AI transformers like ChatGPT are here, so what next?

By dene.mullen, 19 January, 2023
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Collections
Teaser
AI writing programmes such as ChatGPT have sent tremors across the higher education sector. Will artificial intelligence free up cognitive space for deeper thinking? Or does its potential for cheating and shortcuts signal the end of critical thinking and academic integrity? This resource collection offers insight into the technology’s potential impact and advice on how educators can use it in work around assessments, academic writing, teaching and lesson planning as well as student support and research. ChatGPT itself even offers suggestions on how to use it in the classroom.
Description
AI writing programmes such as ChatGPT have sent tremors across the higher education sector. Will artificial intelligence free up cognitive space for deeper thinking? Or does its potential for cheating and shortcuts signal the end of critical thinking and academic integrity? This resource collection offers insight into the technology’s potential impact and advice on how educators can use it in work around assessments, academic writing, teaching and lesson planning as well as student support and research. ChatGPT itself even offers suggestions on how to use it in the classroom.
Resource
By Laura.Duckett, 31 October, 2024

Using GenAI tools to refine EAP assessment

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Students working at their laptops in class
There are several tools available to help English for academic purposes assess students’ writing skills. Here is some guidance on how to use a selection of them
Reading time
4minutes
By kiera.obrien, 8 October, 2024

To demystify AI for your students, use performance

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An audience in a darkened lecture hall
Updating Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein for the AI era helped students to understand the opportunities and limitations of the tool, in an engaging way. Here’s how to use performance as pedagogy
Reading time
5minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 11 September, 2024

AI as tutor and critic: using tech to personalise education

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young woman working at laptop with gavel in foreground
Artificial intelligence can have practical applications for assessment in higher education, despite the focus on the threats it poses. Here are considerations when using AI to support teaching and generate feedback
Reading time
4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 6 September, 2024

Is it worth paying for GenAI?

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Robot with people rolling coins, AI subscription
How useful is artificial intelligence for syllabus design? A law lecturer compared the free and subscription versions of three generative AI platforms, with surprising results
Reading time
4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 19 July, 2024

Can AI offer everyone a personal tutor 24/7?

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AI tutor concept
Generative artificial intelligence can trigger a certain amount of angst, but AI’s potential to support student learning should be explored, write Steve Hill and Quintus Stierstorfer
Reading time
4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 28 June, 2024

Higher education needs a united approach to AI

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Laptop with warning sign
If universities’ response to AI and education is as fractured as the sector’s adoption of blended learning, we may well find ourselves in a similar position in 20 years’ time with duplicated costs and missed research opportunities, writes Sara de Freitas
By Eliza.Compton, 17 May, 2024

The (AI) sky isn’t falling

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Robot hand typing
Students using generative AI to write their essays is a problem, but it isn’t a crisis, writes Christopher Hallenbrook. We have the tools to tackle the issue of artificial intelligence
Reading time
4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 9 May, 2024

THE podcast: the future of XR and immersive learning

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podcast graphic
Immersive technology expert Monica Arés explains how the combination of artificial intelligence and extended reality in education has the potential to unlock curiosity and learning, the costs that come with these tools and what she thinks teaching technology will look like in 2034
Reading time
33minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 30 April, 2024

AI and assessment redesign: a four-step process

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AI projection coming out of a laptop
If GenAI tools have ushered in an era in which institutions can no longer assure the integrity of each individual assessment, the sector must focus on assuring the integrity of awards, write Samuel Doherty and Steven Warburton
Reading time
5minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 23 April, 2024

AI can help fix student evaluations

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filling out form on laptop
With large language models to provide reports and analysis, educators can make use of generative AI to improve the process of student evaluations, writes Adnan Ajšić
By Eliza.Compton, 19 April, 2024

The trouble with Bloom’s taxonomy in an age of AI

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Arrows diverting into two streams
When using large language models to create learning tasks, educators should be careful with their prompts if the LLM relies on Bloom’s taxonomy as a supporting dataset. Luke Zaphir and Dale Hansen break down the issues
Reading time
4minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 12 April, 2024

How can we teach AI literacy skills?

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Student looking at a hologram of a brain
Universities have made positive strides in improving digital literacy for graduates, but now they need to do the same for AI literacy
Reading time
4minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 8 January, 2024

Eight ways to improve your digital well-being

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Young woman using an Ipad at work
To counteract the detrimental consequences of excessive screen time and digital overload, we must take a thoughtful and balanced approach, writes Nisha P. Shetty
Reading time
4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 4 January, 2024

Students see the benefits of AI-generated learning content

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human hands using laptop with robot hand emerging from screen
Students might already show a preference for AI-generated online learning content, so academic colleagues and institutions need to capitalise on this to improve resource management and staff well-being, write Dean Fido and Gary F. Fisher
Reading time
3minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 5 December, 2023

Embrace AI tools to improve student writing

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Business students writing prompts for AI
Rather than trying to keep it out of the classroom, here are ways faculty can facilitate more effective use of ChatGPT for writing assignments
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4minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 6 November, 2023

Roles for AI to play in the classroom

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Cooperation and partnership between robot and human stock illustration
From supporting classroom debate and discussion to problem-solving and decision-making, here are ways that artificial intelligence can enhance teaching and learning
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4minutes
By Laura.Duckett, 1 November, 2023

Can we detect AI-written content?

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Cartoon of a detective with a magnifying glass analysing a piece of paper being held by a robot
A look at common features of large language model-created writing and its implications for how we might assess students’ knowledge and skills in the future
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4minutes
By sara.custer, 7 August, 2023

THE podcast: the AI university is coming

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Universities on Fire climate change podcast
AI expert Ashok Goel is back on the podcast to help us understand the implications of ChatGPT for higher education and what will happen next
Reading time
38minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 27 June, 2023

Is critical thinking the answer to generative AI?

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Three The Thinker statues around a laptop
Designing assessment that tests critical thinking has value and practicality, so the challenge is figuring out questions that flummox the AI without creating wildly difficult problems for students, write Luke Zaphir and Jason M. Lodge
Reading time
4minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 25 May, 2023

An evaluation of ChatGPT in action

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Robot standing in front of a chalk board
When set a task, how does ChatGPT really perform and what does this tell educators about how to craft their questions and assignments to avoid students relying entirely on this AI tool to generate answers?
Reading time
4minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 4 April, 2023

AI text detectors: a stairway to heaven or hell?

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Robot looking through a microscope
The emergence of GPTZero, OpenAI’s text classifier and Turnitin’s AI detector bring a risk of over-reliance on AI classifiers. Are they a solution or a further problem to be solved?
Reading time
4minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 24 February, 2023

Three creative ways to use ChatGPT in class

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A robot supporting analysis
New AI tools such as ChatGPT increase educators’ capabilities, freeing us from fact-gathering to focus on more sophisticated problems and higher-level understanding, writes Esteve Almirall
Reading time
4minutes
By Eliza.Compton, 1 February, 2023

How AI will make university teachers’ lives easier

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Illustration of robot helping man climb a block
Is artificial intelligence a looming existential threat to higher education? Or is AI technology such as ChatGPT a shot in the arm that teachers can use to improve our productivity?
Reading time
3minutes
By Miranda Prynne, 14 October, 2022

Eight ways to engage with AI writers in higher education

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AI writing
Just as spelling checks and predictive text have become accepted, so too will AI writers, so educators should help students responsibly engage with and understand the potential and limitations of these text generators, writes Lucinda McKnight
Reading time
4minutes
By dene.mullen, 17 January, 2023

ChatGPT has arrived – and nothing has changed

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Back to the future
ChatGPT may make it a little easier for students to cheat, but the best ways of thwarting cheating have never been focused on policing and enforcement, says Danny Oppenheimer

Reading time
4minutes