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Who Benefits? Exploring AI and Agency at the 3rd Annual Learning and Teaching Colloquium

by · April 1, 2026

As we grapple with the rapid emergence of generative AI in our practice, we are faced with vital questions: Whose interests are served when these tools enter our classrooms, and how do we claim our agency as a community?

We all hold principled stances on these technologies, and sometimes those convictions can make it difficult to have the kinds of open, exploratory conversations needed. Join us on Friday, September 11, for the 2026 Learning and Teaching Colloquium—a day designed to create space for dialogue grounded in Evergreen’s interdisciplinary values and commitment to student learning. [REGISTER]

Featured Keynote: Elisha Lim

We are honored to welcome Elisha Lim, Assistant Professor of the Technological Humanities at York University. In their keynote, “Why AI is 400 Years Old,” Dr. Lim argues that AI is not an unprecedented crisis, but a gradual and predictable outcome of statistical modeling engineered by 17th-century corporations. Long before OpenAI, Google, or Amazon, the British East India Company, Hudson’s Bay Company, and their peers were technofeudal corporations with the powers of the state. This talk will zoom out to hundreds of years of corporate governance and resistance.

Dr. Lim is the guest editor of numerous parallel journals on anticolonial platform theory, has published about it in Social Text, and is currently writing a monograph called The East India Company as Platform.

A Faculty-Driven Conversation Space

The afternoon is dedicated to faculty-driven dialogue. There will be space to continue the conversation about generative AI, build teaching team agreements or propose emergent conversation topics. This is your opportunity to shape the agenda around the questions and tensions that matter most to your teaching. Share a question, tension, or practice you’d like to explore with colleagues, and we’ll vote together on which topics to prioritize.

Kick off the new academic year with stimulating conversations, community, and a catered lunch on the Olympia campus.

Agenda Preview:

  • 9:00 AM: Opening Circle & Participant-Driven Session Proposals

  • 10:00 AM: Keynote: “Why AI is 400 Years Old” by Elisha Lim, Assistant Professor of the Technological Humanities at York University (via Zoom)

  • 11:15 AM – 12:00 PM: Harvesting Insights & Shaping the Afternoon

    What are we taking from the keynote and which conversations do we want to prioritize as a community?

  • 12:00 PM: Community Lunch (Catered)

  • 1:00 PM: Faculty-driven Dialogues (AI practices & polices, Team Teaching Agreements, & emerging topics)

  • 3:15 PM: Reflection & Closing Circle

Can’t make it to campus? Join us remotely for the keynote!

We’ll offer Zoom access for the morning session (9:00 AM – 12:00 PM), including the opening circle, framing conversation, and Elisha Lim’s keynote presentation. Please note that the in-person experience will include interactive elements that cannot be fully replicated in a virtual format. Remote participants will be able to observe and engage via chat, but the afternoon faculty-driven sessions (1:00 PM – 3:15 PM) are designed for in-person collaboration only.

In-person attendance strongly encouraged for the full-day experience.

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