Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College receives grant from U.S. Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education

Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College has received $1.8 million from the US Department of Education’s Fund for the Improvement of Postsecondary Education to support its new AI Readiness & Capacity Initiative. The initiative has been designed to help the college responsibly integrate artificial intelligence into its student services and academic offerings.

According to an article on Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College’s website, Dr. Corley Dennison, who serves as the college’s interim president, was quoted as saying of the investment, “This significant investment allows Southern to intentionally and responsibly leverage artificial intelligence in ways that directly support our students . As a rural institution serving a high-need region, this initiative ensures our students are not left behind in a rapidly evolving technological landscape, while strengthening our capacity to deliver high-quality instruction and wraparound support services.”

The overall goal of the AI Readiness & Capacity Initiative is to create and implement a framework for responsible AI integration that can be modeled for other rural community colleges. The initiative will help to address the specific challenges that rural community colleges and Appalachian community colleges often face, including low student retention rates and low college completion rates. The initiative will leverage AI tools and resources to help address these challenges at Southern, and will help create a framework that colleges facing similar issues can follow.

As part of the initiative, faculty members will participate in professional development opportunities to learn how to integrate AI tools into their coursework, including AI-supported instructional strategies and AI-related course content. These professional development opportunities will include workshops that begin with basic AI literacy training and progress into workshops directly related to the instructor’s discipline. 

The initiative will also seek to develop AI-specific course offerings, like an AI Foundations course, that will help students prepare to become employed in workplaces that utilize artificial intelligence. Additionally, student services offerings will be enhanced through AI tools to help support students through their college education. These enhanced services will include a student services AI chatbot, a predictive early-alert system, and streamlined AI-powered administrative tools.

An AI Task Force will also be created and regular evaluations will be done to determine the effectiveness of these strategies.

For more information about Southern West Virginia Community and Technical College, visit the school’s website.