Fakery, Fallacy and Faults, but the AI is no Fraud

Posted on by Helen Morley

by Helen Morley, Learning Technologist, University of Sussex

How should we speak about the processes of Large Language Models and other AI? Language, as humans and other animals use it, is a voluntary and intentional tool which is used to aid interaction. Can we say the same for AI generated text?

Figure 1: Image generated by Dall-E (OpenAI) on 4 Jan 2024 using HM’s prompt: “a great ape and a robot talking to each other”.

In November 2023, Professor Gilly Forrester delivered a lecture entitled “Hand to Mouth: The Language Puzzle” at the University of Sussex. I was excited to attend. It was a fascinating account of her studies into the correlation between anatomy and language skills, in particular how humans (and other great apes) demonstrate links between our manual dexterity and our communication with each other. Professor Forrester spoke about some of the neurobiology of language and the criteria some use to determine what language is. The lecture began with Professor Forrester asking us all how we would define language; for me, the answer is “a tool we use to help us understand what’s going on!”

That same month, I joined a webinar hosted by the American University in Cairo with Anna Mills as guest speaker. The topic was (as much of my 2023 also had been) “Artificial Intelligence in Education” with a particular focus on how AI can be used in writing classes. Mills’s observations, and those in the chat, turned at points to the phenomenon of AI generating false text. Words used to describe this included “fabrication” and the more popular “hallucination”. I have long been an advocate of the precise use of lexis and while I don’t particularly like either of these suggestions, I felt it necessary to explain why – for me – “fabrication” was not appropriate and to bring the conversation to readers of this blog to see if we can agree on a more suitable term. In other words, if we can make use of this language tool of ours to understand WHAT’S GOING ON?

I railed against “fabrication” because to fabricate something is to make it, and to do so with intention. Early uses of the word alluded to skill, and the Latin root refers to craftmanship and purpose. Today we use “fabricate” for the process of making something with a purpose; it is also used as something of a euphemism for dishonesty. Neither of these definitions are appropriate for describing AI programs generating inaccurate text: Large Language Models have no sense of purpose and they’re neither honest nor dishonest!

I railed against “fabrication” because to fabricate something is to make it, and to do so with intention.

I was thrilled to see Mills take this point to X (as @EnglishOER), where she asked for more ideas about what terms we could use to describe what the AI is doing in these situations. It is not sentient, conscious, creative, benevolent or malicious. It is not “making it up” any more than any other occasions when it strings words together into what we accept as a sentence. So what is it doing?

The TL;DR is that LLMs predict the next most likely word. They do this by “reading” existing texts and spotting the patterns. The sky is…, the dog goes…, my old man’s a…. It is this huge corpus of texts which is responsible for the biases we see in LLM output and for the erroneous accusations that some students’ work is AI-written when they’re actually just formulaic writers. The point is, ChatGPT does not think about what to output – it doesn’t think at all!
Not thinking, and not being competent to think, also rules out “hallucination” which I originally preferred to fabrication as at least hallucination is involuntary. It’s still not quite right and, in anthropomorphising AI, it risks confusing the matter further. When Mills put the question to her followers on X her criteria was: “the word shouldn’t imply conscious experience or intent”. The responses included: concoction (which was for a while her favourite); debris (too random and not representative of the coherent nature of LLM output); SLU which stood for “Statistically Likely Utterances” (dreamed up by Edward O’Neill with the enviable X handle of @learningtech); phantasma; and my contribution, “jibbering“.

As the year drew to a close, Mills did what so many of us spent 2023 doing: she turned to the tech. She gave ChatGPT itself the criteria, expanded to include that the term mustn’t imply intent or conscious experience; it must imply untruth/unreality, it should reflect patterns from training data but go beyond said data; the term must be accessible without having to be explained, be catchy and be memorable. I’ll let you decide if it’s disconcerting or not that ChatGPT output one of the best suggestions of them all. It called the product of its plausible, informed but false jibberings “data mirage”.

I’ll let you decide if it’s disconcerting or not that ChatGPT output one of the best suggestions of them all.

Figure 2: The image Dall-E generated for Anna Mills using the prompt “data mirage” from ChatGPT’s response to Mills’s query. Image used with her permission.

That’s it. Data Mirage. The data is real but what we experience is not. The unreal generation that we witness is not the fault or the design of anything else and it falls to us to determine whether what we are witnessing is to be trusted.

After all, we’re the Great Apes that are supposed to understand what’s going on!

More: Anna has compiled a list of suggestions she received here: https://bit.ly/HallucinationAlternatives
Watch Anna’s webinar and read about her work here:
https://learnhub.aucegypt.edu/digitaltoolkit/index.php/2023/10/30/generative-ai-activities-for-the-writing-language-classroom-anna-mills/

Posted in AI, Educational Enhancement, Learning Technologies, Technology Enhanced Learning

Academic Developers ‘Conference Special’ December round-up

Posted on by Simona Connelly
A drawing of an open book. One page shows a Christmas tree at a window, the facing page has an open fire, with a Christmas wreath, a snowman and six Christmas stockings hanging up

Conference call for papers round up 

Conference season’s coming, Conference season’s coming…

While not quite as exciting as the imminent arrival of Santa, there’s been a flurry of calls for papers for teaching and learning conferences in 2024, many with submission deadlines in late January. So, our gift for you is a short round up of opportunities to share your brilliant work and/or opportunities to soak up inspiration from others.  

International Assessment in Higher Education (AHE) Conference (20 & 21st June 2024, Manchester). Call for papers deadline Monday 22nd January 2024.  This brilliant 2-day conference provides a smorgasbord of cutting-edge presentations on research and evaluation of innovative practice, masterclasses and workshops from leading experts in the field of assessment in Higher Education, and a wealth of sessions from teaching and learning practitioners

Interdisciplinary Learning and Teaching Conference 2024 (21 March 2024. University of Manchester). Call for papers deadline Monday 22nd January 2024.  This year’s conference will focus on examining the methods that best support interdisciplinary learning, and consider how we can capture and articulate the impact of interdisciplinary experiences in education.  Short papers or lighting talks proposals are invited.

Playful Learning Conference (3-5th July 2024). University of Sussex!!! Call for papers deadline 5th Feb 2024.  Hosted by our very own Katie Piatt, the Playful Learning Conference is looking for submissions in all areas relating to the use of play or playfulness in relation to adult learning, including – but not limited to – higher and further education, playful workplaces, and lifelong learning. 

Pedagogy for Higher Education Large Classes (PHELC) Symposium (7th June, Online) Call for papers deadline 8th March 2024.  Submissions are invited from those teaching very large classes (100+ students) in the higher education context. The symposium attracts presenters and attendees from around the world and provides a forum to share evidence-based practice in relation to teaching, learning, curriculum and assessment in the large class context.

Finally – Kings College London and Reading University are running an open workshop onI-LEAD Webinar: Enhancing Educational Assessment through Student Partnership and Co-Production of Rubrics 09 January 2024 12:00 to 13:00 . They promise it will be ‘compelling’ – we agree! 

This will be our last Academic Developers round up for 2023, so Charlie, Laura, Sam, Sarah and Simona would like to wish you all a relaxing festive break, and a very Happy New Year!

Posted in Academic Development, Educational Enhancement, Events, Learning Design

Sharing your pronouns to support trans colleagues and students

Posted on by Faye Brockwell
Photo by Alexander Grey on Unsplash

This week Caley Yardley, Doctoral Tutor in Physics, talks about how we can support our trans colleagues and students by sharing our pronouns.

For many, pronouns can seem a very trivial thing, but I think there is a power in them. Even if everyone shared their pronouns on all their social media, professional contact lists, at the start of meetings, and on door signs, there would still be so much more for us to address on gender equality and inclusion. However, I believe that sharing pronouns is a very easy thing to do and can mean much more to others than it may appear at face-value for you.

It shows awareness.

Human identity is complicated; we are all shaped by our social, cultural and/or ethnic backgrounds, our jobs, passions, interests, and hobbies, as well as by the people we interact with as we go about life. I challenge you to describe yourself or a friend in only one sentence. I bet you wouldn’t be able to account for all your quirks, even if I were more generous and let you use a full page. It is probable you would feel compelled to employ generalisations, or even stereotypes, to paint a vaguely accurate portrait of who you are. 

As with the rest of your identity, your gender identity exists on a spectrum, may be fluid, and is never the same between any two people. Yet, it is still deemed normal to categorise people into binary categories – men or women – which for many happen to align with their sex assigned at birth – male or female. This carries strong norms and values which still perpetuate gender stereotypes in too many areas of modern life. If you are cisgender (not trans), I doubt that your identity as a man or a woman is identical to that of your friend. Yet the languages of Western cultures traditionally do not view anyone as existing between, let alone beyond, a rigid gender binary. If you are trans, this rigid view of gender can be even more unhelpful when the choice of language is informed by other people’s assumptions about the way you look or sound.

By sharing your pronouns, you can show your understanding, or willingness to understand, that gender identity is more complicated than the traditional picture, and therefore one’s pronouns are not necessarily a given to be assumed.

You can reduce the stigma.

Although it is important to discuss peoples’ assumptions and individuals’ identities in the context of trans and non-binary people, it is also important for cisgender people too. Many trans people are misgendered on a day-to-day basis, but I know of cis friends and colleagues who have also been subject to it on occasion because of some assumption regarding their appearance. However, while cisgender people often feel comfortable to politely correct an honest mistake, often trans people are less likely to do the same in that situation. 

For me, sometimes it is a matter of staying silent for mine own safety, or simply worrying about how I may be perceived for raising my voice. On other occasions, I know I worry about stigma when I am in that situation – “another trans woman who cares about pronouns”. Like many trans people, I choose to share my pronouns where I can, including on pin badges and at the start of meetings. In my experience, it helps to reduce the frequency of awkward encounters and means I don’t have to worry so much about upsetting others, especially if they would have misgendered me during a good-faith interaction. Many people seem to be very happy with trans people sharing their pronouns, but there is a vocal minority who are not, resulting in a stigma that pronouns are just a thing that trans people have and declare. This is especially the case if only trans people are the ones sharing their pronouns.

By sharing your pronouns, you can help to tackle this stigma directly. Even if you don’t think you personally benefit from sharing your pronouns, you can be the one to get the ball rolling and potentially put others at ease to do the same.

It can be a step towards allyship.

The current situation for trans and non-binary people is not exactly easy in the UK right now. Research by Mermaids and Ipso has shown a strong increase in negative media coverage and the Home Office’s statistics show that transphobic hate crime is on the rise in the UK. It can be hard for gender diverse individuals to access help and support, which can be especially hard for those at the start of a social transition who may be scared to “come-out”. Although people of all genders are deserving of acceptance and safety, too many trans people find themselves questioning whether they are safe and accepted for who they are in too many areas of public life.

If you want to be an ally, I appreciate that it can be daunting, largely because it is unrealistic for any one person to effect change on such a complex set of issues. Given that allyship is an action, not simply a badge that one can claim, some may wonder, “how exactly can I be a good ally?” 

I remember David Tennant featuring in the media for wearing a badge which read, “you are safe with me,” and was decorated with trans and LGBTQ+ flags. You don’t have to do wear anything as bold as this to promote a similar message. At the very least, sharing your pronouns can signal a willingness to be a good ally and promote a safe space for those of all genders. It may seem like a small thing, but you can show that you are willing to be among the first in a room to have that discussion, and help to promote a safe space for trans, non-binary, and gender diverse individuals.

What can you do?

No-one can force you to share your pronouns (and I wouldn’t want to either) but I hope it is something which most are willing to do. It can mean more than the effort which is needed to do it: normalising gender diversity, reducing stigma, and challenging biases and stereotypes. It isn’t the only thing you can do though. To be inclusive and curb biases, consider using gender neutral language. They/them pronouns can be used in reference to a hypothetical person, or if you don’t know a person’s pronouns. This might help you to avoid words or phrases which stereotype or differentiate too. You may also wish to think more about your own biases, prepare to challenge them yourself, or be ready to have them ‘challenged’ by others, which can be incredibly helpful in being an active listener and bystander against discrimination.

Some naturally worry about ‘getting things wrong’. Don’t let this stop you learning from mistakes – even trans people can get things wrong. At the end of the day, if you are willing to try, this matters more than anything else.

How to share your pronouns in some of our tools

  • Canvas
  • Microsoft Teams
  • Zoom
  • Outlook Online
  • Padlet does not have a specific pronouns feature, but you can add your pronouns to the About box in your user profile:
    • From your Padlet dashboard, click the three-dot ellipsis button (…) on the bottom-left of your screen (right if you’re using the mobile app).
    • Click Settings
    • Select Basic Info
    • Type your pronouns in the About box.
screenshot of Padlet About box
screenshot of Padlet About box

For further information on the use of pronouns at the university please visit the Equality, Diversity and Inclusion pages. 

Tagged with:
Posted in Accessibility, Educational Enhancement, Inclusive teaching

My 106th post: The tools may change but the important things remain.

Posted on by Anne Hole

As the longest standing (and oldest) member of the Educational Enhancement team I have written a lot of posts for this blog. On checking recently, I found that this will be my 106th. I may have missed a trick by not marking my 100th but better late than never!

Thinking about what to write this time, I was reflecting on all those past posts and what has changed since the first in 2014 – and what has remained important. So here are some observations about change, constant issues and being an old(er) Learning Technologist.

Technologies are constantly changing, and learning technologies are no exception. Over time digital tools, apps, software (even the names shift) appear, change, develop and often disappear again. Sometimes they are replaced by better tools, sometimes they morph into less useful versions or our needs change so they become less relevant. However, the challenges we want them to address tend to remain. For example, my first post for what was then the TEL (Technology Enhanced Learning) blog was Using creative commons images in presentations and I revisited the topic in 2020 with Free images to use in presentations and Canvas. Finding images that staff and students have permission to use continues to be an area of interest so I expect this is something that will be covered again at some point.

Accessibility

Probably the biggest consideration when looking at learning technologies now is accessibility. This has always been important, but the accessibility requirements for public sector bodies which came into effect in 2018 made this a duty. Accessibility regulations led to more posts on accessibility such as Top tips for creating inclusive presentations. We ran a whole series of Accessibility Tips posts including on Digital accessibility tools and how to Check accessibility.

Canvas and Panopto

At Sussex, the biggest shift in recent years was the move from our old Moodle-based VLE (called Study Direct) to Canvas. My earlier posts were often about Study Direct but from 2018/19 the team wrote a lot of Canvas-focused posts.

The platform had changed, but the impetus to design sites in a way that makes them easy to use by students and with activities to engage them remained central so my posts addressed  topics such as: Making use of announcements, getting ready for the next academic year and Managing online activities with Canvas Sections and Groups. Canvas continues to be an important topic for the blog and my most recent post was latest was Canvas ‘hacks’ to save you time and stress.

Following the move to Canvas the university’s systems for recording lectures were replaced with Panopto, so the blog turned its attention to the new platform. As a team we put together a series of Focus on Panopto posts and I contributed Editing recordings.

Pandemic teaching

With Canvas sites in place for every taught module and Panopto being able to be used at desks as well as in teaching rooms we already had some powerful tools at our disposal when COVID arrived. Zoom was added to our arsenal and I introduced our readers to Zoom for online teaching. Not surprisingly, 2020 and early 2021 were the busiest time for the blog with about 200 views per day during that period.

Digital skills

One area that the sudden move to online teaching in 2020 highlighted is that of digital skills – for staff and students. There is often an incorrect assumption that students know how to use online tools. Other members of the EE team have, I hope, put that fallacy to bed (see Dan Axson’s Why we still need to talk about digital skills in 2023 and Helen Morley’s Digital literacy and capability in school-leavers).

I still sometimes encounter staff who lack confidence in using digital tools and who suggest that they are ‘too old’ to adapt to new learning technologies. I hope that as a Learning Technologist nearing retirement age, I can disprove that particular myth.

When I started work in the 1970s it was in an entirely paper-based office. Over the years I have worked with records on microfiche, a whole building devoted to the ‘computer’ where people manually transferred masses of paper records to punch cards, then computer terminals that allowed data to be entered directly from remote locations and latterly web-based systems. I still remember getting my first email address when I started my postgraduate research but at that point notes were still on paper – boxes of it! These days pen and paper play very little role in my life. I use digital tools on my mobile devices for domestic/personal tasks, notes and projects which builds up confidence in the ability to adapt to new things. The best way to get to grips with technological change has always been, for me, to dive in and have a go.

Keeping your eye on the prize

But enough about me and what must seem like ancient history. The message I want to leave you with is that whatever technologies may come and go it is important to keep focused on what we are trying to achieve, then looking at which tools might help us get there. We have a great team in Educational Enhancement (EE) who are ready to help, so please do have a look at the EE website or get in touch with us at EducationalEnhancement@sussex.ac.uk and of course please keep reading the blog – you wouldn’t want to miss my 107th post!

 

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Posted in Learning Technologies

Academic Developers November round up

Posted on by Simona Connelly
A pink background, with a megaphone, mobile phone, pencil, magnifying glass, lightbulb and the Youtube logo

AI CoP

The first meeting of the AI Community of Practice is scheduled for 2-3:30 on Monday 4th December.  

The session will feature Professor Michael Luck (UoS Provost and AI expert), quick fire examples of practice in teaching and assessment and a chance to help shape the CoP going forward. We are still working on the full schedule so, if you’ve been using AI in your teaching or assessment and are happy to share your experience (even if it is still a work in progress), then please get in touch (EducationalEnhancement@sussex.ac.uk).  

Find out more and sign up via links on our recent EE blog announcing the launch.  

We’ve also scheduled another ‘Assessment in an AI world’ workshop for 24 November.

Reminder on ACR process.  

The webpage for the Annual Course Review has been updated with the current timeline, templates and handbook to assist you in the ACR process.

Course Leadership Programme Session Three

The third session of the Course Leadership Programme will focus on the new Annual Course Review Programme, and we will hear from Graeme Pedlingham on how Course Leaders can use and engage with Student Voice. There will be a Q+A session on Wednesday, 6 December, covering the new ACR process and Student Voice. Please see our Events page for a sign up link.

Blog on Virtual Learning Environments

EE Learning Technologist, Rachael Thomas, reflects on her daughter’s experience of VLE in her blog post

Featured AD workshop: 

Each month we feature one of our menu of staff development workshops, all of which can be tailored workshop for course teams, departments and schools. Email us to find out more. 

This month’s featured workshop is ‘Alternative Assessments’.  

This workshop: 

  • Explores the benefits and challenges of designing and implementing alternative assessments.  
  • A range of options for diversifying assessments,  
  • How these changes may improve student experience and make assessments more AI resilient.  

Many of these options aim to assess students in an ‘authentic’ way, enabling students to apply their learning to different contexts and situations.   

Globally Networked Learning session

We will be holding two sessions of Globally Networked Learning, on Monday, 27 November and Wednesday, 6 December

Sussex Scholarship Programme

The next session of our Sussex Scholarship Programme (23/24), Using Elements to Build your Scholarship Profile, takes place on the ground floor of the Library on Tuesday, 21 November (11.00-12.30) and will be hosted by Maggie Symes (Research and Open Scholarship Librarian). This will be a hands-on workshop and opportunities will be provided for participants to work on their own Elements profiles and ask questions. Computers will be available, but participants are encouraged to bring their own devices. The workshop itself will last around 30-40 minutes, but participants are welcome to stay afterwards to continue building their profile, ask questions, and network. We hope to see you there! 

Senior Fellowship (SFHEA) Information Session and Writing Day

There will be a SFHEA Information session on Wednesday 22 November to discuss and ask questions about developing an application to become a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), and an online Writing Day on Friday 15 December.

Posted in Academic Development, Educational Enhancement, Learning Design, Learning Technologies, Professional Development, Technology Enhanced Learning

What is a Learning Technologist and how a train to Huddersfield helped me find the answer

Posted on by Daniel Axson
Blue headphones being held over yellow background with cord trailing.

In my last post I said I’d be exploring more on the topic of what is a Learning Technologist (LT). There has been a lot of excellent work on this of course, detailing the varied and complex roles, tasks, job titles and activities of an LT. This is not a repeat of all that work, rather an attempt at summarising the role of a Learning Technologist with an analogy and I think I found it, on a train to Huddersfield.

Blue headphones being held over yellow background with cord trailing.
Photo by Alex Gruber on Unsplash

Active Noise Cancellation (ANC).

It was only very recently I experienced ANC for the first time. On a train bound for Huddersfield, trying to focus on work in a noisy carriage, cue ANC. Wow, my first thought was ‘where has this been all my life’, second was how the announcements of the train conductor still came through, letting me know the shop was open or which stop was next. This may have been a ‘feature’ of my budget friendly ANC headphones, but it worked a treat, all the background noise was filtered out and still got the important noise. 

Alright Dan, get on with it, how is that like a Learning Technologist, I hear you ask.

As Learning Technologists we work across 3 very noisy spaces:

  • Educational (and consumer) technology
  • The complex and slow moving higher education regulatory landscape
  • Teaching, learning and assessment trends in higher education

Our role is to take in the ambient noise of these, work with our colleagues to make sense of them and pass through the important or useful information. In short, make sure effective strategies for using technology in teaching, learning and assessment are heard loud and clear.

Yes, I’m going to talk about generative AI

Given that it is a currently a week in 2023, we’ll use generative AI as an example. It provides a great example of the types of noise we deal with. Not a week goes by that dozens of new generative AI ‘solutions’ both good and bad are peddled by edtech companies, major tech companies or some random person on Reddit. Each of these promise to solve specific problems. Collectively however, they create more questions and more noise: what to listen to, who to listen to, what should I know and what should I be worried about. Ultimately, what does this mean for me in my classroom.

I’m sorry to say, this blog post isn’t going to answer any of those questions right now, rather they highlight the types of noise we can assist in cancelling out. Of course the above can be true of any specific technology, but with the AI example we might say (through our web pages), ‘no, don’t trust that tool’, ‘this is what’s coming’ or ‘here are some ideas for using the tools you have available’ and ‘here’s how to talk to your students about it’.

LTs are the experts in education technology noise cancellation, it’s our job to make sense of trends, to understand them, to test them, to be critical of them and to advocate for them as necessary. We champion the stuff we genuinely believe will be valuable for your teaching toolset. So, when it all gets a bit much or you’re not sure where to start, use us – turn your LT ANC on and enjoy the peace for a bit. Whether it’s generative AI, using Panopto, immersive technologies or in class polling, your Learning Technologist can help you cut though the noise.

A word of caution

Leaving ANC on for too long can be risky, you might become too reliant and when it’s not available, struggle to make sense of the noise by yourself! Yes, you guessed it, I’m talking about digital skills here. It’s super important that we each develop the capacity to critically evaluate and make sense of education and consumer technology developments. Just as important is how you signal the importance of this skill to your students. In the same way you would for your discipline specific knowledge, your students will have your subject ANC turned way up to 11 in year one, but come graduation, you’ll have weaned your students off it.

So there you have it, the question I’ve been struggling with for most of my career, explaining what a Learning Technologist does to friends who don’t work in education (and some who do): we’re active noise cancellation for teachers.

Tagged with: ,
Posted in AI, digital skills, Learning Technologies

Launch of the University of Sussex AI Community of Practice

Posted on by Simona Connelly
a group of toy robots
Photo by Eric Krull on Unsplash 

Educational Enhancement are excited to announce the launch of a Teaching and Learning with Artificial Intelligence Community of Practice (AI CoP). Here I’ll explain why, in addition to the many brilliant groups and networks within Sussex and beyond, we’re launching our own AI CoP, details of the first CoP meeting on 4th December, and how to get involved.

What is a Community of Practice?

Chat GPT tells us that an educational community of practice (CoP), “refers to a group of educators, teachers, students, and administrators who come together around a shared interest in a particular educational domain or area of practice. The goal is to collaboratively improve teaching practices, enhance student learning experiences, and foster professional development within the educational community.” 

Why an AI Community of Practice at Sussex?

Since the launch of the first free-to-use generative AI tools in the winter of 2022, universities, governments, individuals and organisations have been reflecting (with varying degrees of interest, excitement or concern) about AI’s impact on how we live, work and learn.  

Universities and HE quality assurance agencies and regulators in the UK and across the globe have responded in broadly the same way, clarifying academic regulations and providing guidance on how staff and students might use these tools safely, ethically and also creatively. See, for example: 

Also, more than ever, practitioners have been sharing their concerns, along with examples of how they are adapting their teaching, learning and assessment, both to mitigate the worst impacts of AI and to re-think what and why they teach and the purpose of assessment.  See, for example: 

We’ve been collecting all of these resources, and many more, on the University of Sussex Teaching with AI collaborative Padlet.  

Eight examples of AI use in education
Image of resources on UoS Teaching with AI Collaborative Padlet 

However, a collaborative Padlet simply isn’t enough.  

For example, look at the Russel Group of Universities’ five principles, created to help universities ensure students and staff are ‘AI literate’:  

  1. Universities will support students and staff to become AI-literate. 
  2. Staff should be equipped to support students to use generative AI tools effectively and appropriately in their learning experience. 
  3. Universities will adapt teaching and assessment to incorporate the ethical use of generative AI and support equal access. 
  4. Universities will ensure academic rigour and integrity is upheld. 
  5. Universities will work collaboratively to share best practice as the technology and its application in education evolves. 

What ‘AI literacy’ or ‘effective use’ and so on might mean and how these principles will be enacted remains hotly debated, poorly understood and effectively untested. This exemplifies how the impact of generative AI on education can be defined as a wicked problem. Such problems are complex, hard to define, are intractable (they have no stopping point), there are no elegant solutions or right or wrong way of solving them, they are intertwined with many other problems and responses to them may have unforeseen impacts.   

Leadership researcher Keith Grint argues that the more uncertain we are about the solution to a problem, the more wicked it is, the more we need collaborative leadership and many experimental and ‘clumsy’ solutions. We hope that the AI community of practice will create the space needed within Sussex for such solutions and leadership to emerge. A space within which people can ask questions, stay updated with the latest developments, build networks and contribute to the overall advancement of teaching and learning at Sussex and beyond.  

How will the AI CoP work? 

The first meeting of the AI Community of Practice will take place 14:00-15:30 on 4th December 2023 in the University Library Open Access Space (on the ground floor just past the Library help desk). Please come along early to avail yourself of tea/coffee and, maybe, some mince pies. You’re also welcome to listen along online if you need to.   

Our new Provost, Professor Michael Luck, the founding Director of King’s College London’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence, will kick off the first meeting, in which we also plan to share briefly some insights into the journey of the sector and University so far and some quick-fire examples of practice within Sussex. We will also facilitate a discussion of where colleagues are now, what they need most from the community and approaches we can take within the CoP to facilitate knowledge sharing and collaboration.    

Share your great practice: 

If you’re trying something new with AI in your teaching or assessment, and are happy to share your experience in a 5-minute lighting talk at the December CoP, then please get in touch! 

Can’t attend?

We hope to see you there! 

Posted in AI, Educational Enhancement, Events, Learning Technologies, Technology Enhanced Learning

Virtual Learning Environments – a parent’s perspective

Posted on by Rachael Thomas
view down a long straight road between autumnal trees
Photo by Patrick Tomasso on Unsplash

My first year at Sussex as a Learning Technologist has been a transformative journey, enriched by the parallel experience of supporting my daughter through her inaugural year at a different university. This dual perspective has underscored the critical importance of an accessible and user-friendly Virtual Learning Environment (VLE), or online study platform, for every student’s academic journey. The VLE used at Sussex is Canvas, but other examples include Moodle, Google Workspace for Education, Blackboard, to name but a few.

As a parent, I naturally want the best possible university experience for my daughter. And let’s be honest, a clunky VLE is like trying to navigate a maze blindfolded – not exactly the smooth start we hope to provide for new students.   A well organised, consistent and accessible VLE with up-to-date content can make a world of difference to the student experience.

My daughter has mild dyslexia and visual stress. Reading on a screen sometimes feels like deciphering ancient hieroglyphs for her. Plus, being part of the pandemic-battling student cohort, like many of her peers, her stress and anxiety levels have been unusually high.

When she started using her university’s VLE, she was overwhelmed by the amount of information presented to her. She found it confusing that some of the content was out of date, and there were contradictory versions of the same information. We also found that some of the required reading had been photocopied from a book, so she could not use a screen reader to help her read the text. 

She sometimes found it challenging to find information about assessments and how to submit work. This caused a lot of additional stress, especially when she was trying to meet deadlines. 

She is studying on a joint honours course, which means she is exposed to two different schools’ VLE pages. Each has its own style and format, and she finds it confusing to switch between the two, as she needs to refamiliarise herself with where to find vital information.

There were positive aspects to my daughter’s experience of using the VLE. Contact details for all her tutors, as well as extremely helpful staff in the school office, were very well signposted. This reduced her stress during holiday periods, when she needed to find support or guidance in the absence of her tutors. She has also been signposted to some amazing support services and study skills via the VLE when she has needed help.

Based on this experience, I offer these tips to enhance the VLE experience for all students:

  • Prioritise accessibility: utilise tools like the Canvas accessibility checker to ensure all content is accessible to every student, regardless of their needs.
  • Implement consistent templates: provide a unified user experience by applying school templates, making the VLE intuitive and easy to navigate.
  • Clear instructions and guidance: offer concise instructions on using the VLE, submitting work and accessing feedback.
  • Facilitate communication: ensure students can easily reach out to those who can offer them guidance and support.
  • Maintain up-to-date content: regularly update information to guarantee accuracy and relevance, sparing students the confusion of outdated materials.
  • Streamline content structure: organise content in a way that enables students to swiftly locate essential information and support resources.
  • Verify content availability: utilise tools such as the Link Validator on Canvas to confirm that all linked content is available to students.

By heeding these recommendations, we can create a VLE environment that empowers every student to thrive academically, whatever their needs or circumstances. Working together, we can build a learning experience that is inclusive, supportive, and enriching for all. If you would like any help or support to update your Canvas module pages, please contact your school’s learning technologist, or email EducationalEnhancement@sussex.ac.uk

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Posted in Accessibility, Canvas

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Based on a work at https://blogs.sussex.ac.uk/tel/.