Seminar Explores Importance of Engaging AI Effectively

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Decoding Artificial Intelligence Education: Dissecting Learning to Engage Artificial Intelligence Effectively, was the title of an interactive seminar hosted by UKZN’s Teaching and Learning Office in collaboration with the School of Education.

Held on the Edgewood campus, the seminar was facilitated by Professor Jin Kuwata, a lecturer in the Communication, Media, and Learning Technologies Design Programme at Teachers College, Columbia University in New York. The seminar focused on developing meaningful and challenging learning scenarios through exploring specialised prompts in Artificial Intelligence (AI) interactions.

Kuwata demonstrated how machine learning involves training algorithms that recognise patterns through supervised and unsupervised learning as well as reinforcements. Using ChatGPT as an example, he argued that AI did not have memory typical of platforms like Google, but rather generated information on the fly or in real time based on what it had learned and what the likely human response would be.

Questioning the value of learning since the establishment of AI, he said: ‘If we are using AI merely to finish tasks, it is of little value. But, if we are using AI to understand the process of how to formulate better tasks, that provides an opportunity for deep learning.’

Kuwata gave ChatGPT various instructions to better his own example of poetry, learning how to hone the skill of poetry writing. He said the same thinking could be applied when encouraging students to learn from AI, by challenging them to ask meaningful questions and assessing their process of engagement with machine learning.

Noting how ChatGPT answers could be made more refined, Kuwata said that it all came down to how the prompts were shaped. Imploring individuals to explore the AI platform, he said: ‘Play with it to find out what kind of prompts create parameters for it to become more attuned to what your attention is on.’

In the Q&A session, UKZN instructional designers engaged with Kuwata asking questions and sharing their experiences of the platform in their field of design. Dr Reginald Govender, from the School of Education also questioned how the use of AI could be incorporated into Higher Education through guided learning, expanding the students’ knowledge of the platform.

Kuwata ended the session by thanking participants and encouraging them ‘to use the platform to see how it applies to your work and the surprises it has in store for you because that is the conversation that I hope everyone is a part of.’

Words: Hlengiwe Khwela

Photograph: Albert Hirasen