Course Description
Build is the second certification in the Navigate AI faculty pathway. Where Ignite was about orientation, Build is about design. The work here is specific, targeted, and practical. Participants select one real course, identify one genuine instructional problem worth solving with AI-informed redesign, evaluate tools against the actual demands of that course context, and redesign at least one assignment so that AI use is governed, student thinking is visible, and assessment remains defensible. The course ends with a professional portfolio artifact that documents the redesign work and a concrete pilot plan for next-term implementation.
Build is grounded in the realities of the contemporary higher education landscape as described in your State of AI in Education 2026 research and shaped by the updates to TEACH, FAFI, and META. Product-only assessment is increasingly vulnerable to AI-assisted outsourcing. Detection is not a durable strategy. The redesign frame that holds up is triangulated evidence: artifact, process, and defense. Faculty who build courses around that frame are positioned to teach well regardless of how AI tools evolve. Faculty who do not are managing an increasingly unmanageable problem one semester at a time.
Build requires more of participants than Ignite did. The activities are not exercises. They produce real artifacts intended for real courses. Learners who engage fully will leave with a revised assignment, a tool alignment map, an AI rules-of-engagement statement, and a portfolio they can share, iterate on, and build from. That is the standard.
Who This Is For
Build is designed for faculty in the Exploring to early Adapting range on FAFI. Participants have already experimented with AI tools in some fashion, have at least a basic vocabulary for the conversation, and now want to do something more deliberate with that interest. They may have completed Ignite and have a working syllabus policy in hand. Or they may be entering Build from institutional onboarding that established enough foundation to move directly to redesign work.
This course is also appropriate for instructional designers, educational developers, and department coordinators who want to support faculty redesign with a concrete framework. The activities are written with individual faculty practice at the center, but the frameworks and tools translate well to facilitated cohort or workshop use.
Build is not the right starting point for faculty who have never used AI in any professional capacity and have no existing orientation to the governance and ethics dimensions of responsible use. Those faculty need Ignite first. FAFI placement is the guide.
What Learners Will Produce
Participants will complete four substantial course artifacts. Module 1 produces a Course Targeting Worksheet and a Teaching Stance Reflection that grounds all subsequent design decisions in a real course context. Module 2 produces a Tool Alignment Map with a Fit-Friction Analysis of one chosen tool. Module 3 produces a redesigned assignment with staged AI permissions, at least two process checkpoints, and an assignment-level AI use policy paragraph. Module 4 produces an AI Teaching Showcase Portfolio that brings all three prior artifacts together alongside a 500 to 700 word reflective implementation plan and pilot timeline.
These artifacts are not meant to be submitted and forgotten. They are meant to be used. A participant who completes Build well should have something they can bring to a center for teaching and learning, adapt for annual review language, share with a chair or curriculum committee, or carry directly into the next term as a working implementation plan.
Learning Objectives
- Identify one course, one instructional bottleneck, and one realistic redesign target worth focused AI-supported improvement.
- Evaluate AI tools through workflow fit, verification needs, privacy risk, access constraints, and alignment to learning goals rather than novelty alone.
- Redesign at least one assignment so that AI permissions, human checkpoints, disclosure expectations, and evidence of thinking are all made visible at the task level.
- Apply updated TEACH, FAFI, and early META logic to course design decisions, especially around orchestration, cognitive preservation, and triangulated evidence.
- Document course redesign work in a professional portfolio that can guide next-term implementation and support future peer review or faculty development conversations.
FAQ
Do I need to take Ignite first? Recommended but not required if you already have a clear AI policy + baseline fluency from FAFI scores.
What do I walk away with? A finished, classroom-ready assignment package.
Certificate? Yes—Level 2 (Build) course complete leading to the full certificate.
Credit? Same as Level 1; non-credit professional credential.
