← All colleges & districts
Santiago Canyon College
Region: Orange County
At a glance
Santiago Canyon College has moved from early exploration to active leadership in AI adoption, driven by Distance Education Coordinator Scott James, a 2025 CCCCO AI Fellow who developed a 3-unit "AI for Educators" course and serves as subject-matter expert for the AI 4 Learning Network with Carnegie Mellon and AXIM. The college embedded unauthorized AI use into its academic-honesty policy, deployed AI fraud detection that identified ~10,000 ghost enrollments with 99% accuracy, and offers continuing-education AI courses alongside faculty professional development through its TIDE Committee resources.
Updated Scan Findings
9 new 🆕· 11 source-verified findings from the updated web scanAI-Engaged People, Processes & Timelines · 4
- 🆕Faculty member named to 2025 CCCCO AI Fellows cohort. Scott (Scotty) James, SCC Professor and Distance Education Coordinator, was selected for the 2025 California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office AI Fellows cohort; the CCCCO AI Fellows Cohort page lists him representing Santiago Canyon College / Orange County Regional Consortium. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕AI work recognized with 2024-2025 Faculty Excellence Award. SCC's official news states Scotty James won the 2024-2025 Full-Time Faculty Excellence Award for work focused on 'AI and educational equity,' that he was selected for the AI Fellowship with the CA Community College Chancellor's Office, and that he presented to the California Community Colleges Board of Governors to give SCC a voice in statewide AI policy. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕'AI for Educators' faculty/professional course launched summer 2025. SCC offered a 3-unit, 8-week 'AI for Educators' course (June 16 - Aug 10, 2025) developed and taught by Scott James for working professionals/educators, exploring AI's 'transformative impact on teaching and learning'; James frames AI as 'the most powerful accessibility tool' he has encountered. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕SCC faculty in ASCCC 2026 AI and Academia Academy. Santiago Canyon College faculty/staff are listed among presenters in the Academic Senate for California Community Colleges (ASCCC) 2026 AI Academy program, including Song Hong (ESL), Patty Sanchez (Workforce Preparation/VESL), and Amanda Carpenter (Instructional Designer); Scotty James is identified as a CCCCO AI Fellow. 2026 · medium confidence — source
AI Policies · 1
- Academic integrity treats unauthorized AI use as misconduct. SCC's academic-integrity guidance (as surfaced in syllabus/policy language) defines academic dishonesty to include the unauthorized use of artificial intelligence and notes the college may use AI-detection tools while cautioning that detection is unreliable, can yield false positives, and that suspicions must be thoroughly investigated before action. (Underlying primary policy page not directly fetched; sourced via secondary index.) undated · low confidence — source
AI Courses, Tools & Resources · 6
- 🆕Subject-matter expert for AI 4 Learning Network (Carnegie Mellon / AXIM / COC). Per SCC news, Scotty James serves as a subject-matter expert for the AI 4 Learning Network, a collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University, the AXIM Collaborative (the Harvard-MIT successor to edX), and College of the Canyons, developing AI curriculum for educators. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕AI used to combat enrollment / financial-aid 'ghost student' fraud. Under President Jeannie Kim, SCC deployed an AI fraud-detection tool (LightleapAI, via N2N Services) that assigns each application a 'fraud score'; the college identified roughly 10,000 fraudulent enrollments, reported a 99% efficacy rate at a cost of under $100,000, and freed ~8,000 seats for real students. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕AI anti-fraud results corroborated (GovTech). Government Technology reports SCC used Lightleap with a 99% accuracy rate, removing about 8,000 fraudulent students and recovering seats for ~7,500 real students; President Jeannie Kim cited one anthropology class with 110 of 120 enrollments fraudulent. 2025 · high confidence — source
- 🆕Library guide: Information Literacy & Artificial Intelligence. SCC's library maintains a student-facing LibGuide 'Information Literacy & Artificial Intelligence' (maintained by Systems Librarian Erin Fletcher) covering generative AI basics, evaluating/verifying AI output via the SIFT/PICK framework, and the ethics of AI-generated work; last updated March 16, 2026. 2026 · high confidence — source
- 🆕Karen Hao 'Empire of AI' keynote hosted at SCC. On March 4, 2026, SCC hosted award-winning journalist Karen Hao (author of 'Empire of AI: Dreams and Nightmares in Sam Altman's OpenAI') for a keynote on AI's societal impact; President Jeannie Kim and Professor Scotty James invited her after hearing her at the September 2025 CA Community Colleges Futures Summit. 2026 · high confidence — source
- Continuing-education AI courses (Introduction to AI; AI & ML Suite). SCC's Continuing Education / community-services arm offers self-paced online AI courses via ed2go branded to Santiago Canyon College, including 'Introduction to Artificial Intelligence' and an 'Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning Suite' covering neural networks, NLP, forecasting, robotics, and AI ethics/applications. undated · medium confidence — source
Spring 2025 baseline
AI-Engaged People, Processes & Timelines
V2030: PeopleV2030: Resources
Team/Lead: Santiago Canyon College/Senate/ Curriculum and Instruction Council/ Technology Innovation & Distance Education Committee
- Academic Senate
- Faculty have been trying to understand how to utilize AI within the classroom.
- Technology Innovation & Distance Education (TIDE) Committee has created strong AI socialization site/resources
- Mission
- The mission of the Technology Innovations and Distance Education subcommittee (TIDE) is to make recommendations to the Curriculum and Instruction Council. These recommendations will aim to enhance the quality of education at Santiago Canyon College through the effective use of instructional technologies and effective online learning pedagogies, while promoting and improving social and student equity. We evaluate and recommend innovative technologies, provide guidance and expertise, make recommendations for professional development opportunities, and work to identify and implement best practices for technology-enhanced instruction and online learning, based on evidence-based research and pedagogical principles.
- Membership
- The faculty Distance Education Coordinator and Vice President, Academic Affairs or designee will serve as co-chairs. Faculty DEC members will be selected to adequately represent the faculty at large. Membership will include the following members:
- Distance Education Coordinator (Co-Chair)
- Vice President, Academic Affairs or designee (Co-Chair)
- 1 Faculty member from each Division (6)
- 1 At-large Faculty member
- 1 Director of Student Information Support
- 1 Classified representative (Student Services)
- 1 Student representative
- Composition
- Scott James, Distance Education Coordinator – Co-chair
- Aaron Voelcker, Dean of IELLSS, (Vice President of Academic Affairs designee) – Co-chair
- Frank Alanis - AHSS
- Alana Gates - BCTE
- Song Graham – Counseling
- Seth Daugherty - IELLSS
- Alicia Frost - Math, Science, and Kinesiology
- Rita Van Dyke-Kao - Noncredit
- Vacant - Faculty At-large
- Sergio Rodriguez - Student Services Project Manager
- Amanda Carpenter - Classified
- Vacant - Student
- Admissions & Records, Financial Aid
- Student Services departments have been identifying use through fraud detection and how to identify resources to support students.
AI Policies
V2030: PolicyV2030: Systems
Team/Lead: Santiago Canyon College
- AI added to academic honesty policy
- “Academic Honesty
- Students at Santiago Canyon College are expected to be honest in their academic endeavors. To falsify the results of one's research, to steal the words or ideas of another, or to cheat on an examination corrupts the essential process by which knowledge is advanced. Academic dishonesty is an intentional act of fraud in which a student seeks to claim credit for the work of another without authorization or uses unauthorized materials or fabricated information in any academic exercise. Santiago Canyon College also considers academic dishonesty to include forgery of academic documents, intentionally impeding or damaging the academic work of others, assisting or coercing other students in acts of dishonesty, or the unauthorized use of Artificial Intelligence.
- Policy for AI Tools Detection in Student Work
- At Santiago Canyon College, we recognize the importance of academic integrity and the need to deter plagiarism and other forms of academic misconduct. To this end, we may use Artificial Intelligence (AI) tools to detect the use of AI in student work. However, we must ensure that student privacy and confidentiality are protected, and therefore, we will not disclose any identifiable information within the text that we are submitting to AI.
- We acknowledge that the use of AI detection is a new and developing area, and as such, it may not always be reliable. Additionally, there are many AI tools available, and some may not be detectable by AI detection software.
- We understand that false positives can occur with AI detection, which could result in a student being accused of academic misconduct unfairly. Therefore, we will take steps to ensure that any suspicions raised by AI tools are thoroughly investigated before any action is taken. In summary, while we recognize the potential benefits of using AI tools to detect academic misconduct, we are committed to protecting student privacy and confidentiality. We will ensure that any such tools are used fairly, and we will take care to investigate any concerns raised by AI detection thoroughly.”
AI Courses, Tools & Resources
V2030: ResourcesV2030: PolicyV2030: Systems
Team/Lead: Santiago Canyon College
- PD
- The AI Campus
- History
- Assessment Ideas
- A Guide to AI Detectors
- Silly Chatbot
- AI Productivity Tools
- Instructional Design
- Chat
- Policies and Considerations
- Distance Education Website
Entities from the knowledge graph
college: Santiago Canyon Collegeorganization: Santiago Canyon College Academic Senateorganization: Curriculum and Instruction Councilorganization: Technology Innovation & Distance Education Committeeperson: Scott Jamesperson: Aaron Voelckerperson: Frank Alanisperson: Alana Gatesperson: Song Grahamperson: Seth Daughertyperson: Alicia Frostperson: Rita Van Dyke-Kaoperson: Sergio Rodriguezperson: Amanda Carpenterpolicy: Santiago Canyon College Academic Honesty Policypolicy: Santiago Canyon College Policy for AI Tools Detection in Student Work
Links & artifacts
AI-Engaged People, Processes & Timelines · 2
AI Policies · 1
AI Courses, Tools & Resources · 2
Contacts at this college
| Name / Role | Phone | |
|---|---|---|
SJ Scott James Distance Education Coordinator, Co-chair of TIDE | james_scott@sccollege.edu | |
AV Aaron Voelcker Dean of IELLSS, Co-chair of TIDE | voelcker_aaron@sccollege.edu | |
FA Frank Alanis TIDE Committee Member, AHSS Division | alanis_frank@sccollege.edu | |
AG Alana Gates TIDE Committee Member, BCTE Division | gates_alana@sccollege.edu | (714) 628-5912 |
SG Song Graham TIDE Committee Member, Counseling | ||
SD Seth Daugherty TIDE Committee Member, IELLSS Division | daugherty_seth@sccollege.edu | (714) 628-5015 |
AF Alicia Frost TIDE Committee Member, Math, Science, and Kinesiology Division | frost_alicia@sccollege.edu | |
RD Rita Van Dyke-Kao TIDE Committee Member, Noncredit | ||
SR Sergio Rodriguez Student Services Project Manager, TIDE Committee Member | ||
AC Amanda Carpenter Classified Representative, TIDE Committee Member | carpenter_amanda@sccollege.edu |