AI on Campus: Students’ Perspectives
Institution: University of Limerick
Discipline: Teaching and Learning
Authors: Angélica Rísquez, David Moloney, Erin King, Robert Dalton
GenAI Tool(s) used: Not specified
Situation / Context
The project “AI on Campus: Students’ Perspectives” is an initiative led by the Centre for Transformative Learning and the Digital Hub at the Kemmy Business School at University of Limerick, funded by the SATLE 2022 fund. Adopting a positive yet critical perspective on the use of Generative Artificial Intelligence (GenAI) by students, the project aims to gather, amplify, and learn from student voices.
Our goal is to bridge the gap between students and educators, highlighting innovative ways GenAI can enrich the educational experience. Through insightful conversations and real-world examples, we hope to inspire students to think of using GenAI in positive and ethical ways, and to inspire educators to design educational experiences and assessments that are not only creative but also authentically engaging.
Task / Goal
Firstly, we sought to empower students to share their knowledge from a “students as partners” perspective (Healy et al., 2016), placing them at the centre of the educational debate. As a result, we hope to help bridge the gap between teachers and students, challenging “them vs us” attitudes from a positive perspective around GenAI and its role in learning.
As a secondary objective, the project aimed to promote AI literacy (Laupichler et al., 2022) by showcasing real-world examples of how students utilise AI tools and increasing awareness with both students and faculty about the potential benefits and challenges associated with GenAI in education. While doing this, we hope to inspire educators to explore creative and authentic ways of designing assessments that harness the power of GenAI to improve learning outcomes.
Actions / Implementation
The project has been co-led by a team comprised of two members of the Centre for Transformative Learning Angélica Rísquez (Learning Technologies and Learning Analytics Lead) and David Moloney (Digital Skills Development Lead), Rob Dalton (Senior Learning Technologist, Kemmy Business School), Erin King (Lecturer and Learning Technologist, Kemmy Business School) and student Síoda McCarthy, and supported by Grzegorz Rogala in the KBS Digital Hub. Together, we worked to conceptualise the series, recruit, and interview students, record the podcast series, advertise, and promote it.
We have produced and released a total of 8 podcasts, which have been widely disseminated across the institution, and through diverse communities of practice (SEDA, AI JISC, ILTA). Student testimonials include diverse perspectives, including the role of GenAI in creative and artistic integrity, neurodiversity, inclusion, learning in the disciplines, using GenAI study aids, teacher-student conversations around GenAI, student pressures and daily life, the perspective of international students, and the role of GenAI in assessment from the students’ perspective.
Outcomes
The podcast series was launched in April 2024 and is available on Spotify and Apple Podcasts. At the time of writing (October 2024) it had 1,067 plays and 94 followers in Spotify, with an international audience mostly from Ireland (49%), UK (39%), Canada and US. The age distribution of listeners is skewed towards the upper end of the scale, suggesting that the series is reaching mainly professionals, but approximately 20% of the audience is under 27 years of age.
Fig. 1: AI on Campus: Student Perspectives podcast – Spotify statistics on October 4th, 2024.
Reflections
The podcast has successfully initiated a meaningful dialogue between students and educators about the role of GenAI in education. The positive reception and engagement it has received prompts us to continue the dialogue, exploring new ways GenAI can be integrated into teaching, learning, and assessment practices, ethically and inclusively.
“Thank you so much for sharing this, a very genuine, relaxed and informative exchange of ideas.” Andrew Carte, Academic Support Officer, Malta Business School
“Just listened to the latest episode with Evan and it was excellent! Will be adding a link to the podcast to our Padlet resource for SEDA conference this week.” Sue Beckingham, Associate Professor, University of Sheffield.
“I highly recommend this series to everyone, really great stuff.” Stephen Gow, University of York.
“I commend the students and yourselves for the transparency of dialogue and knowledge sharing in a non-traditional reverse direction of the youth to the adult. As opposed to the intense fear and negativity of the mature students and teachers who interacted in the module, which to me indicated the inevitable awareness of an older generation facing their relevancy.” Sharmila Bano, Student, Business School, UL.
In our ongoing series, we have had the privilege of observing students as they seamlessly incorporate these powerful tools into their daily lives. Their strategies for maintaining a healthy lifestyle and cultivating meaningful relationships while excelling academically using GenAI have been truly enlightening.
However, it is not all smooth sailing. Students express concerns about the impact of GenAI on their educational journey and future employability. These candid conversations provide us with an opportunity to empathise with their perspectives and bridge the gap between “us” (the educators) and “them” (the students). By actively listening to their experiences, we can continue to refine and improve our teaching and assessment to better serve their educational journey.
Further Reading
Healey, M., Flint, A., & Harrington, K. (2016). Students as Partners: Reflections on a Conceptual Model. Teaching & Learning Inquiry: The ISSOTL Journal, 4 (2).
Laupichler, M. C., Aster, A., Schirch, J. and Raupach, T. (2022): Artificial intelligence literacy in higher and adult education: A scoping literature review. Computers and Education: Artificial Intelligence, 3.
Digital Resources
Link to Podcast series in Spotify and Apple Podcasts
Author Biographies
Dr Angélica Rísquez is a Lead Educational Developer (Learning Technologies and Learning Analytics Lead) at the Centre for Transformative Learning, UL. She has over 20 years’ experience in Higher Education, is a Senior Fellow SEDA and winner of the KBS Pedagogical Awards 2024 (UL) with the project ‘STELA Live: Learning Analytics for Student Success’. She teaches at postgraduate level in the Graduate Diploma in Teaching, Learning and Scholarship in UL, and the Masters in Career Guidance in UNED.
David Moloney is the Digital Skills Development Lead at the University of Limerick’s Centre for Transformative Learning (CTL). He develops and implements the ‘LevUL Up Digital Skills Hub‘ (DSH) on Brightspace, enhancing digital skills and capabilities for students and staff by providing access to a common framing informed by globally recognised frameworks, along with self-assessment tools, workshops, and online self-study lessons. David collaborates with various academic and professional services units to integrate digital skills into curricula across disciplines, often as part of assessed coursework.
Erin King, Learning Technologist and Lecturer in Finance, Department of Accounting and Finance, Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick.
Robert Dalton is the Senior Learning Technologist and Director of the Digital Hub in the Kemmy Business School, University of Limerick. Robert leads and project manages the expansion, development, implementation and delivery of digital educational technologies in line with the strategic aims of the Kemmy Business School and the University of Limerick. Robert also heads a team of learning technologists within the Kemmy Business School in providing support and direction to faculty and staff in the design, development and implementation of high quality, innovative, pedagogically robust learning environments.
