Eastern Employees Explore AI

Eastern staff members recently filled the Hargreaves Hall reading room for a training event aimed at both demystifying artificial intelligence (AI) and providing tips for benefitting from this rapidly evolving technology.

The Aug. 13 event, which drew nearly 250 attendees with varying levels of experience using AI, was sponsored by EWU’s new Division of People and Culture.

Cesar Portillo, EWU’s vice president for people and culture who also serves as the university’s chief diversity officer, kicked off the event by welcoming everyone to the session and spelling out it’s purpose: helping faculty and staff develop new workplace tools while better connecting with the campus community.

President Shari McMahan also greeted the crowd, pledging to continue to offer similar staff-development events twice annually as part of the university’s commitment to “investing in people and places.”

At a time when employees are often asked to do more with less, faculty and staff here at EWU are already deploying AI tools in their workplaces, attendees told the speakers. Many reported they had experienced mixed results with the technology.

Travis Masingale, a nationally prominent AI expert and EWU professor of design, used his portion of the event to present user-friendly information to help such attendees better understand the capabilities and limitations of AI.

As part of his talk, Masingale used a presentation he created using AI – combined with his design skills – to illustrate the basic functions of these virtual helpers and provide strategies to improve results.

He emphasized that AI systems require detailed prompts to meet the desired outcomes of the humans they serve. Quite simply, Masingale said, the machines need to be taught.

So, machine learning – it’s like teaching your computer-like pet. Forget complex code for a moment, think about how you teach a dog to fetch,” Masingale said.

Although AI will evolve, it will likely always be only as good as the user’s instructions. “’You are the key to this tool, not it. It’s a symbiosis, I guess,” he said.

Mastering AI can free up an estimated 30% more time, helping to reduce time spent on repetitive tasks and give users the opportunity to reallocate their workday for other work that benefits students, said Masingale, adding, “It’s about tasks, not jobs.”

Jeff Healy, director of Instructional Technology & Web Services, next took the podium to talk about best practices of using AI, including guidelines for ethical uses and resources to help staff access university-approved programs.

Both Google Gemini and Microsoft Copilot are contracted providers of AI for the university and offer built-in privacy protections for names and other information. Those protections are applied when EWU employees enter their log-in credentials to those systems, Healy said.

Both Healy and Masingale reinforced the need to review everything generated and edited by AI to ensure accuracy and integrity. While the university doesn’t currently offer staff development workshops in AI, Healy said, such sessions will likely be offered in the future.

In the meantime, university employees can visit the Instructional Technology and Web Services site for helpful information about AI use for the Eastern workplace.

A panel discussion followed Healy’s presentation. Moderated by Masingale, the panel included Healy, Ryan Weldon, assistant director of career development, Amy Bradberry, social media manager, and Kim Davis, senior director for employee belonging. Each panelist shared their own personal experiences using AI and how it has improved their productivity at Eastern.

Davis tapped into AI to help create content for the DEI newsletter while Bradberry, who developed extensive AI expertise before coming to Eastern, uses it for across-the-the board purposes.

For Bradberry, AI serves as an assistant that helps with planning, scheduling, report writing, editing of text, photos and graphics, scheduling and other tasks.

Over the years, Bradberry has improved AI outcomes through “knowledge prompts” that she includes in relevant chats. Providing continual feedback about what the system did right and wrong helps the AI develop expertise and meet Bradberry’s standards for designing posts that optimize engagement.

Sometimes that rapport includes analysis that helps Bradberry work toward her goal of continually innovating and elevating EWU’s social media presence.

“I can go to Gemini [an AI model developed by Google] and say, “Will this reach this target audience, will this resonate with my audience based on this graphic,” Bradberry said.

Photos provided by Aaron Weer.