2026 AI Summit for Smarter Learning

Join us for a full-day Summit on Teaching and Learning with AI at UNC Charlotte!
MAY 13, 2026 (WEDNESDAY) | 8:00 AM – 4:00 PM | DUBOIS CENTER

The Charlotte AI Summit for Smarter Learning is a FREE event.

2026 Summit Theme:
Accelerating Imagination with AI in Higher Education

The 2026 Charlotte AI Summit centers on the theme Accelerating Imagination with AI in Higher Education, calling on our community to reimagine what teaching, learning, and programs can become when powered by creative collaboration between humans and machines.

AI is not just a tool, but an imaginative partner. Across disciplines, educators are discovering how AI can help visualize complex ideas, generate new pathways for inquiry, and support personalized learning at scale. As classrooms evolve into co-creative spaces, imagination becomes the driver of transformation, fueling bold experiments in student experiences in the classroom, course design, curriculum outcomes, and assessment.

This year’s Summit invites participants to explore how human imagination and AI intelligence intersect to expand the boundaries of AI in teaching and learning. We will explore how the imaginative power of AI enables us to:

• Re-envision course design and assessment as spaces for human-AI collaboration
• Foster creativity and critical thinking through multimodal and generative technologies
• Expand access and student success through intelligent, responsive learning environments
• Shape ethical frameworks that guide responsible innovation in teaching and learning

As UNC Charlotte continues building its leadership in digital and AI transformation, the 2026 Summit invites educators, innovators, and learners to accelerate imagination together. 

Important Dates

Call For Proposals

ACCELERATING IMAGINATION WITH AI IN HIGHER EDUCATION

This year’s Summit invites participants to explore how human imagination and AI intelligence intersect to expand the boundaries of AI in teaching and learning.  

We encourage proposals that bring critical insights, experiences, challenges, actionable data, or collaborative partnerships of using AI effectively, responsibly, and imaginatively in higher education. Note that proposals should be specific to teaching and learning and focus on one or more of the following themes.

Session Themes

• AI Literacy and Competency: Concept and skill frameworks, curriculum mapping, learning outcomes, career paths 
• Disciplinary Use-Cases: Use-cases of AI in teaching and learning that are specific to the discipline and/or reflect industry standards and expectations for AI use
• Course Experiences: Transformation of teacher roles and student experiences in the course including perspectives, access, community, engagement, accessibility
• Instructional Creativity: Design of course content, materials, lessons, and assessments 
• Assessments: Academic Integrity policies, grading, and feedback
• Systems Innovation: AI tools for adaptive learning, AI assistants, intelligent agents, tutors, chatbots, analytics, visual media, and audio
• Student Support: AI-driven strategies for student preparation, retention, advising, analytics, and communication
• Ethics: AI tools and frameworks that promote transparency, ethical use, openness, responsible practices, critical evaluation of AI  
• Campus Engagement: Campus initiatives, partnerships, and collaborations
• AI Futures: AI for shaping the future of education, speculative exploration, visionary thinking, next generation of AI in higher education

Eligibility

• Lead presenters must be UNC Charlotte faculty, administrators, and academic staff (i.e., advisors, teaching assistants, librarians, technology support, etc.).
• Supporting presenters may include UNC Charlotte faculty, administrators, academic staff, graduate and undergraduate students, K-12 teachers, or other external collaborators.

All submissions must be completed in full and received by the stated deadline to be considered for review.

Session Formats 

Please select a session format for your proposal.

5-minute | Speak-Up Story

This format is a 5-minute presentation to share a personal classroom story related to AI in teaching and learning. These stories are intended to be told by a single presenter, or by a pair of presenters offering multiple perspectives on a topic or experience (e.g. faculty with a student). Stories will be presented in sequence with other story presenters. Stories may include emotional dialogues, classroom humor, fun, and bloopers!

Download Proposal Template for a Story

15-minute | Lightning Talk with Q&A 

This format is a 15-minute practice-based or research-based presentation in a format that is engaging and reflective. These presentations should focus on a well developed topic on AI that supports innovation and provides resources for audience take away. Proposals must align with the Summit themes.

Download Proposal Template for a Lightning Talk

30-minute | Interactive Workshop 

This format is a 30-minute high engagement session for faculty or administrators aimed at developing an AI competency or skill. These workshops should focus on creating an interactive experience for attendees with resources for audience take away. Pick from a variety of formats to deliver this session such as a hands-on workshop, lesson simulation, hackathon, escape room, panel, or something else. Share your ideas with us!

Proposals must align with the Summit themes.

Download Proposal Template for an Active Workshop

Registration

Registration is NOW OPEN!

The Charlotte AI Summit for Smarter Learning is a FREE event.

PAST SUMMITS

ICYMI: Catch Up on Past Conferences

Explore archives that capture insightful and valuable conference experiences. 

For Questions

Please direct questions to Kiran Budhrani (kbudhran@charlotte.edu),
Director of Teaching and Learning Innovation in the Center for Teaching and Learning.