Teaching in the era of Artificial Intelligence (AI) was explored at a conference themed “reimagine the future of higher education” held by the Center for Teaching and Learning at Duke Kunshan University.
The Teaching and Learning Showcase 2023 invited industry experts, interdisciplinary professors and students to discuss the integration of AI into education now and in the future.
Opening the Dec. 7 event, Dr. Scott MacEachern, the vice chancellor for academic affairs at Duke Kunshan, said that traditional higher education is at a crossroads as technology and its application rapidly evolves.
He emphasized that Duke Kunshan, as a highly globalized institution, has a responsibility in the age of AI to continually explore new opportunities and update its educational model and teaching systems.
The showcase featured influential futurist scholar Dr. Bryan Alexander, who proposed that schools and teachers should pro-actively help students to adapt to the new AI landscape.
He said teachers and students using AI tools should take the opportunity to review the performance of human-machine cooperation in each instance, adding, “The instructor or student gets to solve a problem and use an AI tool, and then reflects on the process.”
During the conference, five professors debated whether students should be allowed to use AI systems in their courses.
Assistant Professor of Philosophy Dr. Daniel Weissglass suggested that faculty should be encouraged to experiment with AI models like ChatGPT and equip students with the critical-thinking and analytical skills to use AI tools appropriately to solve complex problems. He recommended providing explicit instructions to students on how to use AI systems.
Assistant Professor of Behavioral Science Dr. Claudia Nisa disagreed with allowing students to use AI tools to complete assignments.
She said that a couple of years ago she realized that students were using AI to summarize articles, having previously attributed the work to students.
“This year I thought I’m going to go ask them to write them and to be sure that they have produced the work by themselves because I think this is an important thing,” Nisa said.
Associate Professor of Biology Dr. Renee Richer shared her approach to teaching which she called “going old school in new ways”.
It involves leveraging new technology to facilitate cross-border, cross-disciplinary learning while at the same time upholding traditional teaching principles. For instance, she conducts oral exams to maintain one-on-one communication with students.
Presenting their research on the use of AI at DKU, Senior Lecturer of English language Joseph Davies and Lecturer of English for Academic Purposes Benjamin Gutscher said that preliminary findings indicated that writing tools are the most commonly used form of AI software
As part of the study, graduate students were asked to compare their completed assignments with those done by AI. The researchers found flaws in AI knowledge in professional fields.
“We asked students to compare their own work to the outputs of AI and generally (AI) isn’t very good at these,” Davies said. “For graduate students with very specific research projects, AI doesn’t necessarily have nuanced and specific knowledge.”
“I feel that now is actually the best time to use these AI generating tools,” said Associate Professor of Data and Computational Science Dr. Ming-Chun Huang, a proponent of allowing students to use AI tools with clear guidance.
He said that before the advent of AI, people were already using Google or Baidu to search for papers rather than consulting library indices.
Huang believed that students should keep pace with the job market by becoming adept at using AI to work more efficiently, or face falling behind.
In a discussion on curriculum policy and the ethical use of AI tools, Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dr. Kaizhu Huang, Senior Lecturer in Physics Dr. Paul Stanley, Lecturer of English Language Junyi Li and three undergraduate students from the Class of 2025 – Muhammad Ajlal, Xinyue Liu, and Tianyu Xu – looked at how to standardize AI use and maintain academic integrity.
Dr. Marcia France, who is associate vice chancellor for undergraduate studies and the Language and Culture Center, praised Duke Kunshan’s ongoing efforts to reimagine the future of higher education in multiple ways, free from traditional constraints.
She commended the innovative culture of faculty and their contributions to student success and expressed cautious optimism about Duke Kunshan’s approach amidst rapid changes in the AI era.
