St. Petersburg College (SPC) this summer will develop a college-wide strategy to inform and train employees on artificial intelligence (AI) based on findings from a spring survey about employees’ views and use of AI.
In just a few months, the Florida college will launch several initiatives, such as summer institutes, for faculty and staff to engage in discussions and develop policies to help all employees — adjunct and full-time faculty, administrative and professional staff, career service, and campus operations staff — become more comfortable utilizing AI tools. The goal is to roll out policies in time for the fall term.
“We have the diagnosis, and now we will give the treatment,” said Fawzi Al Nassir, the college’s executive director of data strategy and analytics, who led a team of researchers to administer the survey this spring.
“SPC aims to gauge the progress of its strategy with another employee survey next year,” Al Nassir said.
In the fall, SPC will examine its students’ perceptions of AI, which may also include focus groups and other surveys.
A surprising response rate
The SPC employee survey is among the first at a community college regarding AI, which has grasped attention globally since its recent advancements in widespread applications. More than 700 full- and part-time employees responded to the survey.
Al Nassir said the institutional research team was surprised with the high response rate for the survey. Among full-time faculty, participation was over 40%. It was even higher for administrative and professional staff, reaching almost 60%.
“They surprised us with their responses, which shows that people are curious, people are interested in this,” Al Nassir said.
The results are met with cautious optimism, as many are taking small but meaningful steps to become acquainted with the new technology. The findings also indicated a need for more training in AI, with the ultimate goal of serving students better and helping them succeed.
Among the top-line findings:
- 42% of employees have little to no familiarity with AI.
- While 32% of employees remain uncertain about AI’s impact on workplace productivity, 42% are unsure if AI will reshape critical job skills.
- Faculty show a mix of cautious optimism and skepticism: Nearly two-thirds (62%) are “cautious,” about one-third (35%) are “hopeful,” while another one-third (35%) are “skeptical,” with 84% saying they have concerns about ethical issues.
- 63% of employees have not received any training or education related to AI from the college nor outside the college.
- 48% of employees have not attended any AI-related webinars or conferences.
- 24% of employees are not actively seeking resources to learn about AI.
And while employees rated the various applications of AI that could benefit the college, students and education – from assisting with research or content creation, to enhancing administrative efficiency – about 23% said they saw no potential benefits.
“The alarm is right here,” Al Nassir said.
Differences among employee types
The findings show differences based on employees’ positions. For example, when asked how they felt about AI in the workplace, most full-time employees said they were “curious” (59%), followed by “cautious” (55%). A little over one-quarter (28%) said they were “skeptical,” with about 11% indicating they felt “anxious” and 10% “overwhelmed.”
Responses were different among full-time faculty members: 62% felt “cautious,” 54% were “curious,” with 35% being “skeptical.” About 14% said they were “anxious” and another 14% felt “overwhelmed.”
In response to which factors they thought were important for successful AI use at the college, most full-time employees listed a skilled workforce trained in AI (74%), followed by clear business or educational objectives (66%) and strong leadership support (55%). Among full-time faculty, it was slightly different: clear business or educational objectives (67%) were at the top, followed by a skilled workforce trained in AI (64%) and strong leadership support (46%).
Another eye-catching datapoint comes from those who didn’t indicate an opinion. When asked whether they believe AI will help them be more productive in their daily work, one-third (34%) of full-time employees neither agreed nor disagreed. About 41% indicated no opinion on whether they thought AI would change the critical skills needed to do their job.
The full-time respondents also didn’t seem too worried about losing their jobs because of AI. When asked what concerns they may have about using AI at work, 14% indicated that it might eliminate their roles. Topping the list were ethical concerns (66%), security risks (55%), data bias or inaccuracies (51%), over-reliance on technology (49%) and privacy violations (45%).
Eyes on training/education
The latter part of the survey focused mainly on AI training and education, which showed a need to offer employees more opportunities. Nearly 62% of full-time respondents said they received no training or education related to AI in their current role; 26% said they received such training outside the college, with 22% saying they tapped into training provided by the college.
Nearly half (47%) said they have not attended any webinars, conferences or other events to learn more about AI, with 28% indicating they did so on their own, 17% saying they did so both on their own and at the suggestion of their department, and 7% did so at the suggestion/encouragement of their department.
In terms of resources they used to learn more about AI, 51% cited articles or blogs, with 40% referring to peer discussions or professional networks. But one-quarter (25%) said they were not actively seeking resources.
The strategy
The survey results gave SPC a clear “diagnosis,” as Al Nassir noted. Employees are interested in AI but need more support and training. Now, the college is preparing to administer the “treatment” by developing accessible AI resources and learning opportunities.
In spring 2026, Al Nassir and his team will launch a follow-up survey to evaluate the impact of these initiatives.
