Original Message:
Sent: Jul 07, 2023 12:10 PM
From: Rebecca Funke
Subject: AI - pondering
Thanks, Steven. I love the idea of learning becoming more exciting and out of the box. I heard a statement a couple months ago that speaks to this point and I hope is where higher education is heading. Neil deGrasse Tyson was talking about the recent breakthrough in fusion energy and then was asked about AI and education; he said this: "I fear that schools value grades more than students value learning." He repeated it twice. The point he was getting at was that if students actually value learning, they will have no want to use AI to cheat on/complete assignments (when asked about this particular concern with AI). Have we, as a society, made the learning less valuable than the grade, the degree? Perhaps this is the revolution that needs to take place in academia – creating an environment where learning is again intriguing, engaging, experiential, practical, innovative, even fun (as well as challenging). I'm not saying we aren't doing some of this already, but can we create a way to really lean into this idea further?
As a librarian, and practically speaking, I'm also wondering what you and other might think, from a collections standpoint.
- How will we, if at all, know what has been ingested by AI? What can/can't be ingested – copyrighted works?
- Will it affect publishing? That is, will writers and/or publisher change what they produce/sell?
- Will libraries purchase/license material that will be ingested by AI?
- To what extent will AI become gatekeepers of information?
- Will libraries license AI in the future? For what purposes?
I don't have any answers but curious to what other might think.
Rebecca
Original Message:
Sent: 7/6/2023 2:30:00 PM
From: Steven Bell
Subject: RE: AI - pondering
Hi Rebecca.
That quote sounded familiar. It's item number 10 on this list of 17 Notes on Academic AI - and some are more obvious than others - but all lead to thought provoking possibilities.
David might be on to something with his interpretation.
I'm thinking this one has more to do with our mission to equip students with higher level critical thinking skills. Assuming students could use AI to generate content - that content would likely be generated from information that AI chatbots had already harvesting and can then use it to generate content. So whatever that content is, it's probably something that's already been written. So in a future world of AI, why would instructors focus on learning based on content students can easily get from AI chatbots. Instead - and I think this is the point of Note number 10 - is that future educators will want to have highly creative classrooms where students are exploring cutting edge ideas and concepts.
What would that look like....well - the things that are not yet known by AI because the chatbots haven't ingested it yet and can't regurgitate it to students. This note - if on point - would also bode well for open pedagogy becoming the rule rather than the exception in higher education. Future faculty will need to be adept at creating assignments and authentic learning activities that promote students taking more responsibility for sustainable content creation rather than being more sponges that absorb existing content provided by instructors.
That's the extent of my pondering on note number 10. Does it make any sense to you...or does it sound way off the mark? Can others build on this?
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Steven Bell
Associate University Librarian
Temple University Libraries
Original Message:
Sent: Jul 05, 2023 10:51 AM
From: Rebecca Funke
Subject: AI - pondering
Good morning,<o:p></o:p>
I'm reading a collection of AI articles from The Chronicle of Higher Education. I've run across this statement and it has me wondering about want it could mean for libraries:<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
- Higher education will be less about ensuring students know what they've read and more about ensuring they read what is not yet known by AI.<o:p></o:p>
<o:p> </o:p>
If you are so inclined to ponder this and offer your thoughts, I'd love to hear them. <o:p></o:p>
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Rebecca Funke
Director of Libraries
Des Moines Area Community College
she/her/hers
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