Diane Alonso, a teaching professor and director of UMBC’s psychology program at the Universities at Shady Grove, has been named one of two senior fellows for generative AI pedagogy at the William E. Kirwan Center for Academic Innovation. The center was established in 2013 by the University System of Maryland (USM) Board of Regents and aims to be a focal point for advancing academic innovation both within Maryland and across higher education nationally.
Alonso will work alongside the other senior fellow—Tracy Tomlinson of the University of Maryland, College Park—and Jennifer Potter, the associate director at the Kirwan Center, to lead the development of the Kirwan Center’s generative AI programming in the 2025 – 2026 academic year. This includes the development of a curriculum to train and collaborate with select faculty from across the USM system in best practices for classroom use of generative AI, a type of AI that can create new content, including text, images, audio, and video, in response to prompts. These faculty will then convey the lessons from the sessions to their respective campus colleagues in spring 2026.
Bringing generative AI into the classroom
Alonso has actively experimented with the integration of AI in her psychology courses over the past two years, sharing her insights with colleagues across the USM system. For example, she has asked students to compare their own handwritten ideas with ChatGPT-generated output on a similar topic and to evaluate the differences. Students learn about effective AI prompting and about ethical considerations such as biases and hallucinations. “We always follow these hands-on activities with debriefs and open discussions, and I make a point to model transparent and responsible AI usage,” Alonso says.
This year Alonso also worked with Neha Raikar, chemical, biochemical, and environmental engineering, to bring together a small group of UMBC faculty to engage in a year-long exploration of how to enhance teaching with AI. Participants shared ideas for using AI in the classroom, such as brainstorming discussion topics, generating podcasts from textbooks, and crafting and revising syllabi. They also shared concerns about the technology.
Alonso says she has been interested in technology’s role in education for decades. As early as the mid-1980s, she dabbled with basic AI programs and during her graduate education in the ’90s, she focused on how technology could transform the classroom. As a post-graduate, she worked in industry as a usability specialist, deepening her understanding of how people interact with complex systems.
“This role feels like the culmination of a lifetime fascination with technology, psychology, and education,” Alonso says. “I feel that things have now come full-circle.”
Tags: CBEE, COEIT, Psychology, shady grove, usm