UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — Penn State’s Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence (CSRAI) has announced the “Teach-a-thon,” a competition celebrating innovative teaching practices in response to the rise of large language models and generative AI. The virtual event is open to all Penn State faculty, including collaborative teaching teams, and has a submission deadline of Feb. 1, 2026.
Participants should submit their entries to the CSRAI website detailing how they have thoughtfully adapted their courses to address the challenges and opportunities posed by AI technologies. Submissions can be in the form of lecture modules, classroom activities, student assignments, learning evaluation or any other pedagogical activity related to teaching and learning. Entries should showcase concrete changes to teaching practice, whether in course content, classroom structure, policy development, academic integrity approaches or assessment and evaluation strategies.
Seven Penn State faculty members will evaluate each submission across several factors, including its innovation and originality, responsiveness to AI technologies and evidence of student learning. First- ($3,000), second- ($2,000), and third-place ($1,000) awards will be presented to faculty whose innovative teaching practices best meet the Teach-a-thon criteria. Honorable mention awards ($500) will also be presented.
The event is the fifth in CSRAI’s series of challenges that explore the benefits and dangers of generative AI:
- The Bias-a-thon highlighted demographic and cultural biases built into many generative AI tools
- The Cheat-a-thon tested generative AI’s limits in answering college-level exam questions
- The Diagnose-a-thon identified the power and pitfalls of using generative AI for medical inquiries
- The Fake-a-thon explored the challenges of identifying AI-generated fake news
Launched in 2020, the Center for Socially Responsible Artificial Intelligence, promotes high-impact, transformative AI research and development, while encouraging the consideration of social and ethical implications in all such efforts. It supports a broad range of activities from foundational research to the application of AI to all areas of human endeavor.
For questions about the event, visit the Teach-a-thon website or contact Amulya Yadav, CSRAI associate director (programs), at auy212@psu.edu.