Jodhpur, 9 May 2026

Women STEM faculty from colleges and universities across Rajasthan gathered at IIT Jodhpur for a one-day participatory workshop, “Women Shaping AI in STEM Classrooms (SHAPE-AI STEM): A Participatory Exploration of Practice and Possibility in Higher Education.” The workshop was jointly organised by the School of Liberal Arts (SoLA) and the School of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science (SAIDE) at IIT Jodhpur, in collaboration with the Commonwealth of Learning-Commonwealth Educational Media Centre for Asia (COL-CEMCA).

The workshop was conducted as part of a larger COL-CEMCA-supported research project, “Empowering Women STEM Teachers through AI-Integrated Pedagogy: Exploring the Pedagogical Integration of AI amongst the Higher Education Teachers of Rajasthan, India,” led by Dr. Sheriya Sareen (Principal Investigator) with Dr. Navchetan Awasthi and Dr. Bhivraj Suthar as Co-Investigators. The project addresses a clear gap in empirical research on how women STEM faculty in Indian higher education conceptualise and implement AI-integrated pedagogy, drawing on the TPACK (Technological, Pedagogical, and Content Knowledge) framework and sensemaking theory.

The inaugural session opened with a welcome address by Dr. Sheriya Sareen (IIT Jodhpur), Convenor of the workshop. Dr. Bhivraj Suthar, Associate Dean (International Connect) and Programme Director (BS/B.Sc.), IIT Jodhpur, delivered special remarks on “Women Scientists at IIT Jodhpur: Advancing AI for National Development.”

Delivering the keynote on “Women Shaping AI in STEM Classrooms in Indian Higher Education,” Prof. B. Shadrach, Director, COL-CEMCA, argued that the discourse must move beyond “women in technology” to “women leading the governance of technology.” Situating the workshop within Rajasthan’s evolving AI policy landscape, he positioned women STEM faculty as ethical guardians who can audit algorithmic bias, designers of empathy-driven AI, and carriers of a sustainability lens. “AI is not a replacement for the Guru,” he observed, “it is a new instrument in the laboratory of learning.” Dr. Navchetan Awasthi (IIT Jodhpur) delivered the vote of thanks.

The day was structured around two expert sessions, “Understanding the Role of AI in STEM Teaching” led by Dr. Navchetan Awasthi and “Robotics and AI in STEM Classrooms: Recent Innovations” led by Dr. Bhivraj Suthar, each followed by a participatory group activity.

The closing session featured a felicitation ceremony led by Dr. Alok Ranjan, Head, School of Liberal Arts, and Prof. Anil Kumar Tiwari, Head, School of Artificial Intelligence and Data Science, IIT Jodhpur. The day concluded with a visit to IIT Jodhpur’s Next Generation BIRD Robotics Lab and Cognitive Lab.

Workshop outputs, including, co-created lesson plans, mindset maps, and participant reflections, together with follow-up interviews will feed into the project’s comprehensive final report, comprising an empirical dataset on AI integration, an analytical report on women STEM teachers’ AI-integration practices, a needs assessment, and evidence-based recommendations for universities, colleges, and policy stakeholders on designing training and support structures for AI-integrated STEM pedagogy. The COL-CEMCA team was led by Prof. B. Shadrach with coordination by Ms. Nabeela Ata, COL-CEMCA.