Iowa (Sioux County Radio) – Dordt University is embarking on a one-year pilot program with BoodleBox, a collaborative AI platform built for lifelong learning and work with AI
Dordt students, faculty, and staff will be able to opt in to utilizing BoodleBox, which seeks to empower faculty and students in institutions of higher education to work responsibly with generative AI through private, secure, and affordable access to leading AI models.
Current AI platforms that interested Dordt students, faculty, and staff will have access to through BoodleBox are premium versions of Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini, Perplexity, and more.
“We want to bring this about for all students, staff, and faculty together, so that it’s not just the students who can afford subscriptions to premium services that have access, but rather every single person at Dordt has the same level of access,” said Rev. Aaron Baart, chief of staff.
BoodleBox provides a variety of opportunities for faculty, students, and staff who are interested in learning more about using AI thoughtfully and ethically. For example, faculty can integrate AI tools into curriculum design to enhance teaching and create more personalized learning pathways to meet individual student needs. Students have the ability to gain access to industry-leading AI models, helping them develop AI literacy skills and responsibly evaluate AI-generated outputs.
Dordt will provide faculty, students, and staff with training as well as an invitation to participate in campuswide conversations on the topic of “Knowing and Being in an AI World.”
Education Professor Dr. Dave Mulder, acclaimed author of Teach Like a Human: Playful Practice and Serious Faith in the Age of AI, will partner with Dean of Chapel Rev. Dr. Justin Bailey on three AI-focused sessions geared toward fostering conversations with students and faculty that extend into the classroom more broadly.
From sketching the shape of current conversations on AI to getting into the basics of what a “large-language model” is and how it functions to what it means to live creatively in God’s created world, Mulder and Bailey hope that these conversations will complement the critical work that is already going on Dordt’s campus.
Dr. Erik Hoekstra, president of Dordt University, says it is important for Dordt students and employees to thoughtfully engage with AI.
“We as an institution should wrestle with this. There are opportunities to use AI for God’s glory; there are also ways that it can be used to break down God’s Kingdom,” said Hoekstra. “I think it’s important for us as faithful Christians to not stand on the sidelines but to exercise responsible Christian stewardship as we go through this one-year pilot program.”
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