AI in Education Bi-weekly Digest - Issue #16

Welcome to our latest #16 newsletter, spotlighting AI's role in education and tech. Join our Online Seminar on AI in grading tasks and the Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2023. Catch up on OpenAI news, including Sam Altman's return as CEO and the unveiling of GPT-4 Turbo. Read insightful articles on the importance of writing and data literacy in the AI era, AI's impact on teaching, and generative AI's research applications. Discover Amazon's free AI training initiative 'AI Ready' and a playbook on AI for college completion.

Upcoming Events:

[Online Seminar] How Well Can AI Assist Us in Coding and Grading Task - Join Professors William CHEUNG to explore large language models, generative AI in grading, and the customization of ChatGPT for automated grading and feedback in university language teaching with a group of AI practitioners. Register here.

[Expo] Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2023 - The Teaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2023, organized by the Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK), is a platform for educators to share creative educational experiences and insights. The event, held on 5th December 2023, features interactive presentations and seminars to enhance teaching and learning methodologies. Registration is needed.

News and Interviews:

Sam Altman to Return as OpenAI CEO after His Tumultuous Ouster - Sam Altman has been reinstated as CEO of OpenAI after a brief ouster, marking a dramatic turn of events at the artificial intelligence startup. The board reshuffles and Microsoft, a major backer, is expected to play a larger role.

AI Belongs to the Capitalists Now - The recent OpenAI drama, involving the reinstatement of Sam Altman as CEO, highlights a shift towards a more capitalist vision of artificial intelligence. The reshuffled board, expected to include larger influence from Microsoft, suggests a triumph of business interests over cautionary AI perspectives.

WA Students Flock to Computer Science, And AI Adds to the Allure - Washington's flagship university is witnessing a surge in students interested in computer science and artificial intelligence, despite recent tech layoffs. The university's Paul G. Allen School, a computer science school, is adapting to this trend, focusing on AI to meet industry needs.

OpenAI Unveil Latest AI Model, Customizable GPTs And Digital Store - OpenAI announced updates to its AI chatbot, ChatGPT, at its first developer conference. Highlights include customizable versions of ChatGPT, a digital store, and lowered prices for developers. They also unveiled GPT-4 Turbo, which can support larger inputs and has expanded knowledge through April 2023.

Articles & Blogs:

To Educate Students about AI, Make Them Use It - To educate students about AI's strengths and weaknesses, a professor at Elon University implemented an assignment where students interacted with ChatGPT, a text-generating AI. The exercise demystified the technology, highlighted its limitations, and sparked discussions about AI's role in education and cognition.

Students' Right to Write – The blog post discusses the importance of writing education in the era of AI. The author, Jonathan Alexander, argues that despite AI's ability to generate grammatically correct texts, it cannot replace the diverse, creative, and critical use of language that human writers possess.

Live Chat: A New Writing Course for The Age of Artificial Intelligence – Yale's new course "Writing Essays with AI" taught by Ben Glaser explores the impact of AI on writing. The course encourages students to use AI tools like ChatGPT ethically and effectively in their writing process. The aim is to understand AI's role in shaping communication while promoting critical thinking and creativity.

Is AI a Pathway to Better Teaching and Learning? - Goodnotes conducted a global study on the use of generative AI in education and businesses, involving over 50 experts from 20 countries. The research highlights five key recommendations for integrating AI into schools: creating usage guidelines, rethinking homework, transforming coursework and assessment, promoting professional development, and prioritizing equity and diversity. The aim is to ensure an inclusive and equitable adoption of AI technology in education.

AI Is Making Data Literacy a 'Survival Skill' That Schools Must Teach, Experts Argue - As AI technology advances, experts assert that data literacy becomes a critical survival skill that should be taught in schools. A lack of data literacy contributes to the public's uncertainty about personal data usage. To address this, data literacy education should begin as early as kindergarten, with continuous, age-appropriate lessons. Policymakers are urged to prioritize this issue, and teachers may benefit from e-learning ecosystems for training.

ChatGPT and Generative AI: 25 Applications to Support Research – The blog on Times Higher Education presents 25 ways to use generative AI, specifically ChatGPT, to support research work. It explores applications like research writing assistance, data analysis, grant writing, project idea generation, and PhD student support, among others.

Tools/Resources:

Disclaimer: AI in Education has no affiliation with any highlighted free or commercial products in this section.

Learn about Machine Learning & Artificial Intelligence - Amazon has announced 'AI Ready', a new initiative aiming to provide free AI skills training to 2 million people globally by 2025. The program includes eight new free AI and generative AI courses, a $12 million AWS Generative AI Scholarship, and a collaboration with Code.org.

An AI Playbook for Improving College Completion - Complete College America, a national nonprofit, has released a 78-page playbook detailing over 200 uses of AI to boost college completion rates and close equity gaps. The guide suggests AI can identify students needing support and analyze large data sets.

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Disclaimer: The views and opinions expressed in the linked posts are those of the speakers and or their entities and do not necessarily reflect the views or positions of the project AI in Education, Centre for Learning Enhancement And Research, and The Chinese University of Hong Kong.