Tag: artificial intelligence

Vocation is for Everyone: Becoming People of Hope

At the NetVUE conference in March, participants explored the theme of hope within vocational education, and this post reflects on how the conference provided opportunities to cultivate hope, even in moments of despair over issues like AI’s impact on higher education. Conversations reinforced the importance of human reflection in vocational discernment. A notable discussion with Patrick, a car service owner, illustrated the breadth of vocational understanding, highlighting that vocation is essential for everyone.

close up of a card with the word hope lying on a tree
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Vocation is a practice of hope. I recently attended the 2026 NetVUE Conference in Kansas City, Missouri, right on the heels of a communication conference. I realized quickly that I was having conversations at NetVUE about the same topics I had just discussed with my communication colleagues, but the tenor of the conversations were strikingly different. At NetVUE, the prevailing sentiment about circumstances in undergraduate education was that of hope.

I don’t mean that people were ignorant of the headwinds facing our institutions; I mean that the people I conversed with agreed that the work we do matters and is worth doing, despite the challenges we face. Indeed, hope was a fitting theme for the conference. It reinforced the belief that we can—as a group of networked colleagues—pursue a shared vision of shaping our students through sustained action to be people of hope. What was reinforced for me at the conference was that vocational education is one practice of hope.

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The Language of Vocation in the Age of AI

By integrating AI-related language and concepts into our curriculum, fostering critical thinking about the ethical implications of AI, and encouraging students to embrace lifelong learning, we prepare them to navigate the evolving landscape of work and calling with confidence and resilience.

In the rapidly changing landscape of artificial intelligence (AI), our understanding of vocation and career is undergoing significant transformation. In my role as a linguistics professor, I’ve been closely observing how the discussion on AI is reshaping the very language we use to navigate work and calling.

A recent article in Forbes, “How AI is Changing the Future of Work,” explores the dual impact of AI on the workforce: automation is causing job displacement in some sectors, while simultaneously creating new opportunities in AI development and support.

My engagement in leading university-wide discussions on the influence of AI on education, as well as facilitating conversations about AI in a freshman-level course on vocation, has allowed me to delve deep into this topic. This awareness allows me to guide students and educators through the many implications and burgeoning opportunities arising from this new frontier.

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Responding to AI with a Resonant Education

From the first day of class this fall, we must show students that they are entering a space of possibility—a space where not knowing and the beautiful risk of engagement can lead to purpose, meaning, and resonance.

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When I became the inaugural director of St. Lawrence University’s Center for Innovation in Teaching and Assessment in the fall of 2022, I was worried about student engagement and mental health coming out of the Covid pandemic. As that academic year ended, however, I was also alarmed at the ways increasing social media usage coupled with widespread use of artificial intelligence (AI) tools like ChatGPT present us with existential challenges that feel insurmountable.

I am not alone. The Surgeon General released a report noting the ways social media use can “pose a risk of harm to the mental health and well-being of children and adolescents.” And you cannot do any type of faculty development in 2023 without someone raising the question of AI and the future of teaching and learning.

As we approach the fall semester, I offer the concept of resonance—drawn from the work of sociologist Harmut Rosa—to think about how to address what I see as the interconnected dilemmas of the ongoing student mental health crisis and the rise of AI, especially ChatGPT.

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