Penn GSE Hosts Events as Part of University-wide AI Month

April 2026 is the inaugural AI Month at Penn, a University-wide initiative focused on human-centered AI. Penn GSE—a leader in AI and its rapid impact on teaching and learning—is one of the many schools and centers on campus playing host to events that will highlight research, dialogues, and collaborations that put people at the center of technological innovation.

“Our events at AI Month at Penn showcase the extraordinary breadth of work happening across our School,” said Dean Katharine Strunk. “I’m inspired by how our faculty and partners are leading vital conversations and offering hands on opportunities that bring research and practice together. These events reflect Penn GSE’s deep commitment to ensuring that AI is adopted in ways that are ethical, equitable, and centered on human learning.”

Those Penn GSE-related events are:

• Catalyst@Penn GSE, the School’s global hub for innovation, will host “AI in Action: Insights from Pioneering AI in School Systems (PASS) Practitioners” on April 8, at 10:00 a.m. A discussion with practitioners from Penn GSE’s vanguard professional development program for AI in schools and districts, it will feature practical strategies, lessons learned, and visions for the future.
• Adjunct Associate Professor Felice Tilin will lead an interactive, online workshop on April 14, at 11:30 a.m., teaching attendees to use AI in coaching conversations with students or staff.
• Neuroscientist and Education Entrepreneurship Program faculty member Denise Abulafia is running a hands-on, online workshop, “Designing Better Learners: What AI Reveals About the Learning Brain,” on April 16, at 11:00 a.m., to introduce an intentional approach for using AI as a thinking partner and learning system, not just a tool for producing answers.
• A “Mindfulness and Learning with AI” forum, hosted by Adjunct Associate Professor Liz Mackenzie, will explore the potential for contemplative practices to maximize benefits and minimize harms associated with using AI in higher education settings. That event will be held April 17, at noon, in Stiteler 251.
• A panel featuring several Penn GSE faculty members—Bodong Chen, Michael Golden, Seiji Isotani, Shiyan Jiang, Yasmin Kafai—will offer direction to help educational institutions use AI responsibly and in ways that advance accessibility, innovation, and student success. That event, “AI in Education: From Research to Practice,” will be held April 24, at 11:00 a.m. at Penn GSE.
• Adjunct Assistant Professor Leland McGee has organized a daylong event with Perry World House and the Latimer Institute on “Global Human Agency in the Age of AI,” on April 27. McGee himself will moderate the morning panel on knowledge systems through the lens of Sustainable Development Goals and the importance of training large language models with diverse databases to support human-centered learning pedagogy, which will also feature Constance Clayton Professor of Urban Education and Director Howard Stevenson.
• Penn GSE’s culminating event for AI Month at Penn will be a two-day symposium on AI in education, held from April 24–25. Among its many talks will be a plenary session from Associate Professor Seiji Isotani, faculty director of the Learning Analytics and AI program.

Throughout April, other panels, workshops, lectures, and community events across campus—from Penn Carey Law to Penn Engineering—will showcase work across AI in health, science, education, business and public life.

For more information: ai.upenn.edu/welcome-ai-month-penn