Posted in 2026
-
Data Disappearing Acts: Navigating Government Misinformation and Finding Reliable Alternatives
- PCC Librarians Roberta Richards and Veronica Vichit-Vadakan discuss the removal and alteration of federal government data in public health and climate science. They introduce PCC Library resources—including Statista and specialized guides—to help faculty and students locate verified statistics, archived records, and trustworthy alternative data. Posted January 30, 2026
-
Beyond Bias: What Every Student Needs to Know About Al
- In this presentation, CIS Department Chair Marc Goodman examines how AI engineering, tokenization, and engagement-driven architectures shape model accuracy. Moving beyond basic data bias, he breaks down hallucinations, retrieval-augmented generation (RAG), and reinforcement learning. Goodman reveals why chatbots prioritize persuasion over objective truth and shares practical strategies to teach critical AI fact-checking skills. Posted January 30, 2026
-
Will Al Elevate Student Achievement and Equity or Will Poorly Executed Al Drive Poorer Outcomes and Wider Academic Gaps?
- In an interactive roundtable, Portland Community College presenters explore how AI impacts student achievement, equity, and practice. Treating AI as a socio-technical issue, PCC rejects automated proctoring and plagiarism detection to avoid algorithmic bias. The session emphasizes "backstage learning"—valuing process over final products—alongside compassionate human care teams, data privacy, and ethical institutional governance. Posted January 30, 2026
-
Al and Copyright: Legal Realities and Ethical Questions
- Cascade Faculty Librarian Rachel Bridgewater examines the intersection of copyright law and generative AI across four key questions, including output eligibility and training fair use. Highlighting case law, she explains why copyright law often falls short of addressing ethical concerns and why real solutions depend on licensing, labor regulations, and ethical standards. Posted January 30, 2026
-
Higher (order) Education: The Role of Colleges in Teaching the Cyborg Student
- As AI evolves into reasoning agents, higher education must reframe technology from an external threat to an extension of student cognition. While AI simplifies synthesis, it risks superficial "informational collages." Consequently, colleges must shift focus toward teaching epistemic hygiene, metacognition, source validation, and complex project design rather than policing tool usage. Posted January 30, 2026