UNLV Podcast Highlights Growing Focus on AI Skills and Career Readiness

As artificial intelligence (AI) becomes a bigger part of classrooms and careers, UNLV leaders say the university is focused on helping students build the skills and confidence needed to adapt in a rapidly changing world.

That message anchored the season finale of The Real BS About AI podcast, hosted by Bob Soulliere and Alethea Inns. Joined by Ted Weisman, digital teaching manager for the Office of Online Education, the hosts reflected on how AI conversations at UNLV have evolved from early exploration into campuswide innovation and collaboration.

Over the past year, UNLV has expanded AI workshops and training opportunities, launched a “Learning with AI” module for students, and increased access to tools such as Gemini Pro and Claude. The group said those efforts are helping students and faculty explore new ways to learn, create, and solve problems.

“I can comfortably say that we’ve made significant progress in terms of supporting our faculty, staff, and students,” Weisman said about the AI resources now available across campus.”

The discussion also focused on the workplace impact of AI and why universities are paying closer attention to career readiness. Soulliere noted that employers are increasingly looking for workers with AI experience and adaptability.

“These companies are looking for students who are skilled in AI or at least open to [learning] AI,” he said.

AI is also changing how educators think about teaching and assessment. Reflecting on a recent campus session focused on AI and assessments, Inns said faculty conversations have shifted from trying to prevent AI use to asking how learning itself is evolving and how instructors should evaluate this new type of learning.

“We’ve really shifted how we’re thinking about learning in general,” she said. “AI has become a spotlight for all of these things that we sort of maybe took for granted in the past.”

The episode ended on an optimistic note, with Soulliere, Inns, and Weisman encouraging the UNLV community to continue experimenting, sharing ideas, and exploring how AI can support innovation and creativity across campus.

Content for this story was drawn directly from the podcast and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our communications team verifies all content for accuracy.