President of Saddleback Dr. Elliot Stern takes the stage alongside student panel at A.I summit.
The Saddleback AI summit hosted Nov. 3rd, gave insight ranging from approaches to precautions that all-levels of education are taking to either enhance or combat interactions with modern artificial intelligence. Discussions were held around the integrity of students siphoning AI into their workflow. Focuses and points of contention were spirited by rapid advancements in a handful of these AI based tools with accuracy and simulating real world labor.
We started with reflecting on the first Saddleback college AI summit under returning host Dr. Elliot Stern, president of Saddleback.
“the first ChatGPT, because it was so new and we were so overwhelmed by the ethical implications, we talked mostly about… how on earth are we going to continue to teach writing skills, quantitative reasoning skills, and assess them? and all the stuff we teach through writing like analysis, synthesis, and critical thinking, when AI is making it more difficult? For a while it was a ‘catch-up’ of let’s stay ahead of it and I think most people realized, like, ‘okay, how are we going to integrate it? How are we going to use it?’”
His introduction displayed the efficiency of AI these past couple years and dissected the brain of our highest ranking administrative officer on the topic.
This was followed with a conversation from Superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District Dr. Chris Brown. He described what is happening at the K-12 level today and an overview of what to expect from them integrating into a college system.
“It’s definitely sanctioned. In our use of AI in K-12 as early as the primary grades, we start getting them technologically literate and then we start using A.I as a tool as early as fifth grade. We ‘ve partnered with Brisk Teaching, MagicSchool, and Class Companion.” The intention is to use these AI tools to “simulate lab findings… and help guide them and give them feedback… as a thought partner” according to Dr. Brown. The discussion came with ideas on iterative use of AI and academic integrity.
“Made me think of when we first started getting wikipedia links pop up on our papers during the early stages of the internet.” Dr. Brown joked before pointing out that ‘standard mastery based performance’ specifically on paper is what will ultimately determine a grade for the future.
A student panel brought some perspective to the second act of the summit. The panel was chosen by president Stern and served to answer questions on how they incorporate AI into their own academic work.
“I usually use AI to find a deeper understanding about things that I’m having trouble with or if I’m learning a new topic.” said Spencer Glenn, a junior and computer science major at Saddleback.
Nasim Graphene, a second-year student said “Yes, I’m using AI, it’s helping me a lot with my disabilities and to be able to read it out loud for me, summarize it, create quizzes, and it also helps me develop my ideas. When that idea comes to paper, that’s my idea in the end.”
Listing a lot of the ways AI tools have met her needs and helped serve her struggles, Nasim also pointed out what she deemed to be a flaw in the modern system. “If I go and destroy my sentences grammatically and professionally, AI gives me 100% which is frustrating… Why are we spending more time satisfying the AI checker.. Than learning more about the topic?” The perspective came with a call to action for entire educational ecosystems in addressing AI’s pitfalls.
“AI has been a fantastic tool to help me if I get stuck in a certain area and not just tell me what the answer is but ‘how’ to move forward, so the critical thinking is still there and I’m not trying to offload that. So that’s been super advantageous in the math department.” Blake Allard described, a sophomore and computer science major at Saddleback.
The AI summit shifted to ‘prompting’ lessons on certain technologies like Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Napkin, and Playlab with members of faculty including Dean of Instructional Support Kim D’arcy, Director of Technology Services Thurman Brown, faculty member in SIM Dr. Alan Foote, Vice President for Instruction Tram Vo-Kumamoto, and Vice President for Student Services Jennifer Labounty.
A powerful presentation revolved around software for students called Big Interview, was organized by Rita Soultanian, Director of Career Resource Center.
The AI tool is a powerful online platform that “combines video based lessons, virtual-mock interviews, and real-time A.I feedback to help you for your next job interview.”
Big Interview was made available to use for both students and members of faculty at Saddleback college, free of charge.
The final presentation slot was left for Nectir AI, which is a platform that hosts customized chatbots created by the user and hosts them on a designated platform, ready for deployment at any time. This section was presented by Rod Romesberg, Liberal Arts Associate faculty.
“You can organize them through this nested system,” he says. In Romesberg’s own class, he broke it into four units with chatbots catered to each unit, designed to help the students in his course. He emphasized that his chatbots were instructed not to tell students what to do but rather guide the student through questions.
During the question and answer portion, nearing the end, Dr. Elliot Stern said something eye-opening in regards to the safety of AI usage.
“Be mindful that as we open up and release these enterprise level licenses on many things, there are many things that people are still using that do not have that level of safety so anything you put in, in terms of ‘prompt’, that’s your business, but be very careful about corporal rules and student information. Not just the student information like grades which everybody recognizes ‘oh, I’d never do that,’ but also those personal stories in an authentic assignment that you give a student that may make the student identifiable down the road.”
The yearly summit warranted faculty to guide students in responsibly integrating AI while fostering an environment that values human creativity and understanding. Every presentation gave methods to prepare students and faculty for advancements in generative workflow. As these tools evolve, both students and educators must source and use these tools proactively to utilize the benefits of these tools effectively. The dialogue showed a need for ongoing training in AI applications while emphasizing ethical guidelines in current AI usage.
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AI starts in fifth grade. Saddleback AI summit 2025
President of Saddleback Dr. Elliot Stern takes the stage alongside student panel at A.I summit.
The Saddleback AI summit hosted Nov. 3rd, gave insight ranging from approaches to precautions that all-levels of education are taking to either enhance or combat interactions with modern artificial intelligence. Discussions were held around the integrity of students siphoning AI into their workflow. Focuses and points of contention were spirited by rapid advancements in a handful of these AI based tools with accuracy and simulating real world labor.
We started with reflecting on the first Saddleback college AI summit under returning host Dr. Elliot Stern, president of Saddleback.
“the first ChatGPT, because it was so new and we were so overwhelmed by the ethical implications, we talked mostly about… how on earth are we going to continue to teach writing skills, quantitative reasoning skills, and assess them? and all the stuff we teach through writing like analysis, synthesis, and critical thinking, when AI is making it more difficult? For a while it was a ‘catch-up’ of let’s stay ahead of it and I think most people realized, like, ‘okay, how are we going to integrate it? How are we going to use it?’”
His introduction displayed the efficiency of AI these past couple years and dissected the brain of our highest ranking administrative officer on the topic.
This was followed with a conversation from Superintendent of Capistrano Unified School District Dr. Chris Brown. He described what is happening at the K-12 level today and an overview of what to expect from them integrating into a college system.
“It’s definitely sanctioned. In our use of AI in K-12 as early as the primary grades, we start getting them technologically literate and then we start using A.I as a tool as early as fifth grade. We ‘ve partnered with Brisk Teaching, MagicSchool, and Class Companion.” The intention is to use these AI tools to “simulate lab findings… and help guide them and give them feedback… as a thought partner” according to Dr. Brown. The discussion came with ideas on iterative use of AI and academic integrity.
“Made me think of when we first started getting wikipedia links pop up on our papers during the early stages of the internet.” Dr. Brown joked before pointing out that ‘standard mastery based performance’ specifically on paper is what will ultimately determine a grade for the future.
A student panel brought some perspective to the second act of the summit. The panel was chosen by president Stern and served to answer questions on how they incorporate AI into their own academic work.
“I usually use AI to find a deeper understanding about things that I’m having trouble with or if I’m learning a new topic.” said Spencer Glenn, a junior and computer science major at Saddleback.
Nasim Graphene, a second-year student said “Yes, I’m using AI, it’s helping me a lot with my disabilities and to be able to read it out loud for me, summarize it, create quizzes, and it also helps me develop my ideas. When that idea comes to paper, that’s my idea in the end.”
Listing a lot of the ways AI tools have met her needs and helped serve her struggles, Nasim also pointed out what she deemed to be a flaw in the modern system. “If I go and destroy my sentences grammatically and professionally, AI gives me 100% which is frustrating… Why are we spending more time satisfying the AI checker.. Than learning more about the topic?” The perspective came with a call to action for entire educational ecosystems in addressing AI’s pitfalls.
“AI has been a fantastic tool to help me if I get stuck in a certain area and not just tell me what the answer is but ‘how’ to move forward, so the critical thinking is still there and I’m not trying to offload that. So that’s been super advantageous in the math department.” Blake Allard described, a sophomore and computer science major at Saddleback.
The AI summit shifted to ‘prompting’ lessons on certain technologies like Claude, ChatGPT, Perplexity, Napkin, and Playlab with members of faculty including Dean of Instructional Support Kim D’arcy, Director of Technology Services Thurman Brown, faculty member in SIM Dr. Alan Foote, Vice President for Instruction Tram Vo-Kumamoto, and Vice President for Student Services Jennifer Labounty.
A powerful presentation revolved around software for students called Big Interview, was organized by Rita Soultanian, Director of Career Resource Center.
The AI tool is a powerful online platform that “combines video based lessons, virtual-mock interviews, and real-time A.I feedback to help you for your next job interview.”
Big Interview was made available to use for both students and members of faculty at Saddleback college, free of charge.
The final presentation slot was left for Nectir AI, which is a platform that hosts customized chatbots created by the user and hosts them on a designated platform, ready for deployment at any time. This section was presented by Rod Romesberg, Liberal Arts Associate faculty.
“You can organize them through this nested system,” he says. In Romesberg’s own class, he broke it into four units with chatbots catered to each unit, designed to help the students in his course. He emphasized that his chatbots were instructed not to tell students what to do but rather guide the student through questions.
During the question and answer portion, nearing the end, Dr. Elliot Stern said something eye-opening in regards to the safety of AI usage.
“Be mindful that as we open up and release these enterprise level licenses on many things, there are many things that people are still using that do not have that level of safety so anything you put in, in terms of ‘prompt’, that’s your business, but be very careful about corporal rules and student information. Not just the student information like grades which everybody recognizes ‘oh, I’d never do that,’ but also those personal stories in an authentic assignment that you give a student that may make the student identifiable down the road.”
The yearly summit warranted faculty to guide students in responsibly integrating AI while fostering an environment that values human creativity and understanding. Every presentation gave methods to prepare students and faculty for advancements in generative workflow. As these tools evolve, both students and educators must source and use these tools proactively to utilize the benefits of these tools effectively. The dialogue showed a need for ongoing training in AI applications while emphasizing ethical guidelines in current AI usage.
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