The SACSA Podcast Artificial Intelligence and Higher Education with Jordan Viars-Whisinnand
16 snips
Mar 5, 2026 
Jordan Viars-Whisinnand, Assistant Director of Global Health and Safety at Duke who manages risk for student experiential programs. She talks about using AI to draft and personalize student communications, training tools with style guides, building pre-departure learning modules, and practical startup tips like data protection and disclosure. Concludes with hopes, worries, and the need to preserve human connection.
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Always Review AI Output And Train It With Examples
- Do not copy-paste AI output; always review and train the model using examples and a style guide that defines tone and structure.
- Jordan uses a style guide prepended to prompts so AI drafts match her office's communication voice.
AI Helped Build Pre-Departure Canvas Modules
- Jordan used AI to create modular pre-depart Canvas pages for travelers, iterating tone and digestibility before launch.
- She moved drafts from ChatGPT to Canvas and emphasized avoiding alarmist language about risks abroad.
AI For Meal Plans And Medical Research Startpoints
- Jordan uses AI personally for dietary planning and to research medical literature related to her father's cancer, then verifies cited studies on Google Scholar.
- She stresses fact-checking AI citations and using AI as a research starting point, not a final authority.