Welcome to the first of our Spotlight on AI in Education bulletins. With how fast things are moving, this will help you cut through the noise and catch what’s important. The bulletin highlights on-the-ground practice, institutional perspectives and trends in generative AI use across the sector and beyond. We hope you find this useful.
If you have anything you’d like to contribute or see in this bulletin please email EE@sussex.ac.uk
On-the-ground at Sussex
Plato gets the green light for a small trial in the Business School.
Read this if: You want to know more about how AI can be used to help students use their Canvas module content in different ways.
A small (1 module) pilot is underway using the platform Plato. Designed to enhance student engagement and learning outcomes by offering features such as personalised chatbots for module-specific questions and AI-generated flashcards and quizzes for revision. Plato integrates into Canvas allowing students to take notes and link them to specific teaching materials helping to contextualise their notes with the associated module material.
Find out more about other AI trials and learning initiatives happening across the university on the Educational Enhancement and Learning Matters blogs. I you’d like to be involved in future trials (including but not limited to AI tools) please get in touch.
Institutional Perspective
The AI for Teaching and Learning Community of Practice is back for 24/25
Read this if: You want to get involved or hear what’s happening across Sussex when it comes to generative AI for use in education.
The next AI CoP is back on Monday 9th December, 1-3pm in the Library’s Open Learning Space. The first of this years events will shine the spotlight on a variety of smaller-scale AI projects and experiments. With no “star of the show,” we’re creating more space for participants to engage, share, and explore. Expect interactive “market stalls” to spark discussions, a retrospective of Sussex’s AI in Education journey, and some festive fun with mince pies and an advent calendar!
Book your place now then read our blog update on last year’s events.
Across the Sector
Jisc: Generative AI in Practice
Read this if: You’re interested in seeing case studies from across HE and Fe on how generative AI is being used for teaching, learning and assessment.
Jisc has the useful interactive resource for discovering how other institutions are using generative AI, for example Enhancing Team Learning at the University of Bath.
Further afield
The New Yorker: What kind of writer is ChatGPT?
Read this if: You’re interested in how generative AI tools can support creative processes.
“For the writers Pigg studied and the students I interviewed for this article, ChatGPT was not so much a perfect plagiarism tool as a sounding board. The chatbot couldn’t produce large sections of usable text, but it could explore ideas, sharpen existing prose, or provide rough text for the student to polish. It allowed writers to play with their own words and ideas. In some cases, these interactions with ChatGPT seem almost parasocial.”
In case you missed it:
Other links on the topic of AI in teaching and learning you may have missed.
- On the Learning Matters Blog: AI and Academic Integrity: Implementing University Guidelines in Assignments
- Elsewhere online: AI in education HE community meet-ups hosted by Jisc’s Artificial Intelligence team (information and sign up form)
This was a Spotlight on AI in Education update from Educational Enhancement
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