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human biases. “The biases that ChatGPT can have are gender biases, even biases from the global south-global north debate,” she added. Dr. Niles stated that AI should not be feared but seen as an example of the creativity and ingenuity of the human mind: “The impact that AI can have on teaching and learning can occur at any level, be it primary, secondary or tertiary; therefore, its impact on higher education is not isolated.
However, it is an opportunity for the teaching-learning transaction to be re-evaluated and recalibrated.”
Dr. Emma Sabzalieva Head of Research and Foresight, UNESCO’s IESALC
Ms. Arianna Valentini Research and Foresight Analyst, UNESCO's IESALC
West-Smith , a senior official with the plagiarism checking tool, Turnitin, pointed out that apart from the opportunities that AI brings, there are some obligations which need to be understood. “First, we have an obligation to understand AI’s promise and risks, what it does well and what it struggles with. As educators, if we do not know these obligations intimately then we are not positioned well to support the students. “We also have an obligation to equip our students to really understand what these tools can and cannot do and what purposes they serve. What we certainly learnt in the last couple months is that the world ahead of them will almost certainly require them to use these tools. So, if we are not arming them with the right understandings and experiences to use these tools affectively and ethically, then we are really shortchanging them,” West-Smith added. u
T he technological literacy, the design of assignments and other pedagogical matters as well as academic integrity, among other issues. “Since its launch, rapid adoption, rapid improvements and the launch or proposed launch of similar products, the implications of ChatGPT and similar artificial intelligence-driven products for higher education has become a major discussion point,” Robinson said. “When you have such major innovations development has thrown up questions about AI’s ramifications for digital with the potential for disruption, you can act too quickly or overreact out of fear. Therefore, what we have decided to do at The UWI is to have a forum to sensitise the university public and the wider community to these issues as we decide how to handle the change on the education landscape moving forward.” Robinson participated in the forum alongside several esteemed panellists including Dr. Emma Sabzalieva, Head of Research and Foresight, UNESCO’s
International Institute for Higher Education in Latin America and the Caribbean (IESALC); Ms. Arianna Valentini , Research and Foresight Analyst, UNESCO's IESALC; Dr. Margaret Niles , Manager, Educational Research and Innovation, Caribbean Examinations Council; and Ms. Patti West- Smith , Director, Customer Engagement Team, Turnitin. Dr. Sabzalieva said universities have tended to rely a lot on coursework and have traditionally focused on content-based learning: “ChatGPT is only one of the many AI applications that exist. Perhaps it’s better to have a competency-based curriculum rather than a content-based one. We are going to need critical thinking skills, entrepreneurship skills, and transversal skills for the future; and these are easier to reach through a competency-based curriculum,” she added. Her UNESCO colleague, Valentini , cautioned that while AI can be seen as a useful tool it can also be biased, noting that since ChatGPT depends on human input for its information, it is also susceptible to
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