Newsletter September 2023: Project generative AI in the field of education at SDU

Big joint meeting on GenAI within the field of education 

Under the auspices of Project Generative AI in the field of education at SDU (text in Danish - will be translated soon) 58 participants from the 5 faculties, SDU RIO, SDU IT, Educational Law in Student Services, and Compliance in SDU Digital, took part in a large meeting on 22 August with the aim of starting interdisciplinary discussions of what GenAI means for SDU. Four presenters initially presented four different perspectives on GenAI in the field of education. Four workshops were then held, focusing on SDU's visions for GenAI in the field of education, technology and societal understanding, application and development of GenAI in practice, as well as law, GDPR and exam rules.

On the project website on SDUnet - https://sdunet.dk/da/genai-uddannelse  - you will find links to all presentations. Below, reference is made to some important points and resources from the meeting.

Michael E. Caspersen, Managing Director at It-vest and associate professor at the Department of Computer Science, Aarhus University, presented, among other things, his perspectives on vision, technology and social understanding. Since, according to Michael, the labor market will use GenAI in every imaginable place where the technology is expected to have, or is known to have, value, universities (and other educational institutions) should embrace GenAI, but with care. He considers this a big task, as learning objectives, assessment and learning activities should be adjusted. There is a need for valid forms of assessment that document the achievement of learning goals and prevent students from taking shortcuts and thus not learning what they need to.

Michael considers an understanding of technology and society to be necessary, but far from sufficient, as we must embrace digital competences to a much greater extent - both in education and research. He highlights informatics as a fundamental discipline for the 21st century as informatics is becoming a language for all disciplines. It-vest works i.a. for the integration of informatics in university education - both as an independent subject and in other subjects. It-vest has established seven special interest groups (SIG) with a focus on the role of informatics in other subjects. The groups are open to teachers, researchers and other interested parties from all levels of education, where cross-cutting webinars on GenAI and education will be held, starting on 4 October 2023 with a webinar on Generative Artificial Intelligence: Challenges and Opportunities for Education.

Michael also highlights a report prepared by Cornell University - Generative Artificial Intelligence for Education and Pedagogy, which makes both general recommendations and concrete recommendations for teaching within the main areas of Humanities, Social Science and STEM, as well as teaching writing or with writing as an essential component.

Mushtaq Bilal, Post.Doc, The Hans Christian Andersen Centre, Department of Culture and Language, Faculty of Humanities, gave good advice to the teacher and researcher who wishes to use AI apps for academic writing. Mushtaq Bilal has many followers on X (Twitter) and has, among other things, prepared the guide: Become an Efficient Academic Writer with AI Apps.

Janni Lee B. Bang Brodersen, Head of Information Security, Central Administration, SDU Digital, Compliance, gave a presentation on the security and copyright challenges that GenAI presents, and the considerations everyone should make when using GenAI. SDU Digital, Compliance has prepared an informative website on SDUnet with provisional guidelines regarding security, copyright etc. by using GenAI. The guidelines are continuously updated.

Jesper Hedegaard Vesterbæk, Chief Consultant, Central Administration, SDU Student Services, Education Law & Registry, gave an insight into how Student Services has experienced the students' use of GenAI in the summer exams and how cheating has been spotted.

An agreement has just been reached across the five faculties on a number of common rules for the students regarding the use of GenAI at SDU, applicable for the autumn semester 2023 and the corresponding exam period. The common guidelines will be available for the students via mitsdu.dk - direct link https://mitsdu.dk/en/aiatsdu.

Read the news about the new common rules on SDUnet.

Establishment of working groups

The result of the interdisciplinary discussions at the big meeting 22 August has contributed to the UR deciding at a meeting on 6 September to set up working groups, which over the autumn of 2023 will, among other things, provide input to and help to qualify

• the work carried out by study boards and other study administrative bodies on guidelines for how GenAI can and must be used in teaching at SDU, including how this should be communicated to the students. Teaching must be understood broadly in this context, applying in relation to both entrance exams, teaching, guidance and exams.
• GDPR, copyright and IT security guidelines for everyone in the education field when it comes to GenAI
• competence development of teachers in the use of GenAI

SDUUP is in charge of the working group for competence development of teachers in the use of GenAI. The working group will examine teachers' need for competence development and come up with proposals for how these needs can be met.

Commissions for and staffing of working groups will be published on the project's website, which will also be continuously updated as the project deliveries tick in.

Forward-looking visions for GenAI in the field of education will take place under the auspices of UR's work with the Education Strategy in conjunction with the update of SDU's Digitization Strategy, both of which aim to support and realize SDU's new business strategy, which was adopted in June 2023.