Grace Beam, director of Online Learning and Development at Georgia Northwestern Technical College (GNTC), will speak at two national conferences this fall, focusing on how colleges are responding to artificial intelligence (AI) in the classroom.
“Colleges are rethinking how they design, deliver and assess learning in general,” Beam said. “This conversation entails more than just AI, and I’m glad to be part of the conversation.”
Beam will present two sessions at the 2026 National Summit on Artificial Intelligence in Chandler, Arizona; the conference, which will be held Oct. 14-16, is hosted by Maricopa Community Colleges. On Oct. 15, her session, “From a Few Faculty to 22 Colleges: What Happens When You Stop Planning Ahead,” will cover how a one-person program was made available across an entire state system. On Oct. 16, she will lead “Cheat Resistant by Design,” a hands-on workshop on building assignments that AI cannot complete for a student.
Beam will speak for two sessions at the OLC Accelerate 2026 conference, Nov. 16-19, in Orlando. OLC Accelerate is the Online Learning Consortium’s annual conference on digital and online education, and this year’s program emphasizes how AI is reshaping course design and assessment.
The Online Learning Consortium accepted both of Beam’s proposals through double-blind peer review. She will present “Humor, Flexibility, and Good Timing: Building System-Wide AI Professional Development,” on Nov. 18 and “Cheat-Resistant by Design: Stop Grading Bots,” on Nov. 19.
All four sessions draw on the AI professional development program Beam built at GNTC. The program began as informal sessions for a small group of faculty and has grown to be made available to faculty and staff at all 22 colleges in the Technical College System of Georgia (TCSG).
Beam has 14 years of full-time teaching experience in Business Management and Supply Chain Management, along with a background in Information Technology (IT) leadership and corporate training.
Georgia Northwestern Technical College delivers high-quality workforce education to the citizens of northwest Georgia. Students can pursue associate degrees, diplomas and certificates in a wide range of career pathways, including aviation, business, health, industrial and public service. Over the past year, 14,082 people benefited from GNTC’s credit and noncredit programs. The college has an annual credit enrollment of 9,342 students and achieved a 100 percent placement rate. An additional 4,740 individuals are served through adult education, continuing education, business and industry training and Georgia Quick Start® programs.
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