by MICHAEL SANKEY

On March 2 the Australasian Council on Open, Distance and eLearning (ACODE) ran a workshop, Embracing AI for student and staff productivity. The 241 registered participants came from 31 HE institutions across Australasia, including teaching academic staff, educational designers and technologists, directors of learning and teaching, and learning support specialist staff.

The primary aim of the workshop was to facilitate discussion on the challenges, strategies, tools, and opportunities the sector has in relation to embracing Artificial Intelligence (AI) in learning and teaching, particularly in the areas of academic integrity, and in student and staff productivity.

As a precursor, a survey was distributed to ACODE member institutions in Australasia, and 34 responses were received, representing 72 per cent of ACODE member institutions.

In brief, most institutions (74 per cent) were responding to the challenges brought about by the recent advent of ChatGPT, and more broadly AI Transformers, through providing professional development and by establishing working groups on academic integrity (44 per cent), with only five institutions (15 per cent) investing in technology to mitigate integrity risks.

When asked, “what concerns had been raised within your institution regarding the use and availability of generative AI tools?” All 34 institutions were concerned about Academic Integrity,  which was considered the top priority. 88 per cent of institutions were also concerned with staff AI literacy, the ability to detect AI (85 per cent), and student literacy (82 per cent).

Many institutions (62 per cent) indicated they had already, or were currently working on, changes to academic integrity policies and processes, while a further ten (29 per cent) were considering it. Three institutions had not commenced any revisions.

When asked what opportunities have been identified at their institutions related to the use and availability of generative AI tools, most institutions 76 per cent nominated both incorporating student use of AI, and the use of authentic learning and critical skills. Similarly, 71 per cent identified AI literacy as an opportunity. Institutional responses also indicated student work readiness (68 per cent), assisting staff productivity (59 per cent), accessibility (44 per cent) and staff and student support (38 per cent).

The workshop then took this data and further looked to tease-out the top AI priority areas across the tertiary sector through the lenses of, AI literacy, equity and access, and integrity of curriculum and assessment. This was expanded to seek out the barriers and enablers for our institutions. This resulted in collating many of the strategies for addressing academic integrity and generative AI. These can be seen in the report

As a result of this workshop and roundtable discussion, ACODE recommends institutions to:

* embrace AI in learning, teaching, and assessment, but consider potential risks and challenges that come with it, such as academic integrity concerns and workload issues

* foster a culture of transparency, collaboration, and partnership between educators, students, and AI experts, to ensure that AI is used ethically and effectively

* develop evidence-based support systems and guidelines for AI use in education, and regularly update them to keep up with the latest developments and challenges

* identify and provide appropriate training and professional development opportunities for educators to build their AI competencies, confidence and fluency

* consider the potential impact of AI on equity and accessibility and ensure that AI solutions are designed to benefit all students, regardless of their background or circumstances

* collaborate with external bodies, such as accrediting bodies and regulatory agencies, to align educational responses to AI across primary, secondary, and tertiary education sectors

* continuously monitor and evaluate the impact of AI on learning, teaching, and assessment, and be open to making necessary adjustments based on the evidence

* institutions prioritise assessment redesign, by adopting more authentic forms of assessment to minimise the option for students to use AI based tools in generating assessment content

One thing is for sure, AI is not going away, in fact it will continue to evolve and provide assistance to society, to hopefully build a better future. As higher education institutions embrace this thought, they can become, as they have always been, the convener of a productive future.

A full report of the event and the findings of the survey and roundtable discussions at the workshop can be found in the ACODE Whitepaper ‘Embracing AI for student and staff productivity’ authored by Lynnae Venaruzzo (Western Sydney University), Professor Kate Ames (CQ University), Dr Steve Leichtweis (University of Auckland).

Michael Sankey is Director, Learning Futures and Lead Education Architect at Charles Darwin U. He is also president of the  Australasian Council on Open, Distance and eLearning

 

Professor Michael Sankey. Charles Darwin University and President of ACODE