Automated Tools to Autonomous Agents: Affordances and Limitations
to AI for Learning
By Richard Landers, PhD
We are excited to welcome Dr. Richard Landers, John P. Campbell Distinguished Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities, who will present Automated Tools to Autonomous Agents: Affordances and Limitations to AI for Learning. The session will take place on Thursday, January 29, 2026, at 12:00 PM EST, for the fourth week of the IAMSE 2026 Winter Webcast Audio Seminar Series titled “From Hype to Reality: AI’s Rapid Transformation of Health-Sciences Professions Education.”
Don’t miss this exciting opportunity to examine evidence-based applications, assessment of knowledge/skills, human factors in AI adoption, autonomous AI agents for teaching and administration, and policy and competency frameworks for faculty and students. The IAMSE 2026 Winter Webcast Audio Seminar Series presentations will focus on practical examples, emerging risks, and actionable strategies faculty can use now to design learning, assessment, and support systems to prepare students for a learning and practice environment transformed by AI. The series is intended for basic-science and clinical educators seeking forward-looking, implementable guidance.
The full IAMSE Winter WAS schedule can be found on the website.
Below we look at the fourth week’s presentation:
Richard Landers, PhD
Automated Tools to Autonomous Agents: Affordances and Limitations
to AI for Learning
Presenter: Richard Landers, John P. Campbell Distinguished Professor of Industrial and Organizational Psychology, University of Minnesota – Twin Cities
Session Date & Time: January 29, 2026, at 12:00 PM EST
Session Description: Artificial intelligence is rapidly transforming education, both for good and for not-so-good. The advances ae now coming so quickly that it can be difficult to tell the difference. In this presentation, we’ll explore the alignment of the affordances that AI can currently provide with the goals, purpose, and processes of education, focusing on four key use cases: learning content generation and support including clinical simulation, automated student feedback and assessment, agentic instruction and tutoring, and agentic personal development. We’ll also explore what specific steps you can take to begin using AI tools effectively within each domain, as well as a projection of how these applications are likely to evolve in the coming years.
As always, IAMSE Student Members can register for the series for FREE!
If you are an IAMSE student member, please contact support@iamse.org for information about registering at no cost.