Computational Literacies Lab

Exchange course

LLMs in Education is an Exchange Course, part of UB's University-Assisted Community School initiative to connect UB with K-12 schools in Western New York. The goal is to build collaborations across institutions to enrich both, and to transform UB and our K-12 school system from inward-looking institutions into democratic anchor institutions supporting civic life.

Each team of students enrolled in the course will be paired with a team of high school students, or members of a community organization. Student teams may keep working with an existing partnership, or they will be connected with a student group.

Interested in being part of the exchange?

If you are an educator or community leader interested in being part of the exchange, please contact Dr. Chris Proctor by January 20, 2026. Here is what's involved:

  • Participatory design. The partners (high school students or community members) will be paired with an interdisciplinary student team for the semester, focused on designing and building an educational technology (we think about education very broadly) using AI.
  • Weekly meetings. Teams will have about eight meetings during the semester with their partners. These are required to be on specific weeks, but the time and location of meetings will fit the schedules and constraints of the teams. Ideally these will be in person, but video meetings may be possible.
  • Optional participation in class meetings. The course meets in person from 1-3:40 on Mondays in B12 Foster Hall on UB's South Campus. The last hour of each class meeting will feature content which may be of interest to partners; partners are welcome to attend in person or via video if they would like.
  • Facilitation from Dr. Proctor. Dr. Proctor will play an active role in facilitating and supervising collaboration between teams of enrolled students and partners. This will include meetings with partners when relevant.

Each group of partners must have an adult facilitator. We have quite a bit of flexibility to make this work in a number of different contexts; a close relationship between Dr. Proctor and the facilitator will be crucial.