At the University of the West Indies (UWI) virtual Vice-Chancellor’s Forum on Artificial Intelligence (AI) : A Blessing or Curse for Higher Education held on May 9, 2023, experts discussed the implications of AI tools such as ChatGPT in higher education. The panel consisted of Professor C.Justin Robinson, Pro Vice-Chancellor of undergraduate studies at UWI; Dr Emma Sabzalieva, head of research and foresight, UNESCO International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC); Arianna Valentini, research and foresight, UNESCO IESALCA; Dr Margaret Niles, manager of research insights and products innovation, Caribbean Examinations Council (CXC); and Patti West-Smith, director of customer engagement team, Turnitin.
The panel noted that AI tools have the potential to improve the quality of work for educators and meaningfully impact the learning outcomes for students. They raised a concern that having the AI tools depend on information produced by someone else means it can be subject to bias. Taking gender bias as an example, Arianna Valentini pointed out that if you ask ChatGPT for a list of modern philosophers, it will most likely be full of male philosophers from the West.
The panel discussed the idea of banning AI tools from higher education on the grounds that it could be considered cheating and promote unoriginal thinking. But they agreed that banning the tools would not be the most effective action and instead opting for guardrails on how to use the tools effectively and ethically is preferable. Dr Emma Sabzalieva encouraged educators to not jump to worrying about banning AI tools and instead focus on teaching and learning. Dr Margaret Niles suggested that to prepare for embracing AI tools, the existing curriculum be re-envisioned to include more critical thinking, reasoning, and softskills. Professor Robinson concluded the discussion by emphasizing the importance of human creativity to maximize the potential of the new tools while minimizing the risks.
Turnitin is a company that provides software solutions to assist institutions and educators in detecting plagiarism and promote academic integrity. It helps universities and universities manage the authenticity of student submissions and helps faculty check content for plagiarism in assignments, research papers, theses and dissertations. Patti West-Smith is the director of the customer engagement team at Turnitin. She is an advocate for developing better strategies on how to incorporate AI tools in higher education in order to empower students to think intellectually and creatively while using the technology responsibly and ethically.
The discussion was recorded and is available to the public for further exploration and understanding. The virtual Vice-Chancellor’s forum is a great start to the conversation on AI and highlights both the potential of these tools and the importance of guardrails to maximize its usage.
