Meet the Inaugural TRAIL Guides

As part of Northwestern IT Teaching and Learning Technologies’s (TLT) ongoing exploration of the impact of generative AI on teaching and learning at Northwestern, we are piloting a new service called the Teaching and Responsible AI Literacy (TRAIL) Guides. TRAIL guides are undergraduate students at Northwestern trained in the fundamentals of generative AI and its impacts on teaching and learning. Supervised by TLT Learning Engineers, TRAIL Guides will support instructors and students at Northwestern by offering consultations to instructors, developing AI literacy materials for classroom use, conducting AI literacy outreach to students, and more. Learn more about our inaugural TRAIL guides and explore some ideas for collaborating with them. 

Request a Consultation

During this pilot period of the TRAIL Guides program, we’re exploring the kinds of support the TRAIL Guides can provide to instructors and students. To get started, you could: 

• Request a consult for a TRAIL Guide to review your course's AI policy and give feedback from the student perspective. 

• Collaborate with a TLT learning engineer and a TRAIL Guide to develop a specific AI literacy activity or material for your class. 

• Review or revise an AI-enabled activity for your course with the assistance of a TRAIL Guide. 

• Explore what an AI-resistant activity might look like for your class. 

• Take a broad view of assignments in your class, considering the AI context. 

Request a consultation using the email address below.

Email the TRAIL Guides 

Get to Know the TRAIL Guides 

Daria Chernyshova, she/her — I am a freshman at Northwestern, studying Biology and Secondary Education. I am an international student from Ukraine, passionate about making education more accessible and enjoyable for students worldwide. Having experienced working with artificial intelligence both as a student and an aspiring teacher, I want to find ways to build trust and transparency in educational settings and support the needs of both learners and instructors. 

Melanie Medina, she/her — I am a sophomore majoring in Data Science and pursuing the Advanced Asian Languages minor. I’m very interested in machine learning and am also an artist, so all of my interests are heavily impacted by AI. I’m curious about how AI will change the way we interact with technology, languages, and art. 

Why were you interested in applying to become a TRAIL Guide? 

So far, I have only been exposed to the technical aspects of machine learning, but I wanted to dive into the topic of AI literacy since AI is having such a large impact on education and society at large. Having gone through the pandemic and the emergence of LLMs in high school, I've seen the profound impact these changes have had on education, so I want to help our students and professors manage this chaotic landscape and build mutual trust. - Melanie

I believe that the increased presence of artificial intelligence in the educational context requires ongoing support and resources for students and professors to help everyone navigate this new reality efficiently. Having experienced various frameworks and policies surrounding artificial intelligence, and having worked with many tools and platforms myself, I wanted to become part of the team that guides students towards a more responsible use of available AI models and supports instructors to adjust their class expectations and revise assignments in order to align pedagogical practices with emerging technologies while encouraging critical thinking and transparency. - Daria

What is one specific topic that you’re excited to talk more with students about regarding generative AI? 

I would love to talk about the nature of artificial intelligence: destigmatize existing platforms and tools, as well as emphasize the probability logic behind generated outputs. Students believe they know enough about AI, so I want to use a gentle, interactive approach to let them discover new facts and intricacies on their own, with support from the TRAIL Guides.  - Daria

I'm very interested in talking about creativity and critical thinking. I’ve noticed that many people in my generation are becoming increasingly aware of how AI use impacts the way we think. I believe learning the skill of distinction is important. If we can learn to assess the quality and veracity of AI outputs and their use cases, then that could help turn AI into a technology that supports us rather than hinders us. - Melanie

What is one specific topic that you’re excited to talk more with instructors about regarding generative AI? 

I'm eager to talk to instructors about new kinds of activities to implement in their classes. Some forms of assessment are a bit compromised nowadays, so it might be best to adapt to new kinds of projects or assignments that either enhance in-person collaboration or incorporate AI in ways that support learning. - Melanie

I am looking forward to explaining to professors the realities of AI use. I believe that there are a lot of misconceptions surrounding artificial intelligence and academic integrity, specifically, what students generate, and how they use the generated content to complete their assignments. It would be my pleasure to expand these perspectives and help build a trustworthy and transparent connection between instructors and their students. - Daria

Email to get started collaborating with the TRAIL Guides this spring quarter!