AI and education

When AI knocked on the lecture hall door

In January, the Vice-Chancellor issued the decision: AI should not be banned, but explored with curiosity. Easier said than done. Teaching colleagues asked in frustration: How do we examine students now? Who is writing their reports? The students themselves or ChatGPT?

At the Faculty of Pharmacy, we have spent the year’s first ten months conducting external analyses and engaging in various forms of dialogue with teachers, stakeholders, students and AI experts – with highlights such as roundtable discussions in Almedalen and the Faculty’s GU Days in August. The goal quickly became clear: the introduction of purposeful AI in education and the responsible use of AI. However, local policies and new course syllabi are not developed as quickly as the technology evolves.

The industry’s verdict: Knowledge is needed more than ever

When we spoke with representatives from pharmacies, authorities, hospitals and pharmaceutical companies, the responses were unanimous: AI is already here, but human expertise and pharmaceutical knowledge will still be needed in the future. Not least to interact with the technology. The graduation learning outcomes for pharmacists and prescriptionists remain highly relevant, but AI will be a tool in achieving them.

AI can help us streamline, automate, analyse and draft texts. But critical review, ethical considerations and regulatory compliance are skills that students must master – and responsibility cannot be left to algorithms. In short, to use AI purposefully and responsibly, students must have both in-depth subject knowledge and an understanding of how AI works.

The great divide: Should students be able to write themselves?  

Opinions differ. Some argue that we will soon only give commands to a machine that does the rest. Others claim that writing is the very essence of learning. Writing is thinking. The question is not whether students should write, but how. The students of the future need to be able to formulate their own thoughts and allow AI to be a partner in the process.

AI is here to stay. But it is up to us to decide how it should be used and what we ourselves must not stop doing. And now, as the autumn leaves begin to change colour, I wonder whether we teachers might be ready for the next step after all: to curiously begin exploring new ways of teaching to stimulate learning and critical thinking in this new world. Paradoxically, I believe that AI makes physical meetings with students in the classroom more important than ever.

Anja Sandström, Vice-Dean for First and Second Cycle Education at the Faculty of Pharmacy