AI and Professional Practice: Design, Ethics, and Application

This course explores how artificial intelligence is transforming modern workplaces across industries, with emphasis on ethical integration and intentional application. Students develop their own agency and cognitive sovereignty in an AI-assisted world, learning to identify where AI tools can effectively enhance communication, collaboration, leadership, and decision-making while maintaining human judgment and professional integrity. They will experiment with AI tools, analyze ethical scenarios, evaluate AI-generated outputs, and develop implementation proposals for real-world professional challenges. Through a design thinking methodology that includes curiosity, experimentation, creation, sharing, and iteration, students build practical frameworks for responsible AI use in their fields and career interests. Students will develop an evolving learning document that tracks their experiments, reflections, and growth throughout the quarter. The course culminates in presentations to professional practitioners, providing authentic assessment and career connections. By course end, students will confidently integrate AI into professional workflows while maintaining ethical integrity, sound judgment, and awareness of their evolving relationship with AI technology.