Educating the Educators About AI: Strategic Initiatives in a Graduate School of Education

A Case Study

Authors

  • Raffaella Borasi Warner School of Education and Human Development - University of Rochester
  • Eric E. Fredericksen University of Rochester https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2188-2164

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v30i2.5450

Keywords:

AI, education, graduate school, faculty impact, student experience, entrepreneurship, instructional technology, strategic initiatives

Abstract

Much of the discourse about the implications of Artificial Intelligence (AI) for education so far has focused on what uses of AI should be allowed by students and instructors in current courses. However, as AI is changing the nature of jobs in most professions, including those within the field of education, an even more important question for schools of education is, “How can we prepare our students to successfully manage AI as education professionals in their future careers?” Over the past two years, our school of education has grappled with this question, which led to a comprehensive initiative that included developing our own internal capacity for AI, while at the same time drawing implications for our academic programs as well as our own practices as teachers and researchers. This article will report on both the outcomes of this initiative and the process the faculty went through, as we believe that the insights and lessons learned from this case may help other schools of education prepare for the inevitable disruptions AI is going to cause in all education professions.

Author Biographies

Raffaella Borasi, Warner School of Education and Human Development - University of Rochester

Raffaella Borasi served as dean of the Warner School from 2001 to 2018. Under her leadership, the Warner School experienced significant growth, more than doubling student enrollment and research funding. A math educator by training, she has taken leadership roles in several National Science Foundation (NSF)-funded grants (for a total of over $9 million), spearheaded the launch of online courses and programs at Warner as well as the creation of programs to prepare online teachers, and has been the driving force behind the 2013 opening of Raymond F. LeChase Hall, the new state-of-the-art facility that houses the Warner School on River Campus. Most recently, she was instrumental in forging the University of Rochester's new partnership with East High School.

Borasi, who joined the Warner School faculty in 1985, has roots as a mathematics educator with special interests in an inquiry approach to teaching mathematics, school mathematics reform, professional development, and teacher education. She has degrees in mathematics and education from the University of Torino (Italy) and was a Fulbright Student at the State University of New York – University Buffalo, where she received her PhD in mathematics education. She has worked on several research projects funded by the NSF to improve mathematics instruction, including most recently four Robert Noyce projects to increase the number and quality of STEM teachers. She has published more than 40 articles in national and international journals and is the author/co-author of four books: Learning Mathematics Through Inquiry (1992); Reconceiving Mathematics Instruction: A Focus on Errors (1996); Reading Counts: Expanding the Role of Reading in Mathematics Classrooms (2000); and Blogging as Change: Transforming Science and Math Education Through New Media Literacies (2011). Borasi also co-authored an NSF-commissioned monograph, Professional Development that Supports School Mathematics Reform (2002), which was widely circulated by the NSF to school systems across the nation as a blueprint for successful school mathematics reform through professional development. Her current research and teaching interests are in the areas of entrepreneurship in education and online teaching and learning.

Borasi continues her work in school reform, entrepreneurship in education, and learning in the digital age, and now serves as the founding director of the Center for Learning in the Digital Age. She also continues to teach in the teacher preparation and doctoral programs.

Eric E. Fredericksen, University of Rochester

Dr. Eric E. Fredericksen is the Associate Vice President for Online Learning and Professor in Educational Leadership at the University of Rochester.

Eric has almost 30 years of leadership experience in online education in positions at the University of Rochester, Cornell University, and the State University of New York System Office.

His research includes studies of the student and faculty experience in online courses and, more recently, Leadership for Online Learning in Higher Education through the national CHLOE project. Eric served on the Board for the Online Learning Consortium, was President 2018-2019, and was honored as a Sloan-C Fellow. In 2024, he received the Gomory-Mayadas Award for Excellence in Online Educational Leadership. 

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Published

2026-06-01

How to Cite

Borasi, R., & Fredericksen, E. E. (2026). Educating the Educators About AI: Strategic Initiatives in a Graduate School of Education: A Case Study. Online Learning, 30(2), 190–217. https://doi.org/10.24059/olj.v30i2.5450

Issue

Section

Higher Education in an AI-Transformed World