Part 2: From Crickets to Conversation: Reimagining Online Discussions with AI

March 5, 2026 By

Date/Time: Thursday, March 5, 2026
12:15 pm - 1:15 pm

Highway sign with two lane options boring and exciting

Thursday, March 5, 2026

12:15 – 1:15 pm

Location: Please use this Zoom meeting link to join the event

Presented by: Lori Hokerson, Universal Design and Accessibility Coordinator

Flex credit: 1.0 hour

We invite you to join Part 2 of this workshop from Spring 2026 Flex week, when we explored how to create meaningful and engaging online discussions. Below is a resource that emerged from this event:

This document includes a tab with the comments that were made during the event, as we attempted to define engagement, what students want in online discussions, and what we currently do to get students to engage (authentically). It also includes a resource tab with links to websites I used to create the vision for this flex activity. Here are the big takeaways that came out of the amazing discussion:

  1. When asked to define engagement, faculty responses indicated that a discussion is engaging when it has depth and thoughtfulness, personal connection, intellectual stimulation, peer interaction, ownership, and investment.

  2. Common themes that came up, from the faculty perspective, are that students want meaningful purpose (not busywork), a safe space to develop thoughts, genuine connection with peers, and clear value beyond procedural compliance. However, there was acknowledgment that directly asking students is the best way to know what they want.

  3. Finally, faculty shared many approaches to engage students in their online discussions (using the guide-on-the-side approach), which included fostering connection and reflection, providing students choices and flexibility (if possible), providing scaffolded support, and using digital tools (e.g. Mentimeter or Harmonize) .
The good news is that these big takeaways demonstrate that what we want, and what students want, are aligned with the principles of universal design, which is a great starting point! Sadly, the 50 minutes turned out to be barely enough time to get started; we were unable to discuss the many strategies presented, and didn’t even start the intended purpose of the flex activity, which was to discuss its intersections with AI:

  1. Can a well crafted discussion that meets faculty and student needs, reduce student reliance on, or promote positive use of, AI?

  2. Can AI help us to reimagine our discussions to achieve this goal?

I hope that you can join us to discuss the questions above, share your successes, and explore ways to use AI to create engaging discussions.

This activity meets State PD Guidelines A, B, & C; ARC Strategic Goal 1 Students First and Goal 3 Exemplary Teaching, Learning, and Working Environment; ARC Professional Development Competencies: Equity-minded Service, Effective Communication, and Technology Proficiency.

Attendance at this professional development activity is limited to LRCCD employees and invited participants.