The TEU- Te Hautu Kahurangi - convened a conference on AI, with panels discussing a range of topics related to AI, Union support, and teaching and learning. Due to other work commitments, I am only able to attend two of the sessions and be part of the panel on Mana Mātauranga (power of knowledge).
There are sessions on Mana mahi - keeping decent work at the centre as AI reshapes tertiary education; Mana Taurite - exploring how AI can support equity and inclusion across tertiary education and Mana Taiao - ensuring AI in tertiary education aligns with climate action and environmental justice.
Notes taken from the sessions I was able to get to are below:
Seesion on Mana mahi - keeping decent work at the centre as AI reshapes tertiary education.
Dr Hansi Gunasinghe (Southern Institute of Technology). - Ai transforming education from administration to research. How can we balance innovation with dignity of work? Need to discuss the understanding of Gen AI and the human role. Went through principles of Gen AI - what it is, main types, applications. Shared the examples, opportunities and risks with Gen AI. AI can support teaching - tools help create lesson plans, quizzes, tutorials, and accessibility resources. Automation should support educators, not replace them. Shared research underway with students in China studying how to design a mobile application prototype using FIGMA. AI was used to create marking criteria with human evaluation from tutors. Automated evaluation undertaken using ChatGPT, Gemini, Copilot and compare these with human evaluations. Conclusions will derive time used, accuracy and the process. the next step is to integrate FIGMA prototype extraction tool and video creation. Ai is fast, scaloble, data drive. Humans are empathetic, ethical and contextual. A balance defines the dignity of work. Ran through current institutional policies on AI use for students, the policies for staff are still under development. Therefore, AI must be a support not as a 'supervisor'; ensure human oversight and co-design with educators and learners. Adopt transparent, open and ethical systems. Dignity in work means that humans lead. This needs to preserve profesisonal judgement and relational teaching. include Ai literacy and conultation in policy. Respect Te Ao Māori principles and protect workload fairness and AI should strengthen, not weaken, our human values.
Dr. Leon Salter (University of Auckland) - AI working group at UoA - summarised UoA approach, with his personal viewpoints. VC's forum and new action plan shows the university to be techno - optimistic. The action plan was prepared by ' the AI education advisory group' which did not consult with staff, unions and chaired by the Director of Learning and Teaching. The document mentions risks and guiding principles at the start but never mentioned again in the rest of the 10 pages! In general, to exhort staff to integrate AI into teaching and learning. Offers 'carrots' to encourage AI integration with underlying disparaging of reluctant staff as 'dino-professors'. A AI working group formed which is open to all TEU members to provide critical feedback on the university's direction and be a support group. Summarised work of Dan McQuillan on 'resisting AI - an anti-fascist approach to AI'. Shared the findings from a TEU survey of university staff to find out about their perspectives on university policy and communications on AI and usage of AI in workplace. Overall sentiment of discontent - generally dissatisfaction with leaderships communication and policy. Open to sharing perspectives from others running similar groups, and keen to connect.
Session on Mana Tiriti.- navigating the relationship between AI, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the future of tertiary education
On the panel are Brendon Shaw from Papatoeotoe North School, Dr. Kevin Shedlock from Victoria University Wellington, Olivier Jutel (University of Otago) and Warwick Tie (Massey University).
Brendon presented on 'He whānaungatanga Tīmatanga: AI and Te Tiriti o Waitangi in our schools'. He teaches at a primary school but is also a PhD studenta at University of Waikato. Went through the ways principles of Te Tiriti are enacted in schools with respect to AI. With Partnerships - Māori need to be involved in the co-design of the AI lifecycle from data to deployment. True partnership means Māori are present in the creation of AI systems, not just assessing outputs. Māori-led initiatives like Te Hiku Media exemplify bicultural AI governance. Participation means removing the barriers to access the technology. Work needs to be undertaken on the digital divide and equitable solutions. The CoVID pandemic showed how Māori are on the wrong side of both the digital divide and equity and these need to be addressed. Protection includes being cognisant of safe guarding Taonga and identity, as expects of data sovereignty need to be culturally relevant. Data still biased and created images based on these.
Kevin's topic was 'navigating the relationship between AI, Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and the future of tertiary education. Covered Te Tiriti when creating digital AI artifacts; indigenous Māori knowledge that resides in these; and the digital artifact. Ai in tertiary education can be envisaged as being a conduit where both indigenous and western research paradigms are able to reside in search of new knowledge within the Tiriti. This is challenge as there are not enough people on the ground to support the indigenous side. Challenges also include digital inequalities, unequal access to heritage, power imbalances in defining narratives, data ownership and digital ethics, lack of adequate infrastructure and environment pressures and sustainable issues. So what is good vs bad Māori data?? Difficult questions requiring deep understanding and immersion, not just to tick the box. Indigenous Māori knowledge in artifacts needs to go beyond the surface. There are no protocols for where Māori knowledge resides and therefore its expression in data is different, its needs to have the correct framing, be build on relationships and thrive through engagement, not as a piece of digital artifact. Check with work of Shedlock,R. and Hudson, P (2022) - use of Mātauranga clearly organised Advocates for reciprocal and respectful AI. Requires good understanding of the problem; trusted relationships and mutual agreement to reach consent.
Oliver - we are not able to build Mātuaranga Māori onto the existing western techno-centric AI model. Spoke on 'AGI and the PE of AI'. Ran briefly through the ideological history of AI - George Boole, Marvin Minsky and ELIZA as the foundation of the western technocratic understanding and roots of AI. Shifted to the current day, with perspectives on AI from Musk, Altman. Book by David Noble 'The religion of Technology recommended. Connects religion and AI marketing. Detailed how AI is overblown with not much making sense with regard to AI possibilities for making money. AI must not be thought of in 'god-like' terms but challenged to make contributions to the wider society.
Session on Mana Mātauranga - harnessing AI to strengthen teaching, learning and research, and uphold public tertiary education.
With me on this panel are Dr. Shahper Richter (University of Auckland), Dr. Warwick Tie (Massey University) and Traci Meek-Reid (Southern Institute of Technology) who facilitates the session.
I begin the session with an overview of the AI@Ara projects. Summarising their overall objectives, pedagogical underpinnings and implications on the work of tertiary educators. Details of these the two main projects are now published in the book - AI in vocational education and training; and the Ako Aotearoa report on 'AI to support foundation/bridging learners'. It is important to undertake good learning design so that AI does not replace the 'learning activities' required for learning and teachers role is well defined.
Warwick presents on "upping our game" - shared the themes from his course on AI. AI's relation to language through speech acts, discursive formations and the discursive. Ai in the discursive can be envisaged as AI as the 'public unconscious' and suffers no anxiety! AI does not use language, but redefines how we understand, teach and use it. Ai is a player in the linguistic landscape. In his course, how can we do more with words (upping our game). Therefore to view AI as static (postivism); AI in movement (dialectics); Ai as a discursive construct (discourse analysis). Showed matrix on how each of these affected by AI across various social categories. Discussed the assignment - asked students to use the Gen AI to write a 1000 word essay on what needs to be asked and then analyse what the bot has provided (1500 words). Is the AI approaching from the positivist, dialectical or discursive approach?? AI agents can only deal with what it can see, but not it cannot. It can discuss the doughnut but not the hole in the middle :)
Shahper continues with discussion on Warwick's assessment approach. The session moves into a discussion on AI in teaching and learning and the various ways assessments can be shifted to include AI or be used to learn the limitations of AI. The conversation moved to what AI to use and when it can be used. Assessment standards are not much higher as the assumption will be that students have access to AI and will use them. Digital equity discussed as the challenges are different across the sectors.
Dr Julie Douglas TEU Te Tumu Whakarae (National Co-President - Tiriti) facilitates the last session for each of the facilitators through the day, summarises the sessions they have chaired.
All in, good discussion, with many perspectives from across education sectors, on the opportunities, challenges, implications and promises of AI in education. The advantage of the discussions is the focus on being critical educators, leading the integration of AI into education. We must actively contribute to the policies and conversations around AI, providing a voice for educators and learners.
The conference closed with the reading of the TEU karakia.
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