AI Innovation Week at Wake Technical Community College

Join Wake Tech for AI Innovation Week, September 28–October 2, 2026, for a week of exploration, conversation, and practical learning about the rapidly changing role of artificial intelligence in education and the workplace.

Throughout the week, you'll hear from industry and higher education leaders, Wake Tech faculty, and students who are exploring AI from a variety of perspectives. Sessions will include practical demonstrations, classroom applications, student experiences, emerging technologies, responsible and thoughtful AI use, and conversations about what's ahead.

Featured presenters include speakers from IBM and NC State, along with Wake Tech faculty and students sharing real-world experiences with AI.

AI Innovation Week is designed to be flexible. Attend one session that catches your attention or join us throughout the week—there's no expectation that you participate in every session.

Sessions are offered in a hybrid format. Participants may join us in person at Wake Tech's Southern Wake Campus Conference Center in Raleigh, North Carolina, or participate virtually via Microsoft Teams.

This event is free and open to colleagues interested in learning, experimenting, asking questions, and exploring what AI means for teaching, learning, and work.

Whether you're already experimenting with AI or just beginning to explore it, you're welcome to join the conversation.

📅 September 28–October 2, 2026
📍 Wake Tech Southern Wake Campus, Raleigh, NC
💻 Virtual participation available
🎟️ Free registration

Info: Virtual Only. Explore strategies for creating clear AI usage guidelines and helping students use AI to enhance studying rather than as a shortcut. Erin will also share results from a student survey examining how students use AI and how they want instructors to approach conversations when AI may be replacing too much of their own thinking.

Info: Virtual Only. Discover how Copilot can help hiring committees develop thoughtful interview questions and evaluation rubrics for staff and faculty searches. This practical, hands-on session will demonstrate effective prompting techniques using real Wake Tech job descriptions. Attendees can bring a job description for an open position on their team or follow along using the examples provided.

Info: Explore a creative classroom use of AI through an activity that invites students to interact with a historical figure. This session will share an example of using generative AI to create an engaging learning experience while encouraging students to think critically about the information AI provides.

Info: Explore practical ways AI can support the process of researching and identifying business grant opportunities. This session will introduce ways entrepreneurs and small business owners can use AI as a tool while navigating the grant research and application process.

Info: Discover how Lovable can turn everyday ideas into practical, interactive tools—no technical background required. See examples of AI-powered assessments, websites, lead-generation tools, and custom apps, and leave with ideas for using AI to bring your own ideas to life.

Info: See how a Copilot Agent is providing significant time savings in a real-world assignment grading workflow. Jeff will share lessons learned along with practical advice and strategies for getting started with AI agents. Designed for novice, beginner, and intermediate Copilot users.

Info: Virtual Only. Explore how AI is changing the future of work—and how to stay mentally strong and confident as that change unfolds.

Info: Explore how AI can be used to help students examine mistakes, reflect on their thinking, and strengthen their understanding rather than simply providing answers.

Info: Explore a practical, human-centered approach to thinking about AI and how it can support—not replace—human judgment, creativity, and problem-solving.

Info: Hear from IBM Vice President and Distinguished Engineer Bill Higgins about how AI is transforming software development, the evolving relationship between people and AI, and what these changes may mean for the future of work and technology.

Info: Join Dr. Jacqueline Brown Smith for a timely conversation about what it means to lead people in an AI-driven world. Drawing on her expertise in leadership and organizational development, Dr. Smith will share practical frameworks for leveraging artificial intelligence while keeping people, relationships, communication, and human judgment at the center.

Info: Learn what an AI agent is—and how it differs from a bot—while exploring the building blocks that make agents work. Richie will walk through when to use Copilot Studio versus Copilot Studio Lite, how knowledge, instructions, tools, and actions work together, how Power Automate fits into agent development, and strategies for testing and improving an agent.

Info: Explore practical ways AI can support the creation of study aids that help learners review, organize, and engage with course content. This session will share approachable ideas for using AI as a learning support tool.

Info: Explore what durable skills are and how AI can be used to challenge and engage students in developing them. Attendees will learn strategies for writing effective AI prompts and using chatbots to incorporate creative problem-solving, gamification, role-playing, and simulations into course exercises and assignments.

Info: Join Katie Lovin, Associate Professor of Math at Wake Tech, for a look at how she uses AI to help students reflect on missed test questions and strengthen their understanding. Katie will share an assignment that asks students to use AI to generate similar practice problems, then invite discussion about using AI to support test review, targeted practice, and deeper learning.

Info: With new accessibility requirements going into effect next year, making online content accessible can feel daunting. This session explores practical ways to use AI to support accessibility workflows while emphasizing the essential role you play as the “human-in-the-loop.”

Info: Virtual Only. Explore what rigor and productive struggle look like in the STEM classroom and how AI can support both. Ashley will demonstrate how to build an AI agent that uses your course content as a guide to create rigorous problems that challenge students without removing the thinking from the learning process.

Info: oin Mike Reilly from the NC State Friday Institute for a look at how artificial intelligence and emerging technologies are intersecting with agriculture and creating new opportunities for students to explore the future of technology and work.

Info: Explore how to create an AI tutor designed to support student learning without doing the thinking for students. Ashley will demonstrate an approachable way to build a tutor that uses course content to guide students through questions and concepts.

Info: oin Becky Evans-Wilson from the NC State Friday Institute to explore a more collaborative approach to AI policy. This session examines what can happen when students are part of the conversation and how faculty can create clearer, more meaningful expectations around AI use with—not simply for—their students.

Event venue & nearby stays

Wake Technical Community College- Southern Wake Campus, 9101 Fayetteville Road, Raleigh, United States

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