Similar stories of rapid adaptation and lessons learned from doing things in new ways have rung across the other universities, too, where the pandemic sparked searching questions about the best way of educating students in modern times. Professor Terry identified the need to better understand the value added by the campus experience. “The value- added campus experience is the tutorials where you debate and exchange ideas, it’s the labs, it’s the studios, it’s the placements. We also need to think about what content should be delivered on demand, online, that students can access at any time,” she remarked. At the same time, universities must consider the other great disruptor – AI – and how this is incorporated into education. “It has now become the most common topic of discussion at all of our universities. Much of that discussion is focused on assessment. That’s really important, but by far, the bigger question is, what does this mean for our role in ensuring that our graduates are
the shapers and leaders of the future?” she wondered. “Really thinking around how AI is used, what the biases in AI are, how today’s graduates are going to go out into the environment and use it, how it should be best integrated into all sectors. We have got a huge amount of work to do in that area.” For Professor Terry, these developments point to the need for universities to remain grounded in their mission to serve the public good and be accessible to the broader community, so they can work collaboratively to address the big challenges facing humanity. Professor Paul echoed some of these thoughts, noting that COVID-19 had shown the feasibility of online education but also its insufficiency given the benefits of the campus experience and face-to-face teaching. A hybrid model that embraces different elements – not just online and campus learning, but things like AI, hackathons, social media and peer-based learning – offers the potential for a paradigm shift in learning.
We have to realise that one of our traditional monopolies – that we own knowledge, our libraries own knowledge – that’s gone. Knowledge is all over the place, sometimes it’s not the right knowledge but you can find it everywhere, whether online or AI-generated. You have to reflect on that.
Professor Martin Paul Rector, Ruhr University Bochum
But his strongest assertions concern AI. “We have to realise that one of our traditional monopolies – that we own knowledge, our libraries own knowledge – that’s gone. Knowledge is all over the place, sometimes it’s not the right knowledge but you can find it everywhere, whether online or AI-generated. You have to reflect on that,” he remarked. Universities need to embrace and use AI in their daily work, whether that be investigating learning outcomes, using chatbots to reach more diverse audiences or processing large amounts of data for research, he added. They also need to start considering rules and regulations for its use, such as the definition of authorship, copyright issues, and educational integrity such as plagiarism. “AI is a tool for learning,” Professor Paul said. “We have to embrace this new technology, we have to use it to modernise us, and we need to move ahead of the game and be proactive and not reactive if we want to implement changes.” Universities sometimes had to take a great leap to embrace technology in education during the pandemic,
but their perseverance paid off. Professor Gong shared that at the start of the pandemic, some professors at Peking University were still not comfortable using online systems. But student assistants were recruited to help them and within one week, classes were online. After three years, the vast majority of professors are now willing to do online teaching, he said. That is only the start. “We know that new technology is bringing opportunities and challenges which we have never seen before. On the one hand, it is transforming how we teach and learn, promoting the integration of interdisciplinary research, and widening the channels for international exchange and collaborations. On the other hand, there are challenges. For example, how do we bridge the digital divide and open up more resources and offer fair and higher quality education for students?” he questioned. Peking University has responded in several ways. First, it has provided frameworks for promoting interdisciplinary work, with 2022 designated the Year of Digital Humanities and 2023 the Year of Global Engagement. Hybrid learning has become the new
The value-added campus experience is the tutorials where you debate and exchange ideas, it’s the labs, it’s the studios, it’s the placements. We also need to think about what content should be delivered on demand, online, that students can access at any time.
Professor Deborah Terry President and Vice-Chancellor, The University of Queensland
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