Tools, Transformation, and Teaching Forward
What Lipscomb faculty are learning about AI, and what they’re dreaming of next
At Lipscomb, we’ve taken seriously the call to move from fear to flourishing in our approach to artificial intelligence. But flourishing isn’t just an abstract aspiration. It’s showing up in syllabi, research design, classroom conversations, and the very tools faculty are choosing to use. As we've equipped our campus to explore AI, we’ve been listening carefully to what our faculty are discovering. Their insights are reshaping not only how we think about tools, but how we think about teaching.
AI as a Partner in Pedagogical Innovation
English Professor Matt Hearn, with four decades of teaching experience, shared, “After several iterations, I wound up with an assignment that looks better than any other I have ever designed, and in a fraction of the time.” For him, AI didn’t diminish his creativity, it enhanced it. Using a sample account from BoodleBox as a secure platform, he moved from uncertainty to empowerment, and now designs with confidence. “Without BoodleBox, my incentive to use AI evaporates. With it, I do,” he told us.
Dr. Donita Brown in the College of Business shared, “I use AI to help me structure the class, I just put in the old syllabus and the new class dates and it helps me tactically reorder my assignments. I additionally use it to give me a few questions student may ask about my syllabus.” Dr. Brown also shared that she’s been wrestling with what assessment of knowledge looks like in the age of AI, and thinking through how to create assignments and assessments that meet today’s needs.
This echoes what we’ve heard across disciplines, from pharmacy to fashion, from biology to Bible. When faculty have access to tools that are secure, shared, and purposeful, they don’t just try new things, they reimagine what’s possible.
Teaching Students to Navigate a New Literacy
Faculty are not simply using AI to streamline their work. They’re also teaching students how to use it with integrity and imagination. Charlotte Poling, Chair of Fashion, described AI as a professional literacy, “Teaching students to use AI efficiently and ethically, from their very first semester, gives them a leg up in internships, portfolio development, and industry interaction.” AI is woven into the design process itself, from mood boards to retail analytics. But just as importantly, it’s a tool that helps students find their voice and explore ideas more deeply.
This emphasis on student agency reflects a broader shift. As articulated in our Fear to Flourishing framework, we are moving from recall-based assessments to assignments that ask students to refine, question, and build upon ideas. That transformation begins when faculty see AI not as a threat, but as an invitation to rethink how learning happens.
A Shared Platform, A Shared Future
As we’ve discussed different tools, faculty have repeatedly emphasized the importance of equitable access. Dr. Bonny Millimaki in Biology noted that having a campus-wide tool would “allow me to teach the effective use of these tools more systematically, establishing clear expectations and assessment criteria around AI use”.
Faculty in pharmacy, mathematics, and theology echoed this desire for a unified platform. As Dr. Jay Dorris in the College of Pharmacy shared, the value isn’t just in having access, it’s in having a consistent, collaborative space for comparison, experimentation, and evaluation of different AI models. This mirrors what we learned in the early days of word processing software. Once campuses adopted a shared tool, the future opened up. The same is true now.
What Comes Next
Faculty are dreaming forward. They’re imagining debate bots that model civil discourse, assignment scaffolds that build AI literacy, and collaborative evaluations of AI output across models. They’re asking, “I wonder if I can…” and they’re answering that question not alone, but together.
In many ways, this is the heart of what it means to move from fear to flourishing. As I’ve said before, it’s not about eliminating fear, but about meeting fear with curiosity, courage, and community.
The faculty perspective might be summed up this way - We’re not just reacting. We’re reimagining. And that is exactly the kind of future we want to shape, one where faculty lead the way, tools serve purpose, and learning becomes not just informed, but transformed.