Penn GSE professors Bodong Chen and Seiji Isotani discuss the AI Thinkery, a faculty working group where colleagues from across the School gather to discuss and collaborate on artificial intelligence.
2 min. read
When associate professor Seiji Isotani—a leading expert in intelligent tutoring systems and educational technology—arrived at Penn’s Graduate School of Education (GSE) last summer, he was met by a campus that was already deeply invested in understanding, creating, and leveraging AI. Faculty members like associate professor Bodong Chen were creating web applications, curricula, guidelines, research, and practical instruction for the emerging and rapidly changing technology. In fact, Chen had already proposed a new faculty working group where colleagues from across the School could gather to discuss and collaborate on AI. It is just one of the ways Penn GSE faculty have taken on the ambitious charge of helping the School build a thoughtful, collaborative, and future-focused approach to AI.
This fall, Chen’s brainchild, now known as the AI Thinkery, launched. It is designed as a rare kind of space—one that slows down the constant buzz of innovation long enough for faculty from across disciplines to think together. The group is already sparking new research ideas, shaping institutional strategy, and giving Penn GSE a powerful voice as the University defines its own AI priorities.
“The idea was to create a space where faculty with very different perspectives on AI could think together—without an agenda, without rushing to solutions,” says Chen. “We have technical experts, policy thinkers, historians, philosophers, people working in schools and communities.”
“What makes it special is that it’s intentionally open,” adds Isotani. “People come because they want to contribute, not because they were chosen. And when you’re not trying to accomplish something specific, creativity emerges. Innovation needs that kind of freedom. We can ask, ‘When is AI good? When is it not? Who benefits? Who doesn’t?’ Because nobody knows everything about AI right now.”
“GSE has a unique role to play as an education school,” says Chen. “Penn is starting to build more cross-school structures, like the Penn AI Council, which Seiji sits on. There’s real interest—from the Provost’s Office, from the Center for Excellence in Teaching, Learning, and Innovation—in how GSE can help shape the University’s approach to teaching and learning with AI. We’re in the early stage, but the momentum is there.”
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