Posted on May 29, 2026 by Anastasia Cisneros-Lunsford
College of AI, Cyber and Computing Assistant Professor Hend Alkittawi's proposal to transform the Database Systems course into a hands-on, workshop-style experience has received the Strategies for Teaching, Assessment and Retention (STAR) Award from the UT San Antonio Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars (ADTS) and Academic Innovation.
Although the project itself was not formally in progress at the time of submission, Alkittawi's initiative evolved organically after teaching the course multiple times. Alkittawi participated in professional development initiatives through the Association of College and University Educators and Student Experience Project, which influenced her thoughts about course design, student motivation, and inclusive teaching practices.
"I began making small but intentional changes to improve student engagement and learning outcomes," said the professor, who also leads application programming and other upper-division computer science courses.
Her proposal, "From Lecture to Design Studio: Transforming Database Systems into an Experiential Learning Workshop," received recognition for advancing innovative teaching and learning practices at UT San Antonio. The plan reduces the amount of time students spend listening to lectures and promotes a collaborative design studio where students work in teams to design systems, analyze trade-offs, and build prototypes. "The goal is to move from passive content delivery to active problem-solving," she said.
Overall, she envisions redesigning the course so that the classroom functions as a collaborative design studio. The next intentional step is to integrate AI into the studio environment, allowing students, under guided supervision, to analyze, critique, and refine their own designs and AI-generated work.
"AI is a new and rapidly evolving tool, and we are just beginning to explore how best to integrate it into our curriculum," she said. "We do not yet fully understand all the best practices, but without experimenting thoughtfully, we will not learn what works."
Another key consideration in designing effective AI-enabled learning environments is faculty development, Alkittawi said.
"Instructors need access to shared resources, sample activities, and assessment models that illustrate how to incorporate AI while maintaining academic rigor," she said. "Without this support, integration efforts can feel inconsistent or reactive."
Alkittawi said the first iteration of her proposal also allows for flexibility and space to incorporate AI thoughtfully in future offerings. She emphasizes that AI should be integrated in ways that strengthen students’ foundational understanding rather than replace it. Students should learn to critically evaluate AI-generated outputs instead of passively accepting them. She also envisions assignments in which students must justify, test, debug, and improve AI-generated solutions, with a continued focus on conceptual reasoning, trade-off analysis, performance evaluation, and ethical considerations.
"The goal is not to compete with AI, but to teach students how to think beyond it," she said. "My vision is not to simply 'add AI' as a tool layered onto existing assignments, but to rethink how traditional computer science courses develop students' thinking in an AI-enabled world."
— Anastasia Cisneros-Lunsford
