You don't need to be an AI expert. You need a clear place to start.

Generative AI showed up in your classroom before anyone gave you a framework for it. This course gives you one using plain language, grounded in the realities of post-secondary teaching.


  Understand what AI actually is, and what it isn't.

  Work through the ethics, accountability, and practice that follow.

  Then learn to prompt effectively and choose the right tools for your classroom.
Write your awesome label here.
WHy THIS? Why NOW?

Your students are already using it. Are you ready to talk about it?

Most professional development on AI swings between two extremes: breathless hype about tools, or blanket warnings to avoid it. Neither helps you in week three, when a student submits work that feels off, or in week one, when you're staring at a blank syllabus wondering what to even say about it.

This course isn't about chasing the latest tool. It's about building the judgment to navigate authorship, bias, privacy, and academic integrity with confidence — so you can model the kind of transparent, responsible use you want from your students.
Write your awesome label here.

Seven modules. One clear, practical foundation in educational AI.

This course builds a working understanding of generative AI, walks through the ethical and accountability questions specific to teaching and learning, equips you to prompt effectively and choose the right tools. 

UNDERSTAND

What AI is (and isn't)

Build a working knowledge of generative AI in plain language: 
  • Explain core AI concepts clearly to students and colleagues
  • Cut through hype and fear with a grounded understanding
  • Recognize what these tools can, and can't, actually do

QUESTION

Ethics and accountability

Work through the questions that matter most in teaching. 
  • Ethics, privacy, and responsibility in educational AI
  • Accountability and responsible practice in the classroom
  • The opportunities, challenges, and open questions facing higher-ed

APPLY

Prompting and tools

Leave with skills and a map, not just a new vocabulary.
  • Prompt effectively to get useful, reliable results
  • Navigate the AI tools landscape with confidence
  • Model responsible, transparent AI practice

What you'll leave with

A clear understanding of how generative AI works and what it means for your classroom, plus practical tools to navigate AI in your teaching practice with confidence.

Before This Course

  • Avoiding the topic of AI in your syllabus and classroom.
  • Uncertain how to respond when AI use shows up in student work.
  • Relying on borrowed policies that don't quite fit your course.
  • Feeling behind your students, your colleagues, or both.

After This Course

  • A clear understanding of what AI is and its implications for teaching and learning.
  • Practical ways to navigate AI in your day-to-day teaching practice.
  • Working knowledge of the ethical risks specific to higher ed.
  • Confidence to use AI tools effectively and responsibly.

Does this sound familiar?

  • You're not sure what to put in your syllabus about AI, so you've avoided the topic entirely.
  • A piece of student work felt "off," but you couldn't say why, or what to do about it.
  • You've used an AI tool yourself and quietly wondered if you should be more transparent about it.
  • Colleagues talk about AI in extremes — banning it or relying on it — and neither feels right to you.
  • You want a position you can actually explain, not just a policy you copied from somewhere else.

If any of this resonates, you're not behind. You're exactly who this course was built for.
What to expect from our course!

Practical, hands-on learning. 

This is not a lecture series on AI theory. It's a working session on the decisions you actually have to make.

Plain-language grounding

No jargon, no assumed technical background, just a clear foundation in how these tools work.

Guided ethical discussion

Work through authorship, bias, privacy, and integrity with real teaching scenarios, not abstractions.

Practical tools you can use

Leave with concrete prompting techniques and a working sense of the tools landscape, not just notes you'll never revisit.

Peer conversation

Compare positions with educators facing the same questions across different disciplines.
Write your awesome label here.

Course Lessons

Lesson 1: Course Introduction 

Before using new technology in your teaching, you naturally ask important questions: How does it work? Where does it come from? What assumptions are built into it? In this lesson, you’ll build a shared understanding of the systems behind today’s AI tools before exploring classroom use, policies, and best practices.

Lesson 2: What AI Is and What It Is Not 

This module explores how AI is already showing up across higher education. You’ll look at how students are using AI to support learning and studying, alongside how educators are using it for planning, communication, and academic support. Through examples from different disciplines, you’ll explore why AI use looks different across courses, departments, and institutions and where it may already be intersecting with your own teaching and professional practice.

Lesson 3: Ethics, Privacy and Responsibility in Educational AI 

This module explores how AI is already showing up across higher education. You’ll look at how students are using AI to support learning and studying, alongside how educators are using it for planning, communication, and academic support. Through examples from different disciplines, you’ll explore why AI use looks different across courses, departments, and institutions and where it may already be intersecting with your own teaching and professional practice. Focus Develop practical prompting skills to generate more useful, relevant, and targeted AI outputs. Learning Outcomes By the end of this lesson, you will be able to: - Explain how prompts influence AI-generated responses. - Apply the CRAFT framework (Context, Role, Action, Format, and Tone) to create more effective prompts. - Use practical prompting strategies to improve AI outputs. - Refine and iterate prompts to better align responses with your goals. - Evaluate AI-generated outputs and identify opportunities for improvement.

Lesson 4: Accountability and Responsible Practice in Educational AI 

AI tools are becoming part of everyday teaching and learning — but using them well requires more than technical know-how. This lesson explores what it means to use AI accountably and ethically in educational settings: how to recognize ethical risks specific to classrooms, what transparency and accountability look like in practice, and how to make thoughtful, informed decisions when AI is part of your teaching toolkit. By the end of this lesson, educators will be equipped to move from simply using AI to using it responsibly — with their students' wellbeing, equity, and trust at the center of every decision.

Lesson 5: Prompting - How to Work With AI Effectively 

This module helps you build a practical understanding of what AI can do well and where its limits begin. You’ll explore how generative AI systems create responses, why they can produce bias, errors, or false information, and why those responses can still sound convincing. The module also examines where human judgement, expertise, and relationships remain essential in teaching and learning, helping you think critically about when AI can support education and when it may work against your learning goals.

Lesson 6: AI Issues in Higher Education: Opportunities, Challenges and Emerging Questions

By this point, you’ve explored what AI is, how it works, why prompting matters, and why ethics must remain central to these conversations. Now, the focus shifts to the reality of AI in higher education today. AI is already shaping how students study, write, revise, and complete academic work, while many institutions are still developing policies, support systems, and clear guidance. This creates a gap between student use and institutional readiness and educators are often navigating that gap in real time.

Lesson 7: The AI Landscape for Educators 

This module introduces you to commonly used AI tools in higher education, with a focus on awareness rather than expertise. You’ll explore how different platforms are being used for planning, accessibility, communication, and productivity in teaching and learning contexts. Along the way, you’ll evaluate these tools through pedagogical and ethical lenses, considering both their potential benefits and limitations including when AI may not be the right choice.
Meet The Educator Experience founder

Salli Carter

For more than 10 years, I've worked alongside educators, academic leaders, and institutions as they navigated change in higher education. Today, few changes are as significant—or as misunderstood—as artificial intelligence.

I created AI Foundations for Educators because I believe every educator deserves the opportunity to understand AI in a way that is practical, ethical, and grounded in sound pedagogy—not hype.

As a post-secondary educator, educational developer, and founder of The Educator Experience, my goal is to help educators build the confidence to make informed decisions about AI, design meaningful learning experiences, and prepare students for a rapidly evolving world.

You don't need to become an AI expert. You simply need the knowledge and confidence to use AI intentionally, responsibly, and in ways that enhance—not replace—great teaching.
Patrick Jones - Course author
Created with