyson Compton, Ph.D., assistant professor, Education Department, Iona University
Faculty across higher education are noticing the same thing: the strategies that once worked in the classroom no longer land the way they used to. This session examines what has changed in today's traditional-age college students (from developmental shifts to attention patterns to expectations of a college workload) and examines why those changes are happening. Participants will leave with a clearer understanding of the current student and practical strategies for adapting instruction to meet students where they are.
Eric Abrams, Ph.D., senior director of Clinical Experiences and clinical lecturer of Education, Education Department, Iona University
"Fixing What Chatbots Broke" examines the fractures that generative AI has created within education, particularly in the relationships among teachers, students, technology, knowledge, and truth. Rejecting the increasingly common claim that AI has merely exposed what was already broken in schools, this presentation considers EdTech influences, AI Chatbot functionalities, and educational futures to empower educators to repair what's been broken. Participants will experiment with AI, engage in discussion, and leave the presentation with an understanding for how AI could or should fit into their teaching and learning practices.
Rob Kissner, MBA, clinical lecturer, Hynes Institute for Entrepreneurship & Innovation, Iona University
Ivy Linton Stabell, Ph.D., associate professor of English, Iona University
Dean DeFino, Ph.D., professor of English, director of Film Studies, Iona University
Student Panel
Over the spring and summer, Iona launched Education in Real Life, an innovative course model that seeks to bridge the gap between the world of study and the world of work. Through collaborations with innovators in multiple industries, creative engagement with emerging technologies, and a radical reconsideration of classroom practices, EIRL helped students meet a changing world with curiosity, confidence, and the capacity to make decisions in times of ambiguity. The closing sessions of the conference will focus on what we learned and where we go from here, from the perspectives of the faculty who led the course, and several student participants.
Event Registration & Logistics
- Date: Friday, September 25, 2026
- Location: Murphy Auditorium, Iona University | 715 North Ave., New Rochelle, N.Y
- Host: The Gabelli Center for Teaching & Learning
- Cost: Free (Registration Required)