QS Quacquarelli Symonds, a leading global provider of higher education analytics and insights, extended to Dr Patrick Camilleri an invitation to contribute as a speaker in one of their set expert panels at the QS EduData Summit (EDS), a two-day event in Washington DC. Given QS's reputation for curating top-tier speakers and, my ongoing research in AI and Education, Dr Camilleri found this opportunity too compelling to ignore.
The summit discussions converged on the transformative impact of artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) in higher education. The panel Dr Camilleri formed part of was identified to discuss: ‘The Industrial R/Evolution: How students should prepare for AI and digital Innovation.’
The discussion Dr Camilleri actively contributed in was moderated by Dominique D Dallas. The panel was composed of other distinguished academics and practitioners in field of AI and Education. These included Dr Alexa Alice Joubin, Erin Mote and Martin Serrano. As expressed through the title, the discussion focused on the fact that, as AI is becoming increasingly prevalent, current and future students, graduates, and employees will require a diverse set of AI-related skills to align with nascent work opportunities.
The discussion extended beyond the immediate educational needs. We, probed into the skills and concepts students will require, to navigate within future academic and university life and, novel professional landscapes that will inherently constitute future careers in an AI-driven reality. Thus, while proficiency in generative AI may soon be as common as word processing, other crucial competencies will likely involve the understanding of AI model fundamentals, data management, implementation strategies, and ethical considerations.
Dr Camilleri started by first distinguishing between AI and Generative AI. This enabled him to direct my arguments from just using AI to enhance what we do, to expressing and mediating ideas through its inherently transformative qualities. I highlighted that AI will not replace people but that people who learn to work alongside AI; therefore, enacting new, even inconceivable qualities out if it; will definitely have the leading edge over those who do not. Nevertheless, while educational systems have to move beyond the adoption of, and adaptation to new technologies, if we have to enact new qualities out of transformative technologies such as AI, then we cannot forget how important it is for us to learn to fluently liaise and dialogue with Generative AI. In this case Dr Camilleri emphasised that as we move forward, we cannot disregard the roots of our learning and communication.
Dr Camilleri therefore accentuated the importance of the traditional literacies, such as reading and writing that intrinsically allow us to think and formulate how best to express ourselves as humans. Subsequently, effectively merging such aptitudes with generative, AI-enabled applications, will not only enable us to enhance what we already do but make us discern new qualities and also open new horizons that for now we may not even be aware of.
The summit featured other intriguing presentations and panel discussions around AI and Education. These inevitably sparked deep and engaging conversations with attendees from higher education and industry during and after the panel presentations themselves. A key outcome was that AI's permanence necessitates constructive adaptation by universities. Institutions should and are therefore being urged to adopt a long-term strategic approach to AI, leading in policy formation and establishing ethical guidelines for transparent, institution-wide AI integration. This involves comprehensive data utilisation across campuses. As highlighted by other speakers, students' advanced adoption of generative AI, when compared to that of faculty members, brings the need for extensive capacity-building.
The future of education therefore requires the reconsideration of teaching methods and assessments, potentially shifting towards project and problem-based learning including the creation of space where students have to be capable of effectively presenting and articulating arguments about choices made with respect to the content they procure.
Emphasis was also placed on how to leverage AI to enhance student learning, improve teaching quality, and address educational inequalities through community outreach. While acknowledging that faster does not always mean better, it was understood that universities are advised to prioritise AI solutions offering scalability, interoperability, and reusability. Achieving large-scale implementation with diverse providers demands understanding, not only for their scaling capabilities but also to discern on how well implemented solutions can possibly be integrated within the existing universities’ AI ecosystems.
Indisputably, the conference itself has been instrumental to catalyse and extend deep and interesting discussions well beyond the two days themselves. It has enabled Dr Camilleri to actively widen my network with others who embrace similar interests to mine. On another note and as an aftermath of my intervention at the summit, a week after Dr Camilleri was invited and therefore gave a webinar on AI in Education, specifically set up for me at a college affiliated to the University of Kerala in India. In this sense Dr Camilleri can only look forward to experience and learn from what a well-harnessed AI enabled transformation will enable us to achieve.
