Fall 2025 Course Topic: AI Collaborative Innovation Lab: From Concept to Prototype
This experiential learning course provides students with an immersive environment to develop AI solutions for real-world problems with social impact. Students will progress from ideation to functional prototype, learning to apply AI capabilities to challenges in diverse fields such as education, healthcare, environment, agriculture, and humanitarian efforts. The course emphasizes both technical skills in AI implementation and essential soft skills including customer discovery, collaboration, ethical reasoning, and effective communication. Industry professionals and alumni will provide mentorship throughout the process
- Semester: Fall 2025
- Instructor: Dave Fusco
- Who:
- Undergraduates in any major who are interested in learning how to build their own AI solution and gain expert insights into preparing for the Nittany AI Challenge.
- Students who can use this course as a Custom Application Focus or an elective for all other majors in the College of IST.
- When: TR 10:35 a.m. - 11:50 a.m.
- Where: Virtual via Zoom
- Instruction Mode: Remote Synchronous
- Credits: 3.0
- LionPATH Class Number: 29572
- Discover opportunities for applying AI to solve practical problems with social impact
- Develop literacy in AI concepts, tools, and applications relevant to students' degree interests
- Apply customer discovery techniques to define user needs and validate ideas
- Generate innovative AI solution concepts
- Design and develop functional AI prototypes through rapid prototyping methodologies
- Evaluate the technical feasibility, economic viability, and social impact of AI solutions
- Analyze ethical implications including bias, fairness, and privacy considerations
- Effectively communicate AI concepts and demonstrate prototype functionality
- Develop professional skills including working with others as resources, project management, and interview preparation
- Individual writing assignments on critical analysis of AI applications
- Project documentation and progress reports
- Prototype development and demonstration
- Ethical analysis of proposed solutions
- Final presentation of AI prototype and future plans