Two WashU Continuing & Professional Studies (CAPS) instructors are exploring how artificial intelligence can make online learning more active, immersive and connected to the challenges students will face beyond the classroom.
Christopher Meierotto and Jennifer Siciliani have been selected as the 2026–27 recipients of the Marion Horstmann Online Teaching Innovation Grant, which supports instructors as they develop and pilot creative teaching strategies that strengthen the student experience.
“The Marion Horstmann Online Teaching Innovation Grant reflects our commitment to supporting instructors who are willing to experiment, innovate and continually improve the student experience,” Dean Sean Armstrong said. “Christopher and Jennifer’s projects show how thoughtful use of emerging technology can make learning more engaging, more authentic and more relevant to the lives and careers of our students.”
Helping Students Navigate Real Conversations
Meierotto’s project, “AI-Assisted Asynchronous Roleplay for Real-World Communication Skills,” will create an interactive Canvas-based chatbot that helps English Language Programs students practice communication in realistic academic, professional and civic settings.
“Success in American academia, the workplace and civic life requires an understanding of pragmatics: unspoken communication rules that include speech acts, turn-taking, idiomatic expressions, cultural norms and appropriate topical shifts,” Meierotto said.
Students will interact with customizable AI personas such as a landlord, physician, corporate recruiter or academic adviser. After each exchange, the system will provide feedback on how they interpret idioms, manage conversations and respond to cultural and professional expectations.
“This proposed resource provides a safe, low-stakes environment for students to practice these vital real-world communication and networking skills,” Meierotto said.
The tool will initially be used in two English Language Programs (ELP) classes. Meierotto plans to develop the prototype during summer and fall 2026 before piloting it in spring 2027.
Because the scenarios can be adapted, the framework could eventually support health care students practicing bedside communication, business and law students preparing for interviews and networking or Empower participants navigating everyday civic interactions.
Learning Through Decisions, Not Lectures
Siciliani’s project, “Branching Justice: An AI-Assisted Role Simulation for Forensic, Crisis, and Decision-Making Education,” will place students inside an unfolding criminal case.
The simulation will allow students to assume the roles of prosecutors, defense attorneys, jurors and judges as they review evidence, make strategic choices and consider sentencing. Instead of studying a completed case, they will experience how communication, cognitive bias, ethics and competing perspectives can shape the outcome.
“The project would allow students to move interactively through psychologically realistic legal and crisis-related scenarios while assuming different professional roles within the justice system,” Siciliani said.
Her goal is to move students beyond passive case review and into situations that require them to make decisions while information remains incomplete.
“This project seeks to create a more immersive and interactive educational experience in which students actively participate in unfolding scenarios rather than simply studying them retrospectively,” Siciliani said.
The AI will not determine guilt or replace human judgment. Instead, it will generate adaptive dialogue, juror reactions and branching scenarios within carefully defined educational boundaries.
Siciliani plans to introduce the simulation in courses connected to the CAPS Certificate in Forensic Psychology.
The initial project will focus on one carefully developed case, but its structure could eventually be adapted for fields including health care, counseling, leadership, ethics, public health, social work, negotiation and conflict resolution.
Innovation Focused on Students
Although the projects serve different students, they share the same approach.
Neither uses AI simply because the technology is new. Meierotto’s project gives students a place to practice the unwritten rules that shape real conversations. Siciliani’s project asks students to confront the uncertainty and competing perspectives behind complex decisions.
Both turn online learning into something students actively experience rather than passively receive.
By giving instructors the resources to test bold ideas before expanding them across courses and programs, the Marion Horstmann Online Teaching Innovation Grant continues to foster thoughtful innovation with the CAPS student experience at its center.