Dr Julia CHEN, Department of English and Communication

Generative AI and the way forward for higher education: Immediate and longer-term considerations. Beijing Forum 2023. Beijing Forum, China, 3-5 November 2023.

Abstract
The rise of Generative AI (GenAI) has upended tertiary education, prompting higher education institutions (HEIs) worldwide to develop immediated measures, including formulating policies and guidelines regarding the use of GenAI in curriculum design, learning, teaching and assessment. In the longer term, the whole concept of learning in the higher education sector awaits redefining. In response to this, many HEIs have turned from resisting to accepting and embracing GenAI, and realised the importance of enhancing the digital competency of staff and students. Attempts are made to leverage GenAI as assistive technology in pre-, post-, and in-lesson learning tasks. Some academics are exploring the development of intelligent tutoring systems to offer students a more tailored, personalised experience, accelerating the learning of high achievers and benefiting learners who require additional support. While students may be encouraged to incorporate GenAI in their learning, its potentially unconstrained use in assessment poses unprecedented challenges. Many HEIs are redesigning assessments to reduce opportunities for plagiarising GenAI output. Revisions range from adding more in-class assessment where internet access is prohibited, to requiring the use of GenAI in the assessment process, to a total assessment makeover and revamp so that students can use any available GenAI and still have to rely on themselves to complete the assessment. With GenAI-driven assessment transformation comes consequential changes to assessment rubrics and descriptors, and necessary reconsiderations of intended learning outcomes.

Indeed, the availability of GenAI as a one-stop-shop that students readily consult for a myriad of purposes – a thinking partner to supplement their cognitive energy, a sounding board to explore ideas, a surrogate tutor for missed lessons, a multimodal content creator for assessments, and an all-powerful search engine for any query in life – necessitates in the longer term, if not soon, a rethink of learning, and the role, value and future of HEIs and educators.

This presentation offers a discussion of the changing landscape of learning and assessment in the age of GenAI with some concrete examples of ways learning and assessment tasks are undergoing transformation.