February 2025 HE Community meet-up: AI in education

February’s HE Community meet-up was fast and furious, covering the breadth of AI in education—from curriculum development to ethical considerations, and practical applications. Meetup participants from various institutions shared their firsthand experiences and challenges, emphasising the vital role of community in navigating the complexities of GenAI.

Embedding AI Skills into the Curriculum:

The discussion focused on integrating AI literacy into the curriculum by updating information and digital literacy frameworks, with participants highlighting the ambition to work with academic colleagues to embed these skills into existing structures.
Emphasis was placed on educating students about AI as part of their overall digital skills and employability.

AI Literacy Framework:

Most institutions are actively working on creating AI literacy frameworks, with some already incorporating AI into their information literacy sessions.
The discussion emphasised the ongoing importance of critical thinking skills in the context of AI integration, with concerns that AI tools might impact these skills if not properly managed.
It was argued that understanding how to effectively question and interpret AI-generated responses is crucial, necessitating an educational focus on developing robust questioning and analytical skills among students.
The importance of evaluating AI outputs and ethical use was highlighted, with examples of how institutions are teaching appropriate and ethical use of AI.

AI for Feedback and Marking:

Some institutions are piloting AI tools such as TeacherMatic and Graide for providing feedback and marking, with mixed reactions from students.
The importance of human oversight in AI-assisted marking was emphasised, with positive feedback from pilots where students knew the feedback still came from their tutors.

Institution-wide Guidance on AI Use:

Institutions are developing guidance on acceptable AI use, with some allowing departmental variations.
The need for clear communication to students about AI policies was discussed, with examples of institutions providing general principles and allowing departments to personalise them.

Institutional Licences for AI Tools:

Some institutions are exploring AI tools like OpenAI’s educational licence, Co-pilot web, and others, and using various AI-integrated tools like Elicit, Adobe, Google Studio AI, Perplexity and ThingLink.
Cost and data protection concerns are significant factors in decision-making.

AI in everyday tools:

The evolution of AI tools was noted, with a focus on their potential to both assist and intrude, underscoring the need for careful consideration of AI’s role in both professional and personal contexts.
Experiences with AI features in common software like Microsoft Word and Adobe were shared, highlighting both positive aspects like efficient summarisation capabilities and challenges such as unintended influences on personal content creation.
Concerns were also raised about AI’s increasing presence in personal computing environments and the potential implications for privacy and data security.
The need for transparency in pricing and the option to opt-out of AI features was emphasised to ensure consumers are not unwittingly charged for services they do not wish to use.
Concern was expressed about the lack of user-friendliness and intuitive design in some AI applications, noting issues with both understanding and navigating these tools.
There was a consensus on the need for clearer and more accessible AI tools to improve user experience and efficiency in educational settings.

Links shared in the session:

Find out more by visiting our Artificial Intelligence page to view publications and resources, join us for events and discover what AI has to offer through our range of interactive online demos.

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Get in touch with the team directly at AI@jisc.ac.uk