Annual School of Social Work Lecturer Conference: Innovation with Integrity: Teaching Social Work in the Age of AI

Generative AI is changing how we teach, learn, and think, but it doesn’t have to compromise social work's core values. This session introduces social work instructors to practical, ethical, and creative ways to use generative AI in teaching. We will explore AI tools to understand how AI can support critical thinking, creativity, and accessibility in the classroom. We’ll discuss:

• When and how to integrate AI into assignments,
• When to limit its use to preserve reflective learning, and
• How to align classroom practice with social work ethics,
• Education, and practice standards.

Participants will leave with practical strategies, sample prompts, and frameworks to responsibly integrate AI into their teaching.

Speaker: Jonathan B. Singer, Ph.D., LCSW

Dr. Singer is Professor at Loyola University Chicago's School of Social Work, Past-President of the American Association of Suicidology, coauthor of two editions of the best-selling text, Suicide in Schools: A Practitioner's Guide to Multi-level Prevention, Assessment, Intervention, and Postvention, and co-editor of the 2024 text Podcasting in Social Work Education. He is a two-time winner of the National Association of Social Workers Media Award (2012 and 2016). In 2023, he was inducted as an NASW "Social Work Pioneer" for introducing podcasting to social work, and in 2024 he was inducted as a Fellow of the Society for Social Work and Research.