California Education Learning Lab: AI FAST Challenge Grant

California Education Learning Lab: AI FAST Challenge Grant is sponsored by California Governor's Office of Planning and Research. Supports nimble, innovative research and development projects led by individual faculty, institutions, or cohorts of institutions within the same public higher education system to promote AI-integrated innovation in teaching and learning.

California Education Learning Lab – Supporting innovation in higher education Supporting innovation in higher education Supporting innovation in higher education Supporting innovation in higher education Learn About Learning Lab's AI Initiative The California Education Learning Lab is a state-funded grantmaking organization that award grants to support faculty-led projects across California’s public higher education segments, particularly in STEM disciplines, to incentivize innovation in teaching and learning approaches.

Funded projects leverage technology tools and the science of human learning to foster student success. Grantmaking is Learning Lab's primary mechanism for advancing equity in public higher education on behalf of students. Open Educational Resources Funded projects create open educational resources promoted for use among California faculty and beyond.

Learning Lab hosts in-person and virtual gatherings to foster collaboration and promote continuous learning among California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California faculty communities.

The California Education Learning Lab is a state-funded grantmaking organization that award grants to support faculty-led projects across California’s public higher education segments, particularly in STEM disciplines, to incentivize innovation in teaching and learning approaches. Funded projects leverage technology tools and the science of human learning to foster student success.

Grantmaking is Learning Lab's primary mechanism for advancing equity in public higher education on behalf of students. Learning Lab hosts in-person and virtual gatherings to foster collaboration and promote continuous learning among California Community Colleges, California State University, and University of California faculty communities.

Open Educational Resources Funded projects create open educational resources promoted for use among California faculty and beyond. In 2024, Learning Lab funded 33 faculty-led projects across California Community Colleges, CSU, and UC campuses through its AI Challenge grants.

These three briefs synthesize early insights from that initiative, highlighting faculty-driven, student-centered approaches to AI Literacy, AI Ethics & Responsibility, and AI Workforce Preparation in California public higher education.

When AI Skeptics and Enthusiasts Sit Down Together: An Insight Debate at Berkeley City College April 9, 2026–Greater Bay Area college faculty, joined by interested administrators, staff, and students, gathered at Berkeley City College for a dynamic, intersegmental Insight Debate & Dialogue on whether assignments that can be completed by AI must be redesigned or eliminated.

Co‑sponsored by Berkeley City College, California Education Learning Lab, NEW on Substack: “Hopes, Fears, Concerns, and a Sense of Overwhelm…” Anna Mills on How to Hold the Contradictions of AI in Your Head Learning Lab Director Lark Park interviewed Mills to explore what kind of writing still matters and why, the relationship between AI and OER, why she chose to consult for OpenAI and what regulation and guardrails we (in the education community) might need as AI enters its next phase of development.

My Robot Teacher Ep. 13 – How to Talk About AI in Higher Education: April Lawson on Insight Debate & Dialogue What are faculty and students actually saying about AI when they are given a structured space to speak honestly?

In this episode of My Robot Teacher, Sarah and Taiyo talk with April Lawson, co-founder of Insight Debate & Dialogue, about what she has learned from facilitating structured conversations about AI across colleges and universities.

Engineering Pathways Program In its inaugural year, UCLA’s Engineering Pathways Program welcomed 145 transfer students from 49 unique California Community Colleges into engineering programs across nearly every undergraduate-serving UC and half of the CSUs.

Through a virtual summer bridge program that closes pre-transfer knowledge gaps and access to technical internships for real-world experience, the project helps students arrive prepared and ready to succeed. Now scaling to 300 students from 77 unique California Community Colleges and doubling its industry partners in year two, the program is building the diverse, career-ready engineering workforce California needs.

On a systems level, the project facilitates intersegmental and cross-sector collaboration to streamline transfer pathways statewide. Learn More About This Project Learning Lab Awards $1. 6 Million to Boost Engineering Pathways for Community College Students We’ve awarded a $1.

6 million grant to support a UCLA-led project aimed at improving the transition for community college students into engineering programs and enhancing career opportunities through internships and industry partnerships.

When AI Skeptics and Enthusiasts Sit Down Together: An Insight Debate at Berkeley City College April 9, 2026–Greater Bay Area college faculty, joined by interested administrators, staff, and students, gathered at Berkeley City College for a dynamic, intersegmental Insight Debate & Dialogue on whether assignments that can be completed by AI must be redesigned or eliminated.

Co‑sponsored by Berkeley City College, California Education Learning Lab, My Robot Teacher podcast, and facilitated by April Lawson from Insight Debate, the debate and dialogue created a...

NEW on Substack: “Hopes, Fears, Concerns, and a Sense of Overwhelm…” Anna Mills on How to Hold the Contradictions of… Learning Lab Director Lark Park interviewed Mills to explore what kind of writing still matters and why, the relationship between AI and OER, why she chose to consult for OpenAI and what regulation and guardrails we (in the education community) might need as AI enters its next phase of development.

My Robot Teacher Ep. 13 – How to Talk About AI in Higher Education: April Lawson on Insight Debate & Dialogue What are faculty and students actually saying about AI when they are given a structured space to speak honestly?

In this episode of My Robot Teacher, Sarah and Taiyo talk with April Lawson, co-founder of Insight Debate & Dialogue, about what she has learned from facilitating structured conversations about AI across colleges and universities.

What happens when you bring together faculty/instructors, philanthropic leaders, policymakers, and administrators from California’s public higher education systems and beyond, to reimagine the future of teaching and learning? We will let you know after INSPIRE 2024 participants gather at UCLA to wrestle with thorny issues and explore bold ideas, October 16-18!

Learning lab's AI Initiative​ The AI Initiative is a multi-faceted and collaborative effort aimed at spurring transformative change in teaching and learning across California’s three public higher education systems and beyond...

AI Challenge: grant opportunities​ In 2024, Learning Lab launched two AI Challenge Grants to promote AI-integrated innovation in teaching and learning at California Community Colleges (CCC), and California State University (CSU) and University of California (UC) campuses.

Student and Faculty Experience from Learning Lab Projects "I almost didn't graduate high school because of algebra… I was an English major because I wanted to stay as far away from math as possible. It changed my complete perspective on the whole subject. It wasn't about the fact that I was stupid or couldn't do it… it was just about learning math in a different way."

Psychology student at UCLA, The Better Book Project "The main reason I'd recommend this program is to connect with a community of like-minded faculty across campuses. The content we learned about was great, but I think the long-term value is in keeping connected with a local teaching and learning community into the future."

Instructor at UC Berkeley, Reorienting Toward Mastery “I loved taking control of my learning and reviewing more in class time. Every computer science class should follow this model.

” Student at MiraCosta College on the "GOALS in CS" project "It's been a fun process to develop activities that have students working together… using an actual building in Fresno rather than just a canned textbook problem — to make all the applications meaningful for students from the valley." Instructor at CSU Fresno, On Ramp "I was worried about this class going into Berkeley because I knew that Berkeley STEM is notoriously difficult.

The A's for All policy decreased my stress about the course by a lot, and I felt like I was able to focus on learning rather than on first-try perfection." Computer science student at UC Berkeley, A's for All "My lecture style is very casual and down to earth… but my quiz questions are more formally written. AHA!

Then I was able to brainstorm what to do about it with my STEM CoP and we talked about having two versions of the question. Love it!" Instructor on the Scaling Humanized Academy project "I felt so proud of myself and not just proud but enabled.

This class has given me so much confidence that I was lacking not just in the sciences, but in life." Introductory chemistry student at College of Marin, Developing Students' Identity and Self-Perception as Capable STEM Thinkers and Learners