Tag: university
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DfE to stop grading English schools based on proportion of Russell Group students
https://www.theguardian.com/education/2024/oct/26/dfe-to-stop-grading-english-schools-based-on-proportion-of-russell-group-students
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The hard work of establishing value
Is anyone really considering the real change necessary to respond to AI in higher education?
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Reimagining higher education in the face of advanced genAI: An opinionated vision
This post explores the potential impacts of advanced generative AI on higher education. It presents a radical vision where AI transforms learning processes, redefines institutions, and reshapes the nature of knowledge itself. The analysis considers how universities might evolve to remain relevant in a world where AI becomes the primary source of information and education.
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Universities’ ChatGPT misconduct focus ‘panicked students’
in AIhttps://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/universities-chatgpt-misconduct-focus-panicked-students Universities’ focus on assessment misconduct in the wake of the emergence of large language models “panicked” students, and institutions would have been better being “honest” that they were still figuring out the ramifications of new technologies… Agreed. Universities’ knee jerk reaction and misplaced moralising about the potential for cheating, wasted everyone’s time. And did…
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Integrating AI in higher education needs a culture shift
Integrating AI into higher education requires a questioning of assumptions, and a re-evaluation of attitudes, behaviours, and beliefs. In short, it requires a change in culture.
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Link: Crisis in Higher Ed & Why Universities Still Matter
https://a16z.com/podcast/crisis-in-higher-ed-why-universities-still-matter-with-marc-ben/ In this one-on-one conversation, Marc and Ben tackle the university system – what has certainly been a hot topic that’s been dominating the news over the past few months. As Marc states at the top of the episode, universities matter tremendously to our world, but they’re currently in a state of crisis. Together, Ben…
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An AI-first approach to higher education in the UK
http://donaldclarkplanb.blogspot.com/2024/01/ai-university.html Donald Clark proposes a vision for an AI-first university, tackling the pressing need for high-quality, low-cost online education in the UK. Here’s a distilled list of 25 transformative ideas, drawing inspiration from other successful educational models: I couldn’t agree more. For me, AI has the potential to massively scale personal learning, and for that…
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On the ethics concerns around requiring students to use AI
Note: I wrote this over the course of a busy day full of meetings. At the end of the day I just wanted to get it out there. I’m not sure that I’m fully on board with the arguments, but the thing that I love about blogs is that it doesn’t matter. So these are…
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Institutional AI policy or classroom AI policy?
I’ve been thinking about the challenges of developing an institution AI policy for staff use in the classroom, and the longer I reflect on it, the more I think that it can’t work. An institutional policy is a set of guidelines, rules, or principles govern operations, activities, procedures, etc. They are often legally binding and…
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A crisis of meaning in higher education
“I saw a bit more of the future of AI at work this week, and it shows every sign of vastly boosting productivity, while also causing a crisis of meaning in many organizations.” – Ethan Mollick (2023)
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Compress a PhD+experience into 3-6 months
https://www.quantumleap.education/joinus/founding_learning_engineer.html “Quantum Leap is building the world’s best system for rapidly acquiring expertise. Our first courses will be on large language models and AI safety, for which we’re aiming to compress a PhD and several years’ experience into 3-6 months using accelerated learning methods developed by the US military.” Whether you agree that it’s possible…
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Assessment reform is fine. Education reform is better.
I’m seeing plenty of calls for institutions to reform their assessments in the face of generative AI (see here, for example). Which is fine, I suppose. Nothing wrong with assessment reform. But changing assessment practices without reforming the system in which it operates is just painting over the cracks. Or to put it more crudely,…
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AI and expertise in professional education – ADAPT conference
At the 2023 ADAPT physiotherapy conference, I discussed the impact of generative AI on physiotherapy education, emphasising how it challenges the traditional role of universities in professional training by offering accessible and personalised expertise. The presentation highlighted AI’s potential to democratise learning, enhance project-based education, and create affordable learning alternatives outside formal degree programs. I…
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AI-first educational institutions
In a previous post I mentioned in passing the idea that universities, if they want to remain relevant, will need to adopt an AI-first position for everything they do. Soon, AI will be embedded in everything, from preparing course materials, to developing assessments, to budget allocation. And email. It will be a huge part of…
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Link: Generative AI in higher education: what comes after the assessment crisis?
https://markcarrigan.net/2023/11/01/generative-ai-in-higher-education-what-comes-after-the-assessment-crisis/ “My biggest concern is that financial pressures could lead universities to embrace automation in the hope of reducing staffing levels. What is widely recognised as a “broken funding system” coupled with the impact of inflation and high interest rates could easily give rise to the hope that new technologies make it possible to replace…
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When an unstoppable force meets an immovable object
TL;DR (generated by Claude, lightly edited by me). The rise of abundant expertise in the form of generative AI questions the university monopoly on expertise provision and validation. Leadership in the creative deployment of AI for learning, teaching, and assessment will require a change in mindset and a shift towards a new paradigm, which universities…
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Link: YouTube begins verifying videos by UK doctors…
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/health/youtube-bbc-britons-more-brits-b2407715.html “YouTube added a new seal of approval to accounts run by licensed doctors, nurses, psychologists, and other health practitioners or organisations who have passed stringent verification checks to fight misinformation.” At what point will “Verified by YouTube” (or Google, or Microsoft) be more valuable than getting your degree from a prestigious university? And then,…
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Gilbert Scott building, University of Glasgow
I love universities. Especially old universities. And I love what they stand for. They’re not perfect, not by any means. But they represent a striving for a deeper understanding of the world, which is an idea worth keeping.
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A distributed university to address some of the major problems with higher education today
Richard Heller gave an interesting presentation about his Peoples-uni project, a free and open, online, MSc in public health programme. While this project came to an end, Richard talked about the potential for using the lessons learned to build a distributed university, which is something I’ve been interested in for many years. You can download…