Future Conversations and Project Ideas
Throughout the course of this project, I encountered consistent gaps in information, irregularities in the flow of publications, and the challenges I previously described around meeting up with faculty and having conversations. The project felt immense, ever-fluid, and challenging. And yet time flew by, the work commenced, and then it moved to the creation of this guide.
Even at the beginning of the project, I wondered if I was biting off more than I could chew, or if my project was too broad. Workforce education is huge, the impacts of GenAI on the workforce is huge, and everything is changing in huge ways all the time! Even now, as I type this, I wonder if the small “dent” I made in illuminating my topic is even going to matter after today or tomorrow.
For now, I consider this the beginning of a longer commitment to understanding the relationship between community colleges and workforce development, workforce education, and technology. I do not think that the themes of this guide are going to disappear. They will continue to be incredibly important, which is why I hold strong with the recommendations I included in this guide. The long term for higher education will be to think about commitments and practice those commitments. Staying on top of the technology is one thing, connecting it through conversation and analysis year over year is another layer of work.
As I emerge from this project, I think about how the project may impact my own conversations, and the next steps for my own practice down the road. I think also about what other projects may emerge. I am not sure that formal research or a temporary project is the best way to continue exploring GenAI, both in and out of the workforce context. For me it was immensely helpful just to get a grasp at how the technology has been and is being positioned in our culture, and to support formal connections with other faculty. But was it the best and most ideal way of doing this work and learning about these topics? Perhaps as a first step, but what about as a second, or a third, or so on?
For myself, I believe that developing resources and supporting specific needs will be a more sustainable and approachable path forward in doing GenAI work. For example, spending a quarter diving even deeper (including more intensive reading of literature) into GenAI’s impact on Nursing would be a significant experience that would result in my direct impacts on faculty teaching and student learning. I maintain a personal interest in seeing the nuances of pedagogical connections and evolution, and connecting with students more directly through assessment and conversation.
In reflecting on the work I’ve done, I am still grateful for this project and what I was exposed to and how it evolved over time. No project is perfect, and yet every project is informative. I look forward to the future conversations that emerge, no matter what form they take. As I have said in this guide elsewhere, I am more than open to chatting about this work, or where we are “now” (at the time of you reading these words). Send me an email, and let’s connect. The future of higher education will benefit all the more from our conversations.