Fall 2025 NCHC Portz Grant Recipient

Loyola University - Chicago

"Discernment in the Age of AI: A Loyola Honors Program AI Literacy Symposium"

Presented by the Honors Student Government

Project Background

Artificial intelligence is now an undeniable presence in the lives of college students, and Loyola Honors students are no exception. The Honors Student Government (HSG) at Loyola University Chicago conducted an anonymous survey, which revealed that nearly every respondent had used AI in some capacity — to proofread essays and check passive voice, to break down math problems, and even to brainstorm project ideas. AI is no longer peripheral; it is woven into students’ academic and personal routines.

However, the survey also revealed a troubling gap. Many students admitted they do not fully understand the differences between types of AI or the technical, ethical, or psychological implications of their use. Students overwhelmingly associated AI with platforms such as ChatGPT, Grammarly, Gemini, and even algorithm-driven media like TikTok and Netflix. While some praised AI as a tool that “cuts the fat out of tasks,” others described it as “a disservice to yourself” that “denies you the education of thinking through difficulties.” One student reflected, “I’m not 100% sure I know the distinct difference between the two. However, I see narrow AI to be less detrimental in diminishing human intelligence. Generative AI can be harmful if we use it to our advantage.” Another worried that AI “takes the voice out of your writing and makes things worse (and it’s easier to get caught).”

This divide highlights the urgent need for increased AI literacy and critical reflection. Students have pressing questions: When and how does AI undermine creativity? Does using it for essays rob me of my own voice? How do I know when it’s helpful versus when it makes me dependent? These questions go to the heart of what Honors education seeks to cultivate — intellectual independence, ethical discernment, and creative imagination. Without intentional opportunities for reflection, students risk outsourcing originality and judgment to machines, which would erode the very skills for inclusive excellence that an education is designed to foster.

For these reasons, we propose an AI Symposium for Loyola Honors students. The symposium would develop a laboratory of innovation to bring together students, faculty, and guest experts across disciplines to explore not just how to use AI, but when not to.This event will center the real experiences and concerns voiced by our students, and equip Honors students to engage AI critically and responsibly — preserving the creativity, independence, and ethical reasoning that define their education.

Project Description

Our project is a one-day AI Literacy Symposium for honors students, combining expert talks, interactive workshops, and student-led reflections. The symposium will be built around three perspectives:

1. From a Computer Scientist POV
   1. Explain what AI is, how it works, and what it can and cannot do
   2. b. This session grounds students in the technical basics to lift the “black box” and clarify misconceptions and misinformation around AI
2. From an Ethics POV
   1. Challenge students to think critically about bias, equity, and responsibility in AI
   2. This includes discussions of justice, authorship, and the Jesuit values of “People for and with Others” which calls us to selflessness and solidarity
3. From a Mental Health POV
   1. Explore the risks of treating AI as a rational or creative substitute
   2. This session highlights how overreliance on AI can impact mental health, human connection, and authentic self-expression

After the keynotes, students will participate in guided workshop. In small groups, they will test AI tools, evaluate outputs, and compare them against their own creative processes. Peer facilitators, comprised of students from the Honors Student Government, will guide discussions around the central question: What should remain human in a machine-assisted world?

The symposium will conclude with students developing “AI Literacy Insight Sheets.” This includes a short, two-page reflection on the students' understanding of AI’s possibilities and limits. These briefs will be compiled into a digital resource guide (The Honors Program AI Literacy Guide) that can be shared with future Loyola Honors cohorts, local high school, and community libraries.

Goals for This Project Are:

1. Equitable access to accurate and practical knowledge about AI
   1. Honors students, especially in the humanities, frequently lack exposure to formal computer science or tech education, while Honors STEM students may not be aware of the social and ethical implications of AI use
   2. This project engages the NCHC’s value of inclusive excellence as it ensures that all students gain access to expert perspectives on AI
2. Integrative learning that incorporates strategic partnerships across disciplines
   1. a. By combining POVs from computer science, ethics, and psychology, the symposium embodies interdisciplinarity and aligns with Loyola’s mission to promote Jesuit values of ethics and justice as well as the NCHC’s principle of expansive curricular scope
3. Student leadership and community building
   1. Peer facilitators will design reflection prompts, host discussions, and compile the digital guide to promote agency and collaboration and to increase the effectiveness of Honors student governance
4. Assessment and dissemination
   1. This project will be rigorously evaluated through surveys, reflections, artifacts, and its outcome will be presented at NCHC or a regional honors conference

Innovation Through the Grant

This project is innovative because it reframes the AI conversation away from merely providing information about how to use AI as a tool and toward how to preserve human creativity and judgment in an AI-driven world.

• Equity-first access model
  • Portz funds will support honoraria for diverse experts, giving students access to voices they likely would not otherwise encounter
• Student-curated cohorts
  • Honors student facilitators will lead post-session reflections, to ensure peer-driven integrative learning
• Evidence gathering
  • Each session will generate reflections and insight sheets that will be archived in a digital portfolio, to ensure long-term impact and to create a model other honors programs can replicate

Project Beneficiaries

On-campus benefit: Honors students gain AI literacy rooted in ethics, creativity, and critical thought. Faculty will benefit from better-prepared students who can thoughtfully engage with technology in their coursework.

Beyond campus: Colleagues from other Honors programs will gain an understanding of the methods, content, and outcomes of Loyola’s Honors AI Symposium through the subsequent conference presentation. Local high schools and community libraries will receive the student-created resource guide, to help AI literacy accessible to wider audiences. Through these methods, the project will advance the civic engagement mission of the Honors Program.

Institutional Support

• Loyola’s Honors Program staff will provide administrative and logistical support, including facilitator trainings, promotional materials, and refreshments
• Expert faculty will be recruited from Loyola’s departments of Computer Science, Philosophy, and Psychology, who will present alongside AI specialists working in non-academic environments
• Loyola University Chicago will provide presentation and meeting space for the Symposium.

Evaluation and Dissemination

Success will be measured through:

1. Pre-and post-event surveys that will assess changes in AI knowledge, confidence, and ethical discernment
2. Qualitative reflections to document how students’ understanding of creativity, authorship, and responsibility evolve through engagement with the Symposium
3. Quantitative data including attendance, guide distribution reach, and number of community partnerships

These outcomes will be compiled into a final report to the NCHC Awards and Grants Committee and shared with the honors community at a national or regional conference. The student-created resource guide will be made freely available, to project the project’s impact extends beyond our institution.