Our 2014-2019 Quality Enhancement Plan was titled Learning without Borders: Internationalizing the Gator Nation. This five-year plan led to the establishment of UF’s Office of Global Learning (University of Florida, 2021b).

Your Pathway to AI (University of Florida, 2021a) places artificial intelligence at the center of a major, long-term initiative that is combining world-class research infrastructure and cutting-edge research with a transformational approach to curriculum. As UF positions itself as a world leader in AI research and development, this initiative embeds AI into academic programs to ensure that every UF student (undergraduate, graduate, and professional) develops a basic competency in AI regardless of their field of study or degree level. UF is leveraging its comprehensive curricular offerings to add AI skills into every academic discipline and has initiated a new UF-wide AI certificate through the Herbert Wertheim College of Engineering.

UF Quest, the university’s innovative redesign of undergraduate general education, is already underway with Quest 1 and Quest 2. Quest 3 is set to launch in an upcoming academic year, in which students will pursue experiential learning in the forms such as internships or co-ops, study abroad, community service, research, public service, or design competitions. Quest 4 will offer a capstone opportunity for students before they graduate. UF Quest is an ideal partner for the AI initiative because it seeks to create a cohesiveness to the undergraduate curriculum through a series of interrelated courses and experiences that connect to and go beyond the majors. AI ss a natural track or theme within UF Quest so that undergraduate students will have the opportunity to gain AI skills, ground AI coursework in their studies regardless of their majors, and grapple with the difficult questions and challenges that they will face as thoughtful adults navigating a complex and interconnected world in which artificial intelligence is part of their expected skill set. (University of Florida, 2021c)

References

University of Florida (2021a). Your pathway to AI. Retrieved from:  https://ai.ufl.edu/academics/.

University of Florida (2021b). Office of Global Learning. Retrieved from: https://internationalcenter.ufl.edu/staff/office-global-learning.

University of Florida (2021c). UF Quest’s story. Retrieved from: http://undergrad.aa.ufl.edu/uf-quest/uf-quests-story/.