In a sign of the community’s expertise in artificial intelligence, several faculty and staff from the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) shared their AI research during the 24th annual CUNY IT Conference.
Held in December 2025, the two-day conference brought together the entire CUNY community to explore how artificial intelligence is reshaping research, teaching, and operations within higher education, and to discuss the resulting innovations.
CUNY SPS presenters at the conference included Joseph Foy, Assistant Professor, Online Business Programs; Matt Lewis, Instructional Design and Multimedia Manager, Office of Faculty Development and Instructional Technology (OFDIT); and Dr. Jason Bryer, Assistant Professor and Associate Director, Data Science.
Each presenter led thought-provoking sessions weighing in on the opportunities—as well as potential threats—that AI offers for higher education.
Professor Foy, who co-moderated the session AI’s Disruption of the Concrete Experience in Learning: A Gradual Decay of the Senses, presented his research examining how students’ use of AI may negatively impact their ability to use concrete learning experiences. He noted that this trend that may accelerate a cognitive shift toward dependence on AI and erode students’ sensory learning and embodied cognition.
To demonstrate this, Professor Foy shared an example from one of his own business courses. “I have students go to Starbucks to learn accounting. As soon as they go in, they sit there for an hour,” he explained. “They don’t even understand the conceptual framework of accounting, but they start to look at things, and they start to see the register, how drinks are being made, the waste that happens…the sensory perceptions are coming out. But AI is more symbolic. It’s a conceptual isolation…you’re isolated from what’s happening outside around you… your learning environment is being compromised.”
In a separate session entitled Creating a Custom AI Bot for Your Class, Dr. Bryer (pictured above) described his experiences reworking AI models to better support students in his data science courses. During his presentation, Dr. Bryer outlined how he developed his own custom bot using a retrieval-augmented generation (RAG) with a curated set of resources, and offered a framework for how other instructors might develop their own.
Throughout the talk, Dr. Bryer reflected on the particular use and need for customized AI models, noting that these can avoid some of the pitfalls of larger AI language learning models (LLMs).
“I think the more interesting thing that’s happening is the smaller, more tailored models. RAG is one of those areas and it’s tremendously useful. …I’m also a PI on a Department of Education grant, and we have a diagnostic assessment on college readiness,” Dr. Bryer said. “We are training to provide feedback to students exploring learning or mathematics, and we’re finding good uses of these models to tease out the students’ assessment space and find more specific feedback.”
In a final session, Matt Lewis from OFDIT led the session Deconstructing Multimedia: Human/AI Approaches to Instructional Video. In this hands-on workshop, Lewis taught participants research-based design best practices for using AI in instructional video and invited them to critique and analyze different examples.
Echoing Professor Foy, Lewis highlighted the importance of active learning. “Don’t forget learning with video will benefit when paired with active learning strategies,” Lewis exhorted the group, and further cautioned them, “…to make sure there’s a human in the loop when adding Gen AI outputs to your course.”
About the CUNY School of Professional Studies
As New York's leading online school since 2006, the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) offers the most online bachelor's and master's degree options at the City University of New York and serves as the University's first undergraduate all-transfer college. With 26 degrees and numerous other non-degree and grant-funded workplace learning programs, CUNY SPS meets the needs of adults who wish to finish a bachelor's degree, progress from an associate's degree, earn a master's degree or certificate in a specialized field, and advance in the workplace or change careers. Consistently ranked highly by U.S. News & World Report for its online offerings, CUNY SPS has emerged as a nationwide leader in online education. The School's renowned and affordable online programs ensure that busy working adults may fulfill their educational goals on their own time and schedule.
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