Empowering Teachers to Lead in an AI Era: Gonzaga Fellowship Breaks New Ground

Gonzaga University is poised to change the way teachers approach artificial intelligence through a new initiative that brings together its School of Education and the Institute for Informatics and Applied Technology. The AI for Instruction Fellowship will prepare K-12 teachers to integrate AI into the classroom thanks to support from a grant from the Gates Foundation.

When a teacher at one of Washington’s 16 charter schools wonders how generative AI might support a struggling reader or help students wrestle with complex ideas, they don’t have to figure it out alone. Through this Fellowship, Gonzaga is helping educators do more than test new tools—it is cultivating the mindset, discernment, and human-centered approach needed to guide students in an age of rapid technological change.

This is not about creating “power users” or chasing the latest apps. It is about building capacity among teachers to think responsibly about generative AI’s role in learning, reflecting with their students on its impact, and shaping a principled vision for what innovation in education should look like. The Fellowship also equips Gonzaga to learn alongside teachers—developing its own understanding of how AI can inspire transformation, while recognizing the risks of reinforcing the status quo.

"This Fellowship is about helping educators reflect on what it means to teach and learn in a world where AI is part of the landscape,” said Professor of Teacher Education Anny Fritzen Case, Ph.D. "Our goal is to help nurture teachers’ capacity to approach generative AI with responsibility, creativity and a human-centered mindset—so students are not just users of technology, but critical thinkers in a changing world."

With year-long engagement, opportunities for community connection, and resources that will grow into a living hub of research and professional development, the Fellowship is designed to last beyond the life of the grant. It positions Gonzaga and its partners as thought leaders in asking the hardest questions: How will AI shape young people? What does it mean to teach responsibly in this moment? And how can educators harness this technology not just to change classrooms, but to elevate what it means to learn and to teach?

The program actively blends human-centered pedagogy, technical fluency, and real-time application grounded in the Purpose, Agency and Learning (PAL) Compass, a model for reflecting on AI in education. A custom AI learning assistant, ZagAI, developed by the Institute for Informatics and Applied Technology at Gonzaga, will serve as a research tool to foster teachers’ navigation guided by the PAL Compass. Over two years, 20–30 educators will:

• Participate in a three-day AI bootcamp where participants will reflect on their core purposes to nurture human agency and development, develop foundational AI literacy, and explore practical classroom applications
• Receive monthly coaching from Gonzaga faculty and staff
• Join peer-to-peer learning labs tackling emergent challenges and opportunities
• Engage students in storytelling projects about how Generative AI changes their learning
• Share discoveries at a culminating Capstone Showcase for the wider community

In tandem, Gonzaga researchers will study teacher and student experiences, producing data and insights that will inform future national models of AI-in-education training.

"Generative AI has the potential to both inspire innovation and to entrench habits we may not want to keep,” said Reisenauer Family Director of the Institute of Informatics and Applied Technology S. Jay Yang, Ph.D. “What excites me about this partnership is the chance to work alongside teachers as we explore both possibilities. This Fellowship positions Gonzaga to ask the deeper questions—about culture, ethics and impact on young people—and to help shape what responsible, principled AI in education should look like."

The AI for Instruction Fellowship underscores Gonzaga’s competitive relevance and mission-driven leadership at the intersection of education and technology. Grounded in ethics, powered by innovation and focused on human flourishing, this Fellowship serves as a blueprint for teacher training across the country—and it starts right here at Gonzaga.

This story refers to a project funded by the Gates Foundation. The findings and conclusions contained within are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect positions or policies of the Gates Foundation.