“We need to learn to work with AI – not against it”
Anders Randler, Mathematician at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering. Photo: Daniel Olsson.
Artificial intelligence is already part of students’ everyday lives – but how is teaching keeping up? At Campus Gotland, an internal training programme is currently underway to teach lecturers and researchers how to use AI in practice.
The initiative for the programme comes from Anders Randler, a mathematician at the Department of Civil and Industrial Engineering.
Why are you holding an AI course for employees?
“We want to help teaching staff to start using AI in a well-considered and practical way. The course is a pilot version of a training programme intended for lecturers and researchers at our department. The focus is not so much on the technology behind it, but on how we can use AI in education, what the opportunities and risks are, and how to make the best use of the tools.”
Can you give an example?
“One concrete example is how we give written assignments. In the past, you could give an assignment and mark it, but now we have to assume students are using AI in their work. This means that we often need to supplement written work with an oral examination or questioning to ensure that the student really has understood. It’s not a matter of banning AI, it’s about teaching students to work with the technology, not to use it instead of learning.”
When will this be integrated into your activities?
“Altogether, we’ll be holding ten training sessions this autumn, every two weeks. So far, we have had two sessions. The hope is that participants will gradually become more confident about using AI more in their teaching. But AI is developing so fast that it’s hard to say when it will be ‘done’. Some colleagues have already integrated it, and the students are using it virtually every day. It’s only a matter of time before we all have to deal with it, whether we like it or not.”
What are the greatest challenges?
“Assessment is without doubt the most difficult thing. I teach maths and computer science and see both great opportunities and problems. It’s easier to provide quick feedback using AI, but at the same time much more difficult to know what students have done themselves. Project work and essays are often written outside the classroom, and the AI tools have become so advanced that it’s almost impossible to tell what is the student’s own work. For this reason, we need to rethink assessment. There are plans to make the training programme a course for students as early as this autumn, and also a distance learning course eventually, a multi-phase campaign to broaden AI skills within the University.”
Daniel Olsson