BY GRACE GERASS

The fellows will serve as a resource for SUNY’s colleges and universities, providing targeted support for faculty and staff working to update courses and learning activities to incorporate AI literacy—including the effective and ethical use of AI, and teaching students to critically evaluate AI-generated content.

“I’m incredibly grateful for this opportunity,” Abramovich said. “This is the magic of SUNY. We can bring people together from different backgrounds and perspectives to solve the critical problems we’re facing right now.

“Whether it’s creating a set of standards for students on how to approach AI or supporting instructors on how to use AI in classrooms, it’s not just about solving a problem; it’s about building opportunities.”

The 20 faculty and staff fellows from across SUNY campuses are experts in their fields of study, ranging from health sciences and sustainable resources to management and English.

Abramovich’s research focuses on assessing learning objectives and using feedback to help people identify if they’ve completed a learning objective. His work includes using micro-credentials and open education resources to help guide education improvement and reform.

“With the advent of generative AI, we’re seeing a real paradigm shift,” he said. “Generative AI has really changed the way we’re doing so many things—and it’s happening in schools, too. The data says the majority of kids are using AI in K-12 and in higher education, and they’re certainly going to use it in the workforce. To me, this means we have to really rethink how we’re creating assessments, providing feedback and helping people learn how to use AI.”

One of the ways Abramovich is leading these efforts within the Graduate School of Education is through working with Erie 1 BOCES educators to build a series of micro-credentials and digital badges that K-12 teachers can use to better understand how to use AI.

“There’s so much happening with AI at UB, especially at the Institute for Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, the National AI Institute for Exceptional Education and the new Empire AI,” Abramovich said. “But another really special thing we have is an Office of Micro-Credentials. UB has been very progressive and forward-thinking about where the next kind of learning opportunities are. These are the resources I hope to share and ideas I hope to contribute to the fellowship.”

SUNY recently updated its general education requirements for undergraduates to incorporate the skills needed to ethically use artificial intelligence into the existing information literacy core competency. This update, along with a new general education core competency in civil discourse, will be implemented by fall 2026.

“As artificial intelligence and other emerging technologies are further engrained in everything we do, SUNY is making sure every student has this essential core competency within our excellent academic curriculum,” SUNY Chancellor John B. King Jr. said in a press release. “We are all bombarded with information from all directions, with varying degrees of authenticity, and SUNY will equip every student with the skills to recognize what is true and how to ethically use AI in their studies and in the world.”