On Monday, May 8, 2024, Erdinç Saçan (senior teacher at Fontys) provided an online lecture on Generative AI, focusing on education during the BOOM Blended-Week . The development of AI is unstoppable, however, and paid AI applications are only accessible to students who can afford them. Erdinç provided examples of various possible applications such as:
- WOMBO.ai – Upload a photo and generate a lip-synced song.
- AI for sign language recognition
- Autoscriber – for medical notes on complex messages from doctors
- Hegen – a tool to convert your voice and facial expressions into any language
- Suno – create songs and music based on written text
- Lexica – generate images based on written text
- 11 labs – generate speech phrases
- characterA.I. – Chat/speak with characters like a psychologist
- Concensus – to support scientific pieces
- Elicit – assist in research writing
- Perplexity – also provides sources and follow-up questions
- Gemini – upload an image and receive explanations in the form of concepts
- Claude – writing texts
- Future tools – new AI tool capabilities
- Empathie.nl – responses to angry emails
- Read Simple app – upload documents and receive a simplified summary
A significant point of discussion about AI revolves around the risks associated, including privacy concerns, biases, and ethical dilemmas. Emphasis was placed on the importance of transparency and awareness of these risks for responsible AI use in education. Furthermore, Erdinç discussed how AI can support the learning process (offloading the learning process), but also highlighted the importance of collaborating with students to determine what is desirable. The focus on processes and logbooks is becoming more important than outcomes (which can be easily generated by AI). It recommended that when students use AI, they should ask for step-by-step information/insights. Additionally, the AI-development in education may lead to assignments needing to be made more challenging (Raise the Bar). The University of Gent mentioned that they assume students use AI and adjust their evaluations accordingly. Although there are AI cheat trackers and undetectable AI apps, it doesn’t seem useful to deploy AI cheat trackers yet, especially since they cannot be considered as evidence. A key-question is if education is about the learning, or about certification?
At a national level, there is still no central framework for AI. Various Dutch institutions such as SURF, Kennisnet, and NRO have budgets and funds but seem to operate independently. The central question is whether educational institutions and teachers should collaborate more to embrace Generative AI to provide better education for future professions.
