The Environmental Scan, made filterable
Spring 2025 baseline — 8 regions, 122 colleges, 3 entries, 30 notes · updated scan (latest: June 2026) adds 13 source-verified findings (7 new). Every entry is tagged with one or more Vision 2030 domains: People · Policy · Systems · Resources.
San Diego / Imperial
filter to regionEngaged People
- 🆕Academic Senate Resolution on AI in Teaching and Learning (R 1-25). The MiraCosta College Academic Senate approved Resolution R 1-25 on 5-16-2025, committing faculty to develop AI knowledge, prioritize values like human agency, equity, privacy and environmental stewardship over efficiency/profit, and to prioritize developing independent/human-centered AI teaching tools, potentially in collaboration with nonprofit partners. Contact: Jim Sullivan. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕AI Discovery Lab (weekly faculty/community sessions). The AI Discovery Lab, led by faculty Rick White and Jim Sullivan, is a HyFlex (in-person and Zoom) meeting held every Tuesday 3:30-5 pm; all members of the MiraCosta community are invited to learn about and discuss generative AI tools and developments. 2026 · high confidence — source
- 🆕30.30.30 AI-Aware Community of Practice. In fall 2025 Jim Julius launched a Community of Practice (two weekly '30.30.30' groups: 30 min reading, 30 min exploration, 30 min group reflection) inspired by Marc Watkins' May 2025 Chronicle of Higher Education article 'Your Students Need an AI-Aware Professor.' The structured, CC-BY-licensed guide continued into Spring 2026 (Week 10). 2026 · high confidence — source
- 🆕AI Flex workshops and AI '5th Friday' conference. The TIC hosts AI Flex workshops including 'An On-Ramp to AI Awareness' (1/14/2026, 58 min, by Jim Julius) with recordings posted, and references a January 2025 'AI 5th Friday' conference at MiraCosta with recorded keynote and breakout sessions. 2026 · high confidence — source
- Academic Senate AI Task Force. An Academic Senate AI Task Force operates at the college; it concluded that a single college-wide student AI-use policy is not appropriate and that approaches should vary by discipline, course and assignment. It collaborated on faculty syllabus/AI-policy guidance. 2025 · high confidence — source
PeoplePolicyResources
Team/Lead: MiraCosta College/Jim Sullivan, Joyful Teacher in Residence and Coordinator C3 Teaching and Learning Center/ Jim Julius Faculty Coordinator, Online Education/ Computer Science and Information Studies Department/Career Services
- Feb 2024 CSIS Department
- MiraCosta College is the first community college in the system to formally offer an Associate Degree in Artificial Intelligence as part of their Computer Science and Information Studies Department. Press release announcement
- Summer 2024
- AI Resources for Faculty
- C3 Teaching and Learning Center
- “Artificial Intelligence class policy – Students want to know the “rules” around using AI in your class. There is not a one-size-fits-all answer to this question so there is not a blanket college policy. Please check out a 1-page guide to help you craft language to share with your students if you’re still working on that! Learn more about AI tools and guidance for MiraCosta faculty and students.”
- Career Services
- Tips to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) effectively and ethically in your job or internship search
6 linked resource(s) — show status
- https://docs.google.com/document/d/1FRNSMw4Ajx-IJy14X2wtsXp7YdUY1npMmve2TdUkIv8/preview?tab=t.0 fetched
- https://hub.miracosta.edu/news/index.aspx?id=4513 fetched
- https://www.miracosta.edu/student-services/career-center/student-resources/artificial-intelligence.html fetched
- https://www.miracosta.edu/academics/degree-and-certificate-programs/business-and-technology/computer-studies-and-information-technology/index.html fetched
- https://tic.miracosta.edu/ai-resources-for-faculty-summer-2024/ blocked
- https://tic.miracosta.edu/author/jjulius/ blocked
Policies
- 🆕Faculty guide for class-level AI policies + syllabus checklist update. A 1-page faculty guide, 'Providing Clarity to Students about AI Usage in Our Classes,' was created (in consultation with the AI Task Force and MiraCosta Online Educators) to help instructors set course-level AI policies, and the syllabus checklist was updated to recommend including a class AI policy. 2025 · high confidence — source
- Board Policy 5505 Academic Integrity (instructor-deferred, AI-agnostic). BP 5505 (adoption history through 7/20/23) defines academic dishonesty broadly (cheating, plagiarism, falsification, facilitation) referencing 'unauthorized technology' but does not name AI; it affirms instructors' right to set more detailed course-level policies. The catalog Academic Integrity policy likewise does not explicitly mention AI. 2023 · high confidence — source
PolicySystemsResources
Team/Lead: MiraCosta College
- Appears to rely on the student code of conduct academic integrity.
- Added to MiraCosta Syllabus Checklist and provided faculty guidance
- Providing Clarity to Students About AI Usage in MiraCosta Classes
- “Artificial Intelligence (AI) - particularly emerging generative AI tools capable of creating text, images, code, and more, such as ChatGPT, Google Gemini, and Microsoft Copilot - presents challenges and opportunities in teaching and learning.
- Faculty approaches to the use of generative AI tools by their students will vary across and within classes based on learning outcomes, pedagogies, methods of assessment, and concerns about ethics and equity implications of AI tools.
- This variance, and our academic freedom, means that it does not make sense to create a blanket college policy about AI usage.
- Therefore, as the MiraCosta syllabus checklist indicates, it’s recommended that faculty provide clarity to their students for every course section about the expectations for student AI usage.”
1 linked resource(s) — show status
Resources
- 🆕Three credit AI courses (CSIT 150/151/152) now active. The 2026-2027 catalog lists CSIT 150 Artificial Intelligence: Concepts, CSIT 151 Artificial Intelligence: Applications, and CSIT 152 Artificial Intelligence: Strategies and Solutions (3 units each), covering AI history, applied AI-tool integration, ethics, and state-of-the-art models. CSIT 150 launched Fall 2024; 151 and 152 were slated for 2025. 2026 · high confidence — source
- 🆕Institutionally licensed GenAI tools (Copilot, Gemini, NotebookLM, Playlab). Microsoft Copilot is licensed for all faculty, staff, and students (GPT-4 engine, with privacy protection and source citations); Google Gemini and NotebookLM are licensed for faculty and staff (not students). Playlab, a systemwide AI tool, became officially available in spring 2026. 2026 · high confidence — source
- Associate in Science Degree in Artificial Intelligence (California's first). MiraCosta offers an A.S. degree in Artificial Intelligence (25 units) preparing students for roles such as prompt engineers, AI-enabled operators and technical support specialists; it is listed in the active 2026-2027 catalog. Announced February 2024 as one of California's first AI-focused associate degrees, following California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office approval. 2026 · high confidence — source
- Library AI research guide with academic-integrity guidance. The MiraCosta Library maintains an AI guide (last updated Feb 11, 2026) advising students to weigh Honesty, Assignment Rules, and Transparency before using AI; it lists acceptable vs. prohibited uses, warns about bias and hallucinations, links Copilot access and MLA/APA AI-citation guidance. 2026 · high confidence — source
- Career Center AI guidance for resumes and job search. The Career Center provides responsible-use guidance for AI tools (ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot) in resume/cover-letter writing, covering privacy, accuracy/bias checks, employer AI policies, academic integrity, and treating AI as a supplement rather than replacement. undated · high confidence — source
- Non-credit Introduction to Artificial Intelligence (ed2go). MiraCosta's continuing/community education offers an online 'Introduction to Artificial Intelligence' course in partnership with ed2go covering AI forms and consumer interactions (chatbots, recommendation engines). undated · medium confidence — source
ResourcesPeopleSystems
Team/Lead: MiraCosta College
- PD
- MiraCosta College provides PD for faculty and staff regarding use of AI and advice for student usage.
- AI 5th Friday: Ideas, Innovations, and Issues
- AI Resources for Faculty
- AI “Detection” Cautions
- We will likely revisit this institutionally over the next academic year, but many of you may be exploring how you can detect AI usage in student work over the summer. Short answer: when AI is used in not-very-sophisticated ways, it may be detectable by you or a technology. But relying on that detection will become ever more problematic as both AI and our students become more sophisticated. Some reading:
- AI Detection is a Business, but Should it be a Faculty Business? (Chronicle of Higher Ed)
- Do teachers spot AI? Evaluating the detectability of AI-generated texts among student essays (research study of instructor ability to detect AI-generated text)
- GENAI DETECTION TOOLS, ADVERSARIAL TECHNIQUES AND IMPLICATIONS FOR INCLUSIVITY IN HIGHER EDUCATION (research study of the efficacy of various AI detection tools, including Turnitin)
- Career Services
- Tips to use Artificial Intelligence (AI) effectively and ethically in your job or internship search
- Courses and Student Supports
- Artificial Intelligence Associate Degree Map & Courses
- Community Ed Intro to AI
- The Career Center offers guidance on effectively and ethically using AI in job or internship searches. Student tips on how to use AI effectively for job or internship searches
7 linked resource(s) — show status
- https://web.archive.org/web/20260122054824/https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2403/2403.19148.pdf fetched
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GwyxEfh3ZoM fetched
- https://www.ed2go.com/miracosta/online-courses/introduction-to-artificial-intelligence/ fetched
- https://surf.miracosta.edu/psc/ps/EMPLOYEE/SA/c/MCC_CUSTOM.MZ_ACAD_MAP_SS.GBL?MAP_ID=1216& fetched
- https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2666920X24000109 blocked
- https://www.chronicle.com/article/ai-detection-is-a-business-but-should-it-be-faculty-business?sra=true blocked
- https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2403/2403.19148.pdf archived