Navigating AI in Higher Education: Multiple Perspectives from Policy to Practice

Education is continuously in a state of flux within the wider context of globally-accelerated change. The undeniable increasing reach of Artificial Intelligence (AI) has had a huge impact on higher education. While the use of AI-mediated technologies has revolutionised higher education, it also poses significant challenges that raise ethical, epistemic, and academic integrity concerns. This panel examines the complex nature of AI and proposes that discourses about the AI-mediated higher education landscape at the grassroots level requires rethinking of AI as either a delineated technology or just another technological innovation to enhance teaching and learning. Instead, it should be understood as a complex system that requires in-depth understanding, informed planning, and agile integration into the curriculum.

This panel also addresses issues of accountability, shifting authority and agency, as well as the ethical issues surrounding the use of AI in higher education. It will provide some insight into how AI-mediated technologies are understood and currently used in higher education. The discussion also provides a platform for scrutinising the role of AI in higher education from multiple perspectives, specifically policy makers, educational leaders, and practitioners/educators. The panel will also shed light on how policy makers, educational leaders, and practitioners/educators collaborate to safeguard the responsible and appropriate use of AI technologies in higher education. It is envisioned that this panel discussion will serve as a catalyst for further discussion on a more refined understanding of AI as a tool that facilitates learning through the augmentation of human cognition and AI hybrid, promoting a more critical, well-balanced position on the potential and challenges of integrating AI in the real world of practice. This discourse will have significant implications for higher education due to its shaping policy and practice on the appropriate use of AI at the grassroots level.

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Panellists Susie Kung, Kylie Smith (Manukau Institute of Technology, New Zealand), Karin Avnit (Singapore Institute of Technology, Singapore), and Fiona Westbrook (Auckland University of Technology, New Zealand) speak at The 16th Asian Conference on Education (ACE2024) in Tokyo, Japan.

The 16th Asian Conference on Education (ACE2024)
https://ace.iafor.org

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About IAFOR
Founded in 2009, The International Academic Forum (IAFOR) is a mission-driven politically independent non-partisan and non-profit organisation dedicated to encouraging interdisciplinary discussion, facilitating intercultural awareness and promoting international exchange, principally through educational interaction and academic research.

Through its international, intercultural and interdisciplinary conferences, research, and publications, IAFOR is a network hub for interdisciplinary discussion across Asia and beyond, connecting individuals and institutions across the globe, and the thought leaders of today with those of tomorrow.