Rick Dakan

Rick Dakan is the AI Coordinator at Ringling College of Art & Design in Sarasota, FL, where he also serves as Interim Co-Director of the Center for the Creative Economy and creative writing faculty. Rick worked as a full-time writer, novelist, and video game designer from 1995 to 2016 before joining Ringling College to develop and teach courses on comics, games, themed environments, sci-fi, fantasy, and horror, and interactive media. In 2023 he headed the college’s AI Task Force, which guided the creation of Ringling’s AI policies, provided faculty development, and positioned the college at the forefront of AI engagement at art and design institutions. He was named the college’s first AI Coordinator in 2024 and developed the Undergraduate Certificate in AI and Fundamentals of AI for Creatives professional certificate program. He has been teaching AI courses at Ringling since 2023, including the Fundamentals of AI and Topics in Artificial Intelligence courses. He also runs Ringling College's annual AI and Creative Innovation Symposium, which invites experts, artists, and educators to come together to advocate for artists in the age of AI. Since 2024 he has served on the steering committee of the Florida AI Learning Consortium and leads the Workforce and Innovation special interest group. In collaboration with Prof. Joseph Feller from the University College Cork in Ireland, he has co-developed the 4D Framework for AI Fluency, which is the basis for AI fluency training in multiple programs around the world. In 2025 Dakan and Feller began working with Anthropic to produce a series of free online, open education courses on AI Fluency which are available at anthropic.com/ai-fluency. 

Areas of Expertise

• AI literacy and fluency pedagogy
• AI and art & design
• AI and curriculum and assessment
• AI and faculty development
• AI and workforce readiness
• Creative writing and game development
• Experiential learning programs