When artificial intelligence is integrated into universities, where is the boundary?
Author：Eve Cole
Update Time：2024-11-22 13:48:01
Last semester, Tsinghua University President Li Luming communicated with students in class and found that most undergraduates had used artificial intelligence to complete homework, and the completion results were better. He asked the students: In the era of artificial intelligence, where is the value of students’ learning reflected? Li Luming also asked himself: Where do teachers who impart knowledge find their core positioning? Today, rapidly iterative artificial intelligence is empowering the high-quality development of higher education, so what are the boundaries of integration? How to achieve the unification of "fusion" and "integration"? At the end of August, a forum hosted by Tsinghua University and co-organized by the Center for Global Higher Education at Oxford University, the School of Education at Peking University, and the School of Education at the University of Hong Kong attracted educators from many universities around the world.
Re-examining the value of higher education in the era of artificial intelligence, exploring the reform of university course teaching and evaluation methods by artificial intelligence, thinking about the transformation of artificial intelligence in talent training ideas...a series of core issues were exchanged, debated and collided in Tsinghua Campus. As Stefania Giannini, Assistant Director-General for Education of UNESCO, emphasized in her video speech: While artificial intelligence is expanding the possibilities of higher education, it is also necessary to clarify the boundaries of artificial intelligence and see its impact on education. far-reaching impact. A fuzzy zone of cooperation between students and artificial intelligence. Although artificial intelligence has long been integrated into students' classrooms, homework, and lives, is it allowed to use artificial intelligence to complete their studies? Will artificial intelligence-based assignments be graded? This series of questions still has not been answered accurately. In the observation of Luo Jiahui, assistant professor at the Education University of Hong Kong, “there is a sense of guilt behind the use of artificial intelligence.” Specifically, Luo Jiahui saw obvious markings in the students’ homework, that is, the students would indicate that artificial intelligence tools were used in this part, while the other part focused on the content of the original work. Some students asked Luo Jiahui: "If I use too many artificial intelligence tools, will I be at a disadvantage compared to people who do original work?" "If I use artificial intelligence tools, will the professor suspect my lack of thinking?" Independence?" Luo Jiahui keenly captured the common worries among students. Therefore, Luo Jiahui believes that the higher education system needs to build a future picture of students living and learning together with artificial intelligence. On the one hand, it allows students to see the potential of human-machine collaborative work; on the other hand, it is also necessary to adjust the evaluation method of original work. Jean-Gabriel Ganaccia, a computer scientist and philosopher at the Sorbonne University in France, gave this thought: "As educators, our goal is to enable students to play a role in the future world." He believes that students not only need To become consumers and manufacturers of artificial intelligence products, we must become citizens who can adapt to the future world. Jean-Gabriel Ganascia, who has been working in artificial intelligence for 45 years, said that technology is changing too fast and educators need to help people play a good role in their future careers. "When it comes to the biggest change, I think we need to cultivate two kinds of talents in the future, one is talents who can ask questions, and the other is talents who can solve problems." Yang Zongkai, president of Wuhan University of Technology, sees that the education track is changing. Transforming knowledge transfer first into education that connects openness, sharing, individuality and value. Having served as president of three universities, Yang Zongkai continues to experiment with the in-depth integration of information technology and education. In his view, "Innovating education methods, school running models, management systems and guarantee systems are the problems that need to be overcome in the new education track." But to complete the transformation of the model, Yang Zongkai said frankly: "This is a very difficult task. Things." On campus, Yang Zongkai and his colleagues created new learning scenarios to allow students to conduct in-depth learning in unmanned factories, unmanned docks, smart transportation, etc., introduced artificial intelligence supervision into the classroom, and assisted teachers and students in completing more than 2,000 tasks. courses to cultivate students’ abilities in independent learning, management, service, etc. Professor Mutlu Kukurova, director of the Learning Analytics and Artificial Intelligence Team at University College London’s Knowledge Lab, has made new changes in assigning homework. He no longer focuses on the results of student papers, but on the process of producing them. “Artificial intelligence has significant potential for analyzing materials.” Mutlu Kukurova will focus on students’ potential to ask questions and solve problems. "Artificial intelligence tools alone are unlikely to change education. Transformation of the education system is a socio-technical ecosystem issue." Mutlu Kukurova said. What are the bottlenecks in integrating artificial intelligence into campus? From the printing revolution to the Internet technology revolution, and then to the wave of artificial intelligence, technological changes have brought new forms, new methods, and new styles to education, as well as new thinking and new challenges. Xue Lan, senior professor of liberal arts at Tsinghua University and dean of Schwarzman College at Tsinghua University, shared a story: A few years ago, a professor in the Department of Chemical Engineering asked students to feedback learning questions to a "teaching assistant" via email, and the "teaching assistant" was very responsible and answered their questions in a timely manner. . After the semester ended, the teaching assistant who was rated "excellent" by the students unveiled his mystery - he was actually an artificial intelligence teaching assistant. Xue Lan said that after artificial intelligence enters campuses, it may promote the formation of large-scale personalized teaching models and make up for the "shortcomings" of the existing education model. For example, building a personalized learning center and forming a personal learning hub can provide applications for students to understand knowledge. This year, Tsinghua University announced that the school will build 100 artificial intelligence empowered teaching pilot courses, equip 2024 freshmen with "AI growth assistants", and provide 24-hour learning assistance, feedback and evaluation; a product of AI interactive engineering based on GPT-4 "Brainiac Buddy" has become a teaching assistant for Peking University to assist students in building a knowledge base and starting course previews; the "Smart AI Teaching Assistant System for University Physics Courses" adopted by Southeast University has been put into use to help teachers complete course strategy adjustments and also help students build a knowledge system . The changes don't stop there. Xue Lan believes that the integration of artificial intelligence into campus will bring about major changes in education models and school organization methods. "As a personalized learning center, artificial intelligence provides unlimited possibilities." In this regard, Wayne Holmes, a professor at the Institute of Education, University of London and a researcher on the editorial board of scientific journals of the UNESCO International Artificial Intelligence Research Center, has a different view: "Artificial intelligence may design a personalized path, but that is not the real Humanization in the sense. True personalization is to help every student become better, but artificial intelligence cannot yet do it. " Wayne Holmes believes that artificial intelligence makes teachers and students lose control of things. Able to complete tasks according to the design path of the artificial intelligence system. However, behind the artificial intelligence system there are complex operations of the business sector, involving complex factors of business interests. Not only that, "we have to consider students' ability to socialize." Wayne Holmes described a scenario where more than 30 students sit in a classroom with more than 30 computers, and they do not communicate with each other. "Students are indeed engaged in personalized learning, but this should not be the direction we pursue." Many experts have also put forward their thoughts on the hidden worries brought by artificial intelligence. Yan Guangcai, professor and director of the Institute of Higher Education at East China Normal University, raised a question: "Is the integration of artificial intelligence into education empowering human beings with surface learning or deep learning?" From a historical perspective, human learning achievements are based on long years of development. The accumulation of experience and knowledge precipitates, while large models come from deep learning of databases. In this educator's view, it is necessary to study whether artificial intelligence can help humans complete in-depth learning. Artificial intelligence tools have entered different places such as classrooms and libraries, changing the learning model of education. But embedding technology in education is only the first step. In this regard, many experts present said that the new track has just begun. Yang Zongkai believes that campus financial management, network security, and data security will all face new reforms in the future. He said that technological integration will encounter bottlenecks to a certain extent and requires systematic changes. "Where the boundary is is still in a process of continuous exploration." There is no standard answer to the exploration of global education .
Chang Tongshan, senior researcher at the Higher Education Research Center of the University of California, Berkeley, and director of institutional research and academic planning in the Office of the President of the University of California, California Worked at university for many years. Facing the sweeping wave of artificial intelligence technology, the University of California established an artificial intelligence working group to discuss issues such as learning, campus governance, and risk control. "They regard the birth of generative artificial intelligence tools as a once-in-a-century opportunity, specifically an opportunity to improve the efficiency of university governance." Chang Tongshan observed that American universities have held artificial intelligence seminars on different topics, gathering Experts discussed and hoped to explore different paradigms for the application of artificial intelligence in education. In addition, most colleges and universities offer general courses on artificial intelligence to improve students' ability to apply artificial intelligence. How to solve the "integration" problem of teaching and artificial intelligence? The answer given by some American colleges and universities is: establish clear rules. Taking the University of Minnesota as an example, Chang Tongshan mentioned that the school has divided the degree of embedding artificial intelligence in teaching courses into three levels, namely allowed use, thoughtful use, and prohibited use. Teachers need to clarify in the syllabus whether students are allowed to use artificial intelligence tools, as well as the scope and requirements for allowing the use of artificial intelligence, and how to guide students to use artificial intelligence. Not only are there clear rules for teaching, but there are also detailed rules for the use of artificial intelligence tools in scientific research activities. Chang Tongshan mentioned that some universities have clear boundaries for drafting paper ideas, writing application forms, and reviewing scientific research projects on artificial intelligence to help teachers and students standardize their behavior. "Top universities maintain a high degree of sensitivity and exploration spirit towards new technologies." Chang Tongshan believes that American universities are seizing new technologies and exploring new paths for university governance. But currently, there is no “standard answer” for the integration reform of artificial intelligence and education in the world. Lei Jing, associate dean and professor of the School of Education at Syracuse University in the United States, believes that American universities are not ready to respond to the new track of integrating artificial intelligence into teaching. According to a questionnaire survey of many universities in the United States, the proportion of universities that have formulated policies and plans for the use of artificial intelligence is still low, and a considerable number of universities are still exploring planning ideas. In addition, nearly half of university personnel are worried that artificial intelligence will affect academic fairness. “But the consensus is that everyone feels that artificial intelligence is crucial to the teaching and management of colleges and universities, and we must take action to respond to changes.” Lei Jing said. In China, the Ministry of Education has released four actions to promote artificial intelligence-empowered education, including the launch of the "AI Learning" column on the national smart education public service platform, the intelligent upgrade of the national smart education public service platform to support personalized lifelong learning for all, and the implementation of artificial intelligence in education systems. Intelligent large model application demonstration actions, building an international exchange platform for digital education, etc. The 20th National Congress of the Communist Party of China included "education digitalization" in the report for the first time, proposing: "Promote the digitalization of education and build a learning society and a learning country with lifelong learning for all." The future is already here. From the debate on personalized education to the design of teaching tools and the transformation of teaching thinking, the boundary problem of "integration and integration" of artificial intelligence is facing the global education community. Today, a consensus has been reached, but the problems remain unsolved. The exploration of new ways to integrate artificial intelligence into campus continues...
