The Environmental Scan, made filterable
Spring 2025 baseline — 8 regions, 122 colleges, 3 entries, 23 notes · updated scan (latest: June 2026) adds 12 source-verified findings (7 new). Every entry is tagged with one or more Vision 2030 domains: People · Policy · Systems · Resources.
Los Angeles
filter to regionEngaged People
- 🆕AI Literacy at ELAC self-paced Canvas course for faculty. A Canvas module developed by the Academic Senate's CASTLE task force specifically for ELAC instructors introduces generative AI programs, guides building an AI syllabus policy and handling academic honesty, offers teaching-with-AI tools, and houses a repository of campus, district, and state AI workshops/webinars. 2025-2026 (live mid-2026) · high confidence — source
- CASTLE AI task force (Academic Senate). ELAC's Academic Senate runs the CASTLE (Chatbots, AI, Student Learning and Education) task force. Its first-year work revised the campus academic honesty and faculty ethics policies, gave faculty AI syllabus-policy guidance, and introduced faculty to AI teaching tools; it authored a 'Roadmap for Teaching in an AI World.' 2024 · high confidence — source
- Julie Bernard leads CASTLE task force. ELAC faculty member Julie Bernard, writing in the ASCCC Rostrum (Nov 2024), identifies herself as 'the lead of my local academic senate's Chatbots, AI, Student Learning, and Education task force,' with the goal of building a campus culture of responsible, ethical, and critical AI use. 2024 · high confidence — source
PeopleSystemsResources
Team/Lead: East LA College/Academic Senate’s CASTLE Taskforce
- Academic Senate’s CASTLE Taskforce
- The CASTLE Taskforce was established to explore the implications of emerging technologies, including AI, on education and to promote digital literacy among students and faculty.
- Provides professional learning
- Academic AI Resources for Students and Faculty
- Canvas
- App: AI Syllabus Policy Coach for ELAC Instructors
- Workshops
- Digital Deceit: The Intersection of AI, Politics, and Misinformation
3 linked resource(s) — show status
Policies
- Academic Honesty Policy covers generative AI. ELAC's Policy on Academic Honesty (approved 2006) was updated Sept 12, 2023 to state it 'applies to any use of generative AI that is not specifically authorized by the instructor' (e.g., ChatGPT, Google Bard, Dall-E), with discipline available under LACCD Board Rule 91101. 2023 (updated for AI) · high confidence — source
PolicySystems
Team/Lead: East LA College
- Sept 2023 ELAC has updated Policy on Academic Honesty to address the use of generative AI,
- policy explicitly prohibits unauthorized use of AI technologies, such as ChatGPT and DALL-E, in academic work. This ensures that students maintain integrity and originality in their assignments.
2 linked resource(s) — show status
Resources
- 🆕AI Syllabus Policy Coach app for instructors. ELAC offers an 'AI Syllabus Policy Coach for ELAC Instructors' app for faculty who want to build a course AI policy; it has been trained on the ELAC course catalog and ELAC policies and 'provides guidance on equitable practices.' 2025-2026 (live mid-2026) · high confidence — source
- 🆕AI Guidance for Students page. The ELAC AI Resources page gives students guidance on generative AI tools (Gemini, Copilot, Midjourney, ChatGPT), warning of privacy, bias/'hallucinations,' and ethical concerns, telling students to follow each instructor's syllabus AI policy or 'when in doubt, ASK,' and linking the ombudsperson for false-accusation disputes. 2025-2026 (live mid-2026) · high confidence — source
- 🆕Library Generative AI research guide. The ELAC Library maintains a Generative AI research guide (ChatGPT, Google Gemini, Microsoft Copilot, NotebookLM) covering AI literacy, hallucinations/grounding, terminology, citing AI, and using AI as a student; last updated June 8, 2026. 2026 (updated June 8, 2026) · high confidence — source
- 🆕$200K AI FAST Challenge grant for career-pathway chatbot. ELAC is a first-time California Education Learning Lab grantee on a $200,000 AI FAST Challenge award (project added 4/18/2025) with lead CSU Dominguez Hills to develop/test the 'Build Your Career Pathway' AI chatbot, built on ChatGPT and translatable into 80+ languages for diverse, underserved students. 2024-25 cycle · high confidence — source
- 🆕Career-pathway chatbot partnership with CSU Dominguez Hills. ELAC partners with CSU Dominguez Hills, the South Bay Workforce Investment Board, and the South Bay Economics Institute to build a custom ChatGPT-based career-pathways chatbot embedded in classroom assignments to support resume development and job readiness. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕AI Literacy Leaders certificate program for faculty. CASTLE's stated next-year plan was to recruit faculty into an 'AI Literacy Leaders certificate program' covering AI fundamentals, positive applications supporting campus equity, and cautions/concerns, while building a cross-disciplinary community of practice (a faculty-development credential, not a student credit certificate). 2025 (planned in Nov 2024 article) · medium confidence — source
- AI & Machine Learning Suite (non-credit continuing ed). ELAC offers, via its ed2go portal, a non-credit 'Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Suite' (Intro to AI + Intro to Machine Learning, 48 course hours, $262) covering AI/ML fundamentals, NLP, neural networks, AI in the workforce, and AI ethics; sessions running through 2026. 2026 (sessions through Sept 2026) · high confidence — source
- Equity framing across AI resources. ELAC consistently frames AI through equity: student guidance warns AI 'can produce biased or racist results that... increase inequalities,' the faculty Policy Coach app guides 'equitable practices,' faculty resources include suggested reading on algorithmic justice, and the career-chatbot grant targets diverse/underserved students with culturally relevant, multilingual support. 2025-2026 · high confidence — source
ResourcesPeopleSystems
Team/Lead: East LA College
- Professional learning
- Academic AI Resources for Students and Faculty
- Canvas
- App: AI Syllabus Policy Coach for ELAC Instructors
- Workshops
- Digital Deceit: The Intersection of AI, Politics, and Misinformation
- ELAC's Computer Science program offers courses that provide foundational knowledge applicable to AI, including programming languages such as Python, Java, and C++.
- "AI tools and platforms The college's Information Technology Department is dedicated to providing reliable, high-quality support, which likely includes facilitating access to various AI and computing resources for both students and staff.
- ELAC Canva Course
- Step 1. Learning about Different Generative AI Programs
- Step 2. Building a Generative AI Policy and Syllabus Statement
- Step 3. Rethinking Academic Honesty in the AI Environment
- Step 4. Embrace the Change: Teaching with AI"