Nicole Dillard

Nichole Dillard
Nicole Dillard
Assistant Professor of Human Resource Development
Organizational Leadership, Policy, & Development
College of Education and Human Development
UMN Twin Cities

Exploring Classroom Applications of Generative AI to promote JEDI in the workplace 

Project Overview

My project will seek to answer the following question: how can digital pedagogy techniques and practices regarding the use of generative AI tools help instructors and students address issues of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) generally, with a particular lens towards promoting organizational justice, anti-racism and anti-oppressive practices within the workplace?

I am interested in introducing new innovations that help develop and increase students’ critical inquiry skills. I see this work as providing new tools in students’ toolkits to assess information that they are leaning on to inform their worldviews. I want to be able to work in how digital pedagogy techniques and practices, regarding the use of generative AI tools, can help Human Resource Development (HRD) instructors and students address issues of justice, equity, diversity and inclusion (JEDI) generally, with a particular lens towards promoting organizational justice, anti-racism and anti-oppressive practices within the workplace. 

It is my hope the students enrolled will leave with greater career competencies specific to both DEI and AI utilization that they will then leverage in their own workplace(s) to facilitate more just and equitable organizations. 

By the end of the course the students will be able to... 

  • identify specific challenges and opportunities related to JEDI in HRD, 
  • operationalize generative AI in support of promoting organizational justice and practices of anti-racism, and
  • anti-oppression and generate a list of best practices to share with future students in this course and in their own workplaces.