“AI is not the future. This is the present,” said Fordham information director Anand Padmanabhan, in his opening day of faculty technology on May 21. Organized by Fordham IT members: Educational Technologies, the Symposium on Education Technology attracted 200 members of Fordham, and the administrators of Lincoln Center – the largest crowd of the 26 -year -old event – to examine AI and other tools.
Four scenarios for AI in the academic world
Main lecturer Bryan AlexanderA mainly known Georgetown and a well -known futuristic scholarship holder offered four possible future for universities while AI continues to evolve – some good, some disturbing.
The Hallucinations of the AI - The answers which include false information – could make academic expertise more precious, he said. Or AI could become a cheaper and “fairly good” substitute in college. Alternatively, universities could fully resist AI and market as a “retro” education option. And in the latest scenario, AI could fundamentally change society and force universities to rethink their mission and “restart evaluations from zero”.
So, for what future should we prepare for? Alexander said that all of these scenarios “would probably realize in different places at different times”. But he could not fully hear a path of total resistance. Prohibiting it in a classroom or at the university level would be like a game of Whack-A-Mole, he explained. “People have phones – they will connect online.”
Critical thinking and ai
Throughout the conferences and sessions in small groups, many have recognized the disturbance of the AI. Alexander described the generator “a powerful and easy to cheat tool” which “also invents”.
Fordham president Tania Tetlow spoke of the threat she posed for entry -level jobs. But in the spirit of this year’s Ignatian theme – “” “Discernment in the AI era– She defended the Jesuit values of Fordham to teach students to use their emotional intelligence and their critical thinking skills to engage in a thoughtful way with AI.
“AI is a tool that will be used for a lot of good and a lot of bad at the same time,” she said when closing. “So how do we help our students to use it to count?”
A need for advice
Flurin Eshghi, associate vice-president of educational technologies and research IT, said that, according to a computer survey, the teachers were committed to AI, which she found encouraging. But many have expressed the need for more workshops and advice on concerns such as plagiarism.
The IT service offers IA resources which includes a Weekly blog on AI and current Fordham policies on AI. More support is in the form of a new Educational innovation centerThat the provost and main vice-president Dennis Jacobs, Ph.D., announced its beginnings in the fall. He is also underway, he said, an AI center that will help teachers and students explore responsible use of AI in teaching, learning and research.
The main educational technologist, Kristen Treglia, said that everyone was looking forward to the opening of the Center for Educational Innovation in order to provide recommendations from the teaching point of view.
“You cannot separate pedagogy and technology today,” said Treglia.