Artificial Intelligence in education, (AIEd)  such as Intelligent Tutors, Adaptive learning and Chatbots, might help us solve some of the challenges of higher education. Chatbots for example, could be designed to respond to administrative questions, support students emotionally, promote engagement and discussion, or perhaps even teach criticality. But automation in the classroom, as in other contexts, is beset by controversy (Selwyn, 2019). Its design and use demands that we address issues of confidentiality, transparency, bias and the impact on social justice, human agency and human rights.

How might AI help students learn better or differently? What ethical and implementation issues does it pose? Could AI replace some tasks done by human educators?

In this workshop we will be using creative approaches to engage imaginatively with how AI might be used in teaching and learning. The use of near future chatbots will be explored as an example of how AI might be used in learning, and what ethical and practical issues need to be addressed for them to be acceptable in an educational context.

Who is this workshop for?
The workshop is aimed at anyone interested in the future of learning, especially in the context of AI.

Learning outcomes:

1. Identify the potential applications of AI in learning
2. Recognise the ethical issues these applications pose and what responsible use might look like
3. Develop insights into how the technology might impact educator roles and learning in HE

Schedule

11.00: Topic outline

11.20: Creative activity – define a useful bot

11.45: Feedback discussion – what are the issues and problems?

12.00: Break

12.05: Group creative discussion activity - how will chatbots change the role of educators?

12.40: Reflection/ plenary

Facilitators

Dr Andrew Cox is a senior lecturer at the Information School, University of Sheffield, and author of the recent report for SRHE: The coming “intelligent university”? Exploring the potential impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and robots on UK Higher Education https://srhe.ac.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/01/Andrew-M-Cox-FinalReport-SRHE.pdf

Neil Dixon works as a Learning Technologist at ARU’s University Library. Since 2019 he has run several projects to help people understand the potential impact of near-future educational technologies, including AI eTextbooks and AI assistance in the workplace. He also runs an inter-disciplinary module called Technology Changing us? which explores the unintended consequences of technology.