Extended Education’s Lifelong Webinar Series 2023-2024 wraps up on May 3 with its grand finale: AI and the Age of Augmentation: A Panel Discussion on the Future of AI in Lifelong Learning. Lev Gonick, CIO at Arizona State University (ASU) will talk about the ASU-Open AI partnership. He’ll be joined by previous series panelists, Kelly Shiohira (Executive Manager: Research and Data Ecosystems at Jet Education Services), Ray Schroeder (Senior Fellow at UPCEA), and Rod Lastra (lifelong learning professional at UM Extended Education).

“This session, focusing on how higher education can revolutionize teaching and learning with performative generative AI, promises to be a reflective overview of the past year as well as a visionary forecast of future possibilities,” says Lastra.

Most recent webinar

The most recent webinar in the series, with panelists Safiya Noble (author of Algorithms of Oppression) and Cecil Rosner (author of Manipulating the Message- How Powerful Forces Shape the News) looked at media and information ethics in the age of AI on April 4.

Noble left her career in advertising to go to grad school where she says she was concerned that academics looked at technology like the new public library. “They didn’t understand the purposeful manipulation of content.”

In her years of research, she considered what it means when tech companies control the information landscape, and what the consequences are for communities. For example, she says, “For years, a search for Black girls or Latino girls brought up porn. They became synonymous with hyper-sexualization.”

Human rights, media cuts

Noble calls the effects of AI on human rights the most important human rights issue in our lifetime.

Rosner, a career journalist, noted the alarming trend of ongoing media cuts. From 1991 to 2021, statistics show the number of journalists in Canada decreased from 13,000 to 11,000, he says. Over the same period, PR and communications people increased from 23,000 to 160,000.

“Journalists are bombarded by messages. Many are going unfiltered. The more wealthy and powerful put out the messages,” he says. “I have seen people lie to my face, but it goes unfiltered unless you have time to fact check.”

Propaganda and manipulation

Edward Bernays wrote a book called Propaganda: The Public Mind in the Making in 1928, says Rosner, noting Bernays was a founder of PR in the US.

“AI is accelerating the dissemination of false messages and misinformation. It is accelerating and magnifying the problem. For example, Facebook is blocking news organizations and I see fake news all the time. They are making money. They can’t be the arbiters of information and disinformation.”

Journalism must continue to be supported, says Noble. “When we look at the values of tech leadership in Silicon Valley, their biases get normalized. Debiasing AI is too narrow. It is a larger issue.

“The tech industry is a most powerful industry. It wants to mystify,” she says. “We have to be more specific. What are the impacts of generative AI on the environment? Could we regulate it based on its environmental cost, how it violates employer law or civil rights? We have to parse the intricacies and regulate or enforce our existing laws.”

Lastra began the session with a lesson on the Edward Bernays effect- the Engineering of Consent, showing diagrams about human perception of truth and the science of manipulation to illustrate how human perceptions can go from neutral beliefs to a persuaded effect, and strongly held beliefs can be reinforced with repetition and manipulation of the truth. He noted how AI amplifies and repeats falsehoods and how technology cannot distinguish fact from fiction.

“This was an eye-opening conversation,” says Lastra, looking forward to the grand finale on May 3.

Learn more and register for the May 3 webinar

That was the word from Mike Sharples, Emeritus Professor of Educational Technology at The Open University, UK in conversation with Rod Lastra, lifelong learning professional, in UM Extended Education’s latest webinar, The AI Horizon of Higher Education: Emergent Tools and Policy Considerations. The series continues.

“What’s the impact if we can write a paper at the touch of a button,” asks Sharples. “Technology is in the hands of students, disrupting traditional education. But all evidence says students don’t want to cheat, they want to learn. Universities need to work with it to develop a strategy. With new opportunities can come new ways of dynamic assessment.”

It’s not about insisting students avoid AI. If they use it as a tool, and acknowledge it, that’s fine, says Sharples. Assessment should not just be on one piece of writing. This is an opportunity to rethink assessment and make it process-based.

And anyway, it is not easy to determine if writing has been created by AI because AI detectors don’t work. “The software attempts to detect patterns but it is not at all reliable.”

Creating exceptional students

Students may well use AI for personal tutoring, guides, and creativity. And if it creates mundane writing and creative work for them, students should be encouraged to critique that and do better, he says. “We don’t want our students to be mundane. We want them to rise above, to be exceptional. We want to develop exceptional students.”

According to recent surveys, students are the early adopters, well ahead of academics and teachers. “Eighty to 90 per cent of use is by students. Only 20 to 30 per cent is by academics and teachers. There is a real imperative for AI literacy.”

AI is embedded in many things already. New generation AI is in Microsoft, Google, Apple and Adobe products. Soon all tools will use AI. But how will we use it? Will it help us or are we handing tasks over to a machine?

“We need ethical guardrails, but also we need to look at how institutions can work with the technology to develop systems with educational principles in them. Education and AI companies working together- it’s exciting.”

Guidelines not regulations

The UK government has a pro-AI strategy, says Sharples. “We have a long tradition of deep computing, but clear guidelines on safety and responsibility. The Russell Group (24 UK research universities) has developed principles for responsible but creative use of AI. They are not regulating AI but have a set of principles to abide by. Others have also adopted them or others like this.”

Sharples joined the Department of AI at the University of Edinburgh in the late 1970s and was one of the first to complete his PhD in generative AI. He developed software to explore creative writing and language.

“Generative AI is not new. It has a long and fascinating history. I joined as the first wave was coming. There have been rises and falls since then. My journey was to develop tools to support students in writing development, designing tutoring systems.”

When ChatGPT came along, Sharples was surprised that it could understand context. “Until then, we had to code context or it was not there. How does it know? It is doing more than taking data and repurposing it. It has layers, some kind of emergent world model. It is doing something more than text processing, interpreting structure and context. But it gets some things wrong.”

Not human, uncaring

So, we need to use it with great care, he says. “At the moment, it is not a substitute for human teaching. We need to evaluate the output with knowledge, evidence, correct information. It should always be used with a human teacher. Teaching is a caring profession. AI is intrinsically uncaring.”

AI can be used to summarize text, extract the essence, make comparisons, do translations. “It can do our mundane tasks like lesson planning. It can be an aide to creativity, brainstorming and design. But it is not a proxy for human intelligence. It does not have human experience. It has not seen a sunset or smelled freshly mown grass.”

Watch the webinar

The series continues

In 2004, Sal Khan wanted to tutor his cousin who was having trouble with math. He tutored her remotely and she became one of the best in her class.

“The best way to learn is to practice and get feedback quickly,” says Khan, noting how common it is for students to have gaps in their knowledge and need practice. “I was helping.”

Of course, other family members wanted in, and soon Khan was looking to scale his personalized efforts. “It was a blessing I did not view it as an entrepreneurial journey. I had a day job. This was a passion project.”

Next, he began making videos, just being himself, winging it, thinking through problems on the fly. “I was eccentric, a quirky dude making videos for his family.”

Practice and feedback

Soon, he found that just 30 minutes per week of individual practice and feedback can make a big difference for students. Practice and quick feedback can mean 20 to 90 per cent academic acceleration, according to many studies.

In the summer of 2022, OpenAI called Khan, looking to launch with organizations people trusted like his.

“I was skeptical. It was amazing but was it ready for prime time?”

So, he asked it to answer a biology question. The model chose C. But it did not give the encyclopedia answer he anticipated for its choice. Instead, it explained the answer, and then also why the other answers were incorrect. “I got goosebumps.”

Emulating personalization

Today, Khan continues his journey to emulate the personalization of one-on-one tutoring.

Khan discovered AI could do what a good tutor could do. Of course, there were some errors in training the model. It could hallucinate (give incorrect results), be used for cheating, be biased, provide misleading information.

“There were legitimate risks but there is also legitimate power to empower. As the technology gets better, we have to invest and make this a priority.”

Khan launched Khanmigo (conmigo meaning “with me” in Spanish) in March 2023, as an extension of Khan Academy, building on what he had accomplished. Khanmigo is a generative AI tutor, crafted to navigate students through their educational paths without giving away answers, thus minimizing cheating opportunities. It equips educators with insightful feedback on student progress, aligning closely with desired learning outcomes and fostering a structured, natural learning environment.

He calls it a powerful teacher assistant, to save hours of work and help teachers to connect with students.  

It started in two US school districts. Data showed it strongly drove engagement and increased focus. About 15 per cent became superusers. Others were not as into it.

Improvements and fine-tuning continue. “It is anchored on human content, and it is not perfect. It is like a great but sometimes absent-minded tutor.”

Like a tutor, it can consider a problem, and then ask the student to answer it and explain how they did it to assess their reasoning.

“It can walk a student through a project, estimate their grade, report the whole process to their professor.”

Supportive teaching assistant

Yet he does not see it as a replacement for teachers. “This is a supportive teaching assistant, helping teachers with their work and to connect with students.”

In the next few years, he anticipates students will likely be able to converse with their “tutor” and it will be hard to tell it is not a person. And perhaps scholars will publish prompts instead of papers, for a dialogue with the research. Shorter, more understandable information is better and easier to dispel if bunk than long, convoluted essays.

AI can inspire, he says.

Motivate and engage

“Today, almost anyone can access the world’s best knowledge but they are not always motivated. AI has the potential to motivate and engage students.”

He looks forward to the marvels of the future.

“Recently, my daughter created a story with an AI prompt. She wanted to talk to the protagonist, so AI took on the persona. My daughter advised the character, a fictional AI simulation. It was mind blowing. This is the future. It is just the surface of what is possible.”

Rod Lastra, lifelong learning professional at UM Extended Education, appreciates Khan’s insights. Lastra noted how the ideas of machine support traditional education pre-dates the internet days. “In higher education, we need to think about how to integrate the benefits of generative AI into our work,” says Lastra.

And on that note, he looks forward to our next three webinars in the series.

The series continues

Up next, join UM Extended Education on March 1 for The AI Horizon of Higher Education: Emergent Tools and Policy Considerations with Mike Sharples, Professor Emeritus of Educational Technology at The Open University, UK. The conversation will focus on AI policy and regulations arising in the UK and EU and their relevance in Canada.

Learn more and register now

The AI tools of today go so far beyond what we are familiar with, and they continue to evolve, says Ray Schroeder, in conversation with Rod Lastra, Acting Dean, Extended Education. “Too many of us make first-level use of them, using them like Google search, rather than really using them as an assistant. They can provide so much more than that. We must help universities to understand the immensity and the potential they can provide to us.”

Schroeder shared these and other thoughts at the latest webinar in Extended Education’s Lifelong Learning webinar series, AI Unleashed: Deciphering the Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Lifelong Learning. The topic was Lifelong Learning and Generative AI: Unpacking ChatGPT’s Potential.

Schroeder, Senior Fellow at UPCEA, the Online and Professional Education Association, and Professor Emeritus at University of Illinois Springfield (UIS), collects trending articles on generative AI in higher education on his blog. He started teaching in 1971.

When calculators came along

“Technology has always been engaged in the process of education,” says Schroeder, noting many new technologies he discovered over the years. For example, in the early 1970s, students had to leave their calculators at the front of the class before they took a quiz.

“With calculators, no one will be able to add, they said. The concern went away, and yet it was also correct,” says Schroeder, noting how everyone now has access to calculating technology.
Later, Google Wave provided a host of java-based applications. Then they turned it off.

“Technology has moved forward in bits and starts.”

The latest thing is ChatGPT, something that fascinates Rod Lastra, Acting Dean, Extended Education. With ChatGPT, Lastra generated an AI logo for his presentation notes. He shared how, with Chat GPT, in just three hours, he created an “assistant” to help with program development. He discussed the process from providing prompts to how meaning and context are defined with statistical probability.

Chat GPT will be a year old by the end of November and it continues to evolve. “Right now, our trust of text authoring is low, but it shows more promise for reviewing information and for creative works,” says Lastra.

Not all are embracing it

For successful work with Generative AI, Schroeder advises, “We must practice crafting quality prompts, use three different applications, compare the results because glitches occur, and this helps us not to be led astray. Do it daily. We will get better at using it through repetition.”

But not every educator is embracing the latest technology.

Schroeder shared the results of a recent university study that found 80 per cent of students reported using Generative AI but only 30 per cent of faculty did. “I think there is skepticism among many. We saw this in the early 2000s with online learning. Many faculty said no, they had to see students, it would never be as fully effective as face-to-face.

“Many faculty are intimidated by technology and are afraid to use it. Students don’t have that fear. They have an excitement. Faculty have reservations.” But both Lastra and Schroeder see great potential.

“When you have classes of 30 students, it is so hard to work with individuals and provide tutoring. But what if AI could identify areas of deficit and help students to improve their critical thinking and fully understand? We can find ways to address the challenges, to use the tools and watch the progress,” says Schroeder, noting the hiring of the first Chief AI Officer at a university, Mark Daley at Western, was a big step forward. “This technology is so very important.”

While Generative AI is relatively new, Schroeder noted a tracking study on the use of generative AI at Boston Consulting Group. It found an increase in productivity of 40 per cent with those who used AI, as well as an improvement in low performance.

“The Open AI Academy is expected to open by the end of this year. It will be a free site providing bots to serve as instructors, guided by uploaded information. Other companies are also poised to provide services. How will it roll out in our institutions?” asks Schroeder.

The series continues.

Watch this webinar and learn more about the series.

“Giving AI agency is quite dangerous,” says the Executive Manager: Research and Data Ecosystems at JET Education Services. “Think about it. If a self-driven car crashes, who is responsible? We bring perspectives AI can’t provide. We need to be careful about maintaining human agency. The person is responsible.”

The literacy specialist currently developing an AI competency framework with UNESCO (the United Nation Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization) shared her thoughts in conversation with Rod Lastra, Acting Dean, Extended Education during Lifelong Education in the Age of Artificial Intelligence, the first webinar in Extended Education’s Lifelong Learning 2023-2024 Webinar Series  exploring the potential and challenges of emerging generative artificial intelligence tools in the realm of lifelong learning.

What AI is

During the webinar, Lastra defined AI as technology that enhances human capacity by simulating cognitive tasks. For example, he says, “In the digital realm, we transitioned from non-AI systems, like statistical software performing direct calculations, to rule-based AI with explicitly coded rules. In Machine Learning AI, systems are trained on large data sets, learning autonomously. Unlike rule-based AI, Machine Learning detects intricate patterns in the data, deducing underlying logic without predefined rules or human intervention.

“Generative AI is trained on vast amounts of public data, processes it, uses it, identifies a pattern, and responds through communication and action.”

Shiohira says she was skeptical of AI but came to it as she set out to research literacy in South Africa. She discovered it is useful for basics but not a solution. “For Math, it is a no-brainer. It is straightforward. There are no complexities to consider like second languages, no need to credit people for new ideas. Where learner outcomes are so poor there is a place for technology to supplement learning support. In more advanced educations systems, it can help students to focus on extracurricular work with math and reading programs.”

There are ethical considerations. For example, AI face recognition software can help teachers to monitor which students are engaging in the classroom. “In a small class, a teacher knows. In a large class, they won’t have time to monitor a dashboard as they teach,” she says. Further, it also raises questions of consent for using AI algorithms that can assess engagement.

Issues

Ownership concerns emerge when Generative AI produces creative and academic content. Key issues include determining the appropriate citation methods and identifying the rightful owner. Additionally, while AI excels at refining writing, it may inadvertently enhance and propagate misconceptions or flawed notions, says Lastra.

AI can hallucinate or make mistakes and incorrect information can propagate with models degenerating over time.

Shiohira encouraged everyone to talk about AI literacy. “You need to know what it is, where in your life you encounter it, about data collection, your permissions, and how to challenge one of its decisions like unjustly refusing you a mortgage.”

Our data is being extracted, made into products, and sold back to us, she says. We have been dealing with the transformation of Generative AI since the early 2000s. Ethical data principles are essential. “Who is the owner of data? If you generate it, it should belong to you.”

Concerns about cheating and fraud have been around for years, she says noting at one time, teachers did not want students to use spellcheckers but they need to learn how to integrate them like they did with calculators.

“The process still has value. We won’t give up teaching how to write essays and develop your voice. We need parameters.”

Watch the video and get recommended readings, then join Extended Education on Nov. 17 for the second webinar in the series, Tools of Tomorrow: Harnessing AI in Continuing Education.

Watch video and register now

This winter, Extended Education once again offers a Micro-Certificate in Artificial Intelligence: Machine Learning Solutions.

You have probably heard some of the discussion. Now get ready for some more.

Learn all about AI and lifelong learning at  AI Unleashed: Deciphering the Impact of Generative Artificial Intelligence on Lifelong Learning, a series of free webinars offered by University of Manitoba Extended Education as the Lifelong Learning Webinar Series 2023-2024. The first of four one-hour Friday sessions will also be held as part of UM Homecoming 2023 on Sept. 22 at 11 am CDT. Registration is required.

A webinar series and a micro-certificate

And for anyone looking to add to their insight and their resume, UM Extended Education will also offer a three-course Micro-Certificate in Artificial Intelligence this winter.

“AI is evolving much faster than we can anticipate,” says Rod Lastra, Acting Dean, UM Extended Education. “It is necessary to be aware and identify the opportunities and challenges, and how we will appropriately respond.”

Of course, because technology is moving so quickly, there are always many unknowns and the situation is changing from day to day. “That’s the exciting part,” says Lastra, noting two of the experts who will join him in the course of the webinars: Kelly Shiohira, Executive Manager, Research and Data Ecosystems from The Education Hub in South Africa, and Ray Schroeder, UPCEA Senior Fellow. Each webinar in the series will tackle aspects of the situation as it exists at that moment in time, and the series will wrap up with a panel discussion and share further resources and reading materials.

Lastra is fascinated with AI’s potential, including its ability to collect and compile custom content in a fraction of the time it would take to do it yourself. That’s powerful, he says. “The tools currently augment the creation of academic work. They don’t replace it. Instead, they assist in the creative process. Of course, any AI-generated output requires careful evaluation.”

ChatGPT

Currently, the new tool everyone is talking about, ChatGPT, is less than a year old. Simply input some information and generative AI will use machine learning algorithms to attempt to provide you with the words, the image, or the solution you seek. But if a student uses it to draft their assignment, is that cheating? Who is the legitimate creator and voice of the words compiled in this way? Should universities ban these tools or incorporate them into teaching and assessment?

“AI can augment our creative activities. AI can be our assistant, collating information and streaming ideas. We can input our own information and use specialized prompts. If it is collating your information and your ideas, I would argue you retain greater intellectual ownership of the content compiled using AI. You will need to do some editing.” Further, he says, “If it is AI generating content from the web, it will require expertise to vet the quality and accuracy of that information, and again, some editing. Currently, it is most useful for the experts, those who can verify information.”

If AI algorithms are able to customize educational content to meet an individual student’s needs, and automate administrative tasks freeing educators to focus their energies on more important things, that’s good. But there are also ethical dilemmas to consider. So, for learners and educators alike, it’s complex, evolving terrain.

Adopt and adapt

But it is terrain we must cover, Lastra says. “We will have to adopt technology, whether we like it or not. With it, what are the implications for our work, our creative pursuits and our learners? We have a responsibility to address these questions.”

Join the webinar

Hear from the experts. Understand the transformative influence of AI, discover emerging AI tools for learners, and engage in critical discussions sharing the potential and challenges that generative AI presents to both learners and education professionals.

Register now for the first webinar in the series. It’s also a UM Homecoming 2023 event. Learn more about what is to come.

UMextended.ca/online

As published in the Winnipeg Free Press.