Calvin’s AI conference puts student learning and wellbeing on the agenda

Learning on the conference agenda

Calvin University’s Wisdom in the Age of AI conference is scheduled for October 8–10 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, with an education track asking how AI affects learning, relationships and student wellbeing. The programme connects Christian teaching with practical decisions about classroom activities, rather than presenting a tested formula for using the technology. Its questions are an agenda for discussion, not findings that AI has improved or damaged students’ wellbeing. Source: calvin.edu

The university says education sessions connect with the October 6–7 Kuyers, INCHE and de Vries teaching-and-learning conference, continuing through integrated sessions on October 8. Proposed topics include students’ moral and interpersonal formation, teachers’ design of learning activities, and relationships among students, parents, educators and churches. The wider AI gathering has six tracks.

An October 5 report by Ian Tjoelker in Chimes, Calvin’s student newspaper, corroborates the dates and tracks and includes an interview with organizer Derek Schuurman. It reports that Meghan Sullivan is scheduled to speak on the dignity of learning on October 8, replacing an unconfirmed speaker. The current university page also lists Sullivan. This is advance coverage; it does not establish that the scheduled talks have taken place. Source: calvinchimes.org

What the student evidence can establish

An earlier Calvin research account provides useful background for that education discussion. In July, the university described work by student David Lafe and communication professor Katie Good examining 88 student-authored opinion pieces from 27 Christian colleges and universities in five Midwestern states. They analyzed published writing, rather than directly surveying a representative sample of students. The university reports AI-assisted discovery followed by manual verification and qualitative coding. Source: calvin.edu

That distinction matters: the number describes articles in the project, not 88 respondents or the views of all Christian students. The July account describes concerns about dependency alongside arguments for responsible use. It says the work was intended to contribute to the autumn conference and a journal submission; it does not establish a completed peer-reviewed publication. These are earlier research plans and observations, not new October survey results.

Questions to take back to teaching

For a Christian school considering the agenda, a useful follow-up would be to identify the learning a proposed AI activity is meant to support and how students could demonstrate it themselves. In a hypothetical writing assignment, a teacher might compare a polished assisted article with the student’s explanation of the sources and revisions. This is an illustrative question for local discussion, not an intervention evaluated by the conference.

Proverbs 18:13–17 places listening, acquiring knowledge and examining an initial account within wisdom about human judgment. Applied to this setting, it encourages educators to hear students carefully and test first impressions. It supplies a posture for inquiry, not evidence that a particular AI tool or teaching method works. Proverbs 18:13-17 (NIV)