The evolving landscape of Gen-AI: Continuing the conversation

The Curriculum Transformation Framework is in its third phase and faculties are currently in the planning stage. This involves planning how to embed the new Graduate Profile into programs, structuring programs to incorporate student-centered learning, and aligning learning outcomes. Considering that Generative Artificial Intelligence (Gen-AI) is revolutionising our world, this is a fantastic opportunity to ensure that our students are taught current skills that translate to relevant roles in the workplace.

Although Gen-AI is moving at an unprecedented pace, the core principles of assessment and academic integrity remain unchanged. Rather than seeing it as a threat, we can adopt a positive approach by embedding authentic assessment, which focus on real-world learning and ensure students achieve their graduate outcomes.

Be transparent with students and have an open conversation about your approach to AI in your course. For example, there may be a case where students are encouraged to investigate the use of AI in their writing, as long as they properly cite their sources. Meanwhile, a first-level course may not allow the use of AI to ensure that students have a solid foundation of the fundamentals. By educating ourselves about the capabilities of these tools, we can enhance the learning experience for students and prepare them for the changing world.

Using AI in education has also brought benefits. For instance, Khan Academy has integrated ChatGPT-4 into their system, which acts as a patient and adaptable tutor for students. The AI tutor is able to rephrase explanations and respond to students’ queries from various perspectives, e.g., if a student wanted to know about the soldiers of ancient Rome, it can offer insights as if it were a Roman soldier.

OpenAI has released ChatGPT-4, which bears a nominal licensing fee. It offers significant advancements over previous versions:

• Improvements to language capability can write in a different style or genre.
• It can now interpret graphs and formulae in images.
• It is also more accurate than its predecessors, with a 40% increase in factual responses and an 82% decrease in the likelihood of producing disallowed content.

As AI is integrated into more platforms, it will become difficult for students and teachers to avoid it. Here are some early adopters:

• In Grammarly Go, users will write a prompt with a few words and receive a draft in seconds. They can set up tailored style controls so generated text is in their preferred voice and instantly generate new versions of writing, customised for tone, clarity, or length.
• The latest updates of Notion and Microsoft Edge/Bing have generative AI that enables users to request an essay, blog post, social media post, or any other writing format with options to adjust the tone and length of the work.
• Google plans to incorporate AI features into Google Suite, including Docs, Gmail, Slides, and Sheets.
• Canva’s Magic Write feature is a new addition that uses AI to make content creation faster and more efficient.

CRADLE Webinar #2: Assessment Design for a world with Gen-AI – how should educators respond?

Turnitin’s AI writing detector

The University of Auckland has requested that Turnitin’s AI detection feature is not turned on when it is released on 5 April. A growing number of Australian and UK institutions have taken the same action, following concerns around its lack of testing and lack of transparency as to how it works. This does not mean that we will not opt back in, once it has been fully tested and we have a better understanding of it. If you would like to know more about the decision to turn off this feature, you’re welcome to get in touch: teachwell@auckland.ac.nz