Texas Border Business
By Joey Gomez
McALLEN, Texas – A dynamic team comprised of South Texas College English faculty member Robin Bell, Associate Professor of Business Administration Rosemond Moore, Ph.D., and Associate Professor of Economics Lyudmyla Dickinson have created what they call an “Artificial Intelligence (AI) Playground,” providing staff and faculty with opportunities to utilize and practice with AI tools.
The interactive sessions have enabled participants to interact and ask questions in an AI lab environment, which has since evolved to include presentations and interactive sessions catering to various AI knowledge levels.
The idea for the AI Playground at STC emerged organically, according to the three faculty members, who realized they were all experimenting with AI in their teaching. The idea for this program came to them as they partnered to share a common goal, which was to explore what value they could bring to other faculty and staff.
“I came to this out of interest and passion…and what has emerged is something that has been part presentation and part interactive,” Bell said. “The biggest gift for a teacher is to feel like you have shared something useful.”
Moore said the AI Playground is giving faculty the opportunity to enter the next step in their use of AI in the classroom.
“Most people were at different places,” Moore said. “Some were uncomfortable and just wanted to try it, while others were already using AI and wanted to find new tools. The common thread however is noticing how the Playground is giving everyone an opportunity to take that critical leap with AI.”
The AI Playground format has been designed to give faculty and staff the opportunity to utilize AI, practice and “play,” according to Moore. Each session focuses on a theme, like creating presentations, writing prompts and creating classroom simulations that encourage faculty to bring tools and techniques they are using in class.
The sessions quickly became dynamic exchanges, Moore said, with faculty from various disciplines, from art to drama to business, not only learning how to apply AI but how to contribute their ideas.
Sessions conducted by Bell together with Moore, for example, included Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) coding and AI design tools to generate professional PowerPoint presentations, with participants following along on lab computers.
Moore recalled how one business professor demonstrated how to use AI to create simulations that allowed students to interact with an AI system in real time.
“I don’t think we had one department that wasn’t represented,” Moore said. “The beauty was seeing faculty across subject areas actually using AI.”
The AI Playground coincides with STC’s push to develop an AI ecosystem and joins the collegewide effort by leadership to implement AI across the college’s six campuses through a decentralized, but ethics-driven approach meant to balance restrictions with opportunity.
The integration of AI at the college has been designated an institutional priority in STC’s 2025-2031 Strategic Plan, which calls for the creation of programs and degrees using emerging technologies as well as the use of AI to maximize efficiency and streamline its operations.
Along with innovative ideas like the AI Playground emerging, STC has seen the creation of an AI Literacy course through its Center for Learning Excellence, which integrated AI policy into the student handbook. The college has also launched an AI website with vetted tools for students, faculty and staff.
“What’s more important is that these tools are safe,” Moore said. “They are behind our firewall, so ChatGPT isn’t using our data to train on. Faculty can explore AI knowing their information is protected.”
Dickinson emphasized that AI literacy is as fundamental as the ABCs. She leads classes on prompt engineering and plans additional workshops this semester on ethics, governance and AI in education.
“Everyone is supposed to know the basics,” Dickinson said. “It’s all about the way you speak to AI, whether you’re writing an essay or generating an image…it’s an exchange of energy and knowledge, and that’s a great feeling.”
