Colleague Connection: Anna Luce on Centering Authentic Learning, Especially While Training Others in AI Teaching Integration
Anna Luce has been named Interim Associate Director of Northwestern IT Teaching and Learning Technologies. She brings more than 15 years of experience in higher education learning design, educational technology, and faculty development. After beginning her Northwestern career in Human Resources in 2008, she held roles at DePaul University and Loyola University Chicago before returning to Northwestern in 2019. Since then, she has served in progressively expanded leadership roles within Teaching and Learning Technologies.
In her most recent role, Anna led learning engineers supporting instructors and academic programs across the University. Her work has advanced generative AI literacy, digital accessibility, online learning, and innovative learning technology initiatives. Throughout her career, she has focused on effective, student-centered, and inclusive learning, and on helping faculty integrate technology thoughtfully into teaching.
We connected with Anna to learn more about her background and what's coming up for the Teaching and Learning Technologies team.
What do you want to share about your career trajectory and how it's prepared you for your new role?
I couldn't have predicted I'd end up working in IT after completing an MFA in creative writing, but I've been very lucky to have found a satisfying career path in higher ed. My humanities background taught me to read and listen closely, ask thoughtful questions, and distill complex information into meaningful content for different audiences. Those skills, combined with later training in learning design and foundational IT practices, have enabled me to work effectively in teaching and learning technologies, connecting technology, pedagogy, student and faculty perspectives, and institutional priorities.
I'm so grateful to be working where I am—with a team I genuinely like—on work that is both practical and aspirational.
Constant evolution in AI offerings and other changes across the educational technology landscape are top of mind across higher ed. Tell us what's slated for the Teaching and Learning Technologies team in the immediate term and later this academic year to support efforts to keep pace?
Since LLMs became widely available, TLT has focused on responding in ways that are practical, intentional, and centered on student learning. Rather than merely teaching instructors how LLMs work, we aim to help instructors and students understand how specific tools, used in specific ways, shape learning—and to recognize that these effects may support or detract from learning objectives, depending on how AI is integrated into the learning process.
Our goals center on building literacy and fluency throughout the teaching and learning community, creating opportunities for open and honest conversations between students and instructors, and providing everyone with the resources they need to make informed choices that work best for them.
TLT has always been an instructor-serving unit, and our Generative AI 101 faculty development program has reached hundreds of faculty over the past two years. A newer initiative is the TRAIL Guides program, which brings students and instructors together outside the classroom for lower-pressure collaboration, creating opportunities for shared learning and co-created responses to AI. I'd love to develop more programs like this that nudge academic culture toward a more human-centered approach.
Addressing the broader question: Where do the realities of teaching and learning at Northwestern intersect with our local digital learning environment and the ever-changing technological landscape? That's where our work happens.”
Teaching and Learning Technologies
Interim Associate Director
What do you think would surprise people about your work?
Colleagues in IT might be surprised to learn that for much of our work, technology is just the starting point. Secure, reliable, and accessible technology is crucial to the University community's success, and we manage Canvas and offer workshops on various tools to support that success. However, that is just the tip of the iceberg. Much of TLT's work involves understanding what students and instructors are experiencing, as well as their goals and challenges.
Addressing the broader question: Where do the realities of teaching and learning at Northwestern intersect with our local digital learning environment and the ever-changing technological landscape? That's where our work happens.
Tell us a favorite memory about your time at Northwestern IT.
I look back with gratitude and a sense of accomplishment when I think about Northwestern IT's response to the COVID-19 pandemic and the ensuing lockdowns. Personally, my background in online learning design and facilitation proved vital and useful; collectively, we came together with a sense of purpose and service. Moments like that stay with me because they reveal the strength of our team, bringing together technical proficiency, pedagogical expertise, and generosity of spirit and character to serve our community. It was also a good reminder that relationships built during calmer times enable a group to respond effectively in a crisis.
Do you have a favorite spot on campus?
It's a beautiful campus and hard to choose just one. Our offices are in the University Library, right in the middle of campus and close to many lush spaces. I love taking a lunchtime walk around the lakefill or up to the Shakespeare garden. For interior spaces, I love the art reading room in Deering and the Dearborn Observatory. I highly recommend attending a Friday night tour if you can.
Would you like to share anything about your life away from Northwestern IT?
Outside of work, I enjoy spending time with my family, going to live theater, reading, and throwing wonky ceramic pots. Wonky is doing some important work in that sentence, but in all seriousness, I love the chance to work with my hands to create something tangible and imperfect; it helps ground and center me, especially after spending so much time thinking about digital environments.