Eline and Hannah helped develop a student module on the responsible use of GenAI
What can you ask ChatGPT and what shouldn’t you? Master’s students Hannah Thaens and Eline Balster helped develop a module to guide students in the responsible use of AI. ‘Background knowledge helps you make responsible choices.’
FGW has had a module to guide students on AI use since 2022, ‘but the subject is changing so rapidly that the guide needed to be expanded,’ says Eline. ‘We’ve added three new chapters.’ In addition to information on academic integrity, machine translation and plagiarism, the module now also includes a chart of all kinds of available AI tools, a chapter on creativity, information on the ecological impact of GenAI and a bibliography.
‘We don’t want to tell students what they can and can’t do,’ emphasises Hannah, ‘but starting university can be quite overwhelming. Everything is new. So it’s helpful to have clarity right from the start about why you’re studying a particular course and how AI fits into that picture.’
Background information
To enable students to make informed choices independently, the module contains a wealth of background information on AI. ‘On our map, every AI tool has a profile with a short description,’ Hannah explains. ‘It tells you what you can use it for, as well as where it was developed and what its pros and cons are. It was my job to translate all those descriptions.’ She also had to make her own judgements regarding her use of AI. ‘I ended up using DeepL to speed up the process, but I found that I still had to check everything thoroughly, because that tool didn’t understand every sentence.’
Expanding database
‘It was a real eye-opener for me too to see just how many tools there are,’ adds Eline. ‘In the West, we’re mainly familiar with ChatGPT and Copilot, but in China there are giants generating just as much revenue, whilst Russia has nothing that’s used outside the country. I found that very interesting from a geopolitical perspective.’
For anyone who shares Eline’s interest in the background of AI, she has created a reading list. ‘I discovered so many interesting articles on AI that I couldn’t fit directly into the module, so we decided to collect them in a reading list,’ she explains. ‘In this way, we’ve created a database to which people can submit their articles. This allows us to keep the growing body of knowledge accessible.’
Educational consultant Annebeth Simonsz coordinated the development of the module. ‘The online e-learning module is the result of a joint effort by lecturers, students and support staff within the faculty,’ says Simonsz. ‘I am very proud of this collaboration, which ensures the quality of the module and the knowledge conveyed about GenAI.’
LLInC is involved in developing support and training for lecturers to implement the module in other faculties. ICT and Education Adviser Judith Vels of LLInC adds: ‘I hope that all faculties will embrace the humanities’ AI literacy module, so that we can draw on each other’s strengths to reinforce one another.’
The GenAI module will form part of the university’s Skill’ed project. A Grassfields grant may enable the module to be rolled out across the university.