An independent research preview · covering the California Community Colleges
Environmental Scan
AI Landscape by Region
Spring 2025 baseline · June 2026 update
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East Los Angeles College

Region: Los Angeles

At a glance

East LA College's Academic Senate CASTLE task force, led by faculty member Julie Bernard, has driven a mature, equity-centered AI adoption since 2024. The college updated its academic honesty policy in 2023 to cover generative AI, built a self-paced Canvas AI literacy course and custom syllabus-policy coach app for faculty, launched student AI guidance and a library research guide, and secured a $200K AI FAST Challenge grant with CSU Dominguez Hills to develop a multilingual career-pathway chatbot for underserved students.

Updated Scan Findings

7 new 🆕· 12 source-verified findings from the updated web scan
AI-Engaged People, Processes & Timelines · 3
  • 🆕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 confidencesource
  • 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 confidencesource
  • 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 confidencesource
AI Policies · 1
  • 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 confidencesource
AI Courses, Tools & Resources · 8
  • 🆕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 confidencesource
  • 🆕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 confidencesource
  • 🆕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 confidencesource
  • 🆕$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 confidencesource
  • 🆕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 confidencesource
  • 🆕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 confidencesource
  • 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 confidencesource
  • 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 confidencesource

Spring 2025 baseline

AI-Engaged People, Processes & Timelines

V2030: PeopleV2030: SystemsV2030: Resources
Team/Lead: East LA College/Academic Senate’s CASTLE Taskforce

AI Policies

V2030: PolicyV2030: Systems

AI Courses, Tools & Resources

V2030: ResourcesV2030: PeopleV2030: Systems
Team/Lead: East LA College

Entities from the knowledge graph

college: East LA Collegeinitiative: Digital Deceit: The Intersection of AI, Politics, and Misinformationinitiative: Academic AI Resources for Students and Facultyinitiative: ELAC Canvas Course on AIorganization: CASTLE Taskforceorganization: ELAC Computer Science Programorganization: ELAC Information Technology Departmentpolicy: ELAC Policy on Academic Honesty

Links & artifacts