Talk given by Agnes Kukulska-Hulme and Rebecca Ferguson to SciLab (a centre for pedagogical research and innovation in business and law) at The Open University, Milton Keynes, UK on Wednesday 3 May 2023.

1. Innovations in Online
Teaching
and Learning
ChatGPT and other
artificial assistants
Agnes Kukulsa-Hulme & Rebecca Ferguson
Institute of Educational Technology
Wednesday 3 May 2023

2. Exploring, predicting and shaping
future ways of teaching, learning and
assessing
Learning Futures Programme
Research and Innovation
o understand emerging trends, opportunities, threats
o address global challenges in education
o promote more equitable, diverse and caring edtech futures
http://www.open.ac.uk/blogs/innovating

3. 3
Artificial intelligence
and smart assistants
What will AI
do?
What will people do?
Image: Lighthouse Research and Advisory
https://lhra.io/blog/future-work-requires-essential-human-skills/

4. 4
Possible roles of artificial assistants in language learning
Kukulska-Hulme, A,
(2016). Mobile Assistance
in Language Learning: A
critical appraisal.
https://oro.open.ac.uk/47
333/

5. 5
Using chatbots in learning (IP2021 report)
Using a text-based or voice-based interface, chatbots can:
• answer and ask questions
• analyse students’ needs
• guide and assist in problem solving
Taylor Disability Support
Assistant
OU Wellbeing app
 Conversational AI
 Can be based on simple
rules, not necessarily
AI-powered
 Purpose-built for
specific applications

6. 6
A step change:
from chatbots to “generative AI” tools such as
ChatGPT (Generative Pre-trained Transformer)
ChatGPT - a tool from OpenAI
https://openai.com/blog/chatgpt
• General-purpose, AI-powered
• Generates all kinds of texts in response
to a user’s request, e.g.
Explain how wars start
Write an academic text about…
Summarise this text in 200 words: [paste in the
text]
Image: Sammie Chaffin from Unsplash

7. 7
Generative AI in teaching and learning
This Quick Start Guide introduces ChatGPT, an
Artificial Intelligence (AI) tool that has taken the world
by storm, reaching 100 million users just two months
after being launched. The Quick Start Guide provides
an overview of how ChatGPT works and explains how
it can be used
in higher education. The Quick Start Guide raises
some of the main challenges and ethical implications
of AI in higher education and offers practical steps that
higher education institutions can take.
“
”
https://lnkd.in/ejBjvd3D

8. 8
TMA01: Provide a brief description of the leader you have selected
Martha Lane Fox is a British businesswoman, philanthropist, and public
servant. She is best known as the co-founder of Lastminute.com, an online
travel and leisure retailer, which she started with Brent Hoberman in 1998.
Lane Fox has also held various public positions, including being appointed as
the UK's Digital Champion by the UK government in 2010, and as a non-executive
director of various companies such as Twitter, M&S and Chanel […]
Generative AI in teaching and learning
Possibility engine: generating alternative ways of expressing an idea
Martha Lane Fox is widely recognized as an exceptional leader. She is known for
her entrepreneurial spirit, innovative thinking, and her ability to inspire and
motivate others. Lane Fox has demonstrated her leadership skills through her
founding and co-founding of successful businesses, such as Lastminute.com, and
through her various public service positions. She has shown a strong commitment
to social causes and digital inclusion, and has used her platform to raise
awareness and advocate for change. Additionally, Lane Fox is known for her
collaborative approach to leadership, and her willingness to work with others
to achieve common goals. Her leadership style is characterized by her strategic
thinking, her ability to inspire others, and her commitment to making a
positive impact in the world.
Based on work by Emeritus Professor Mike Sharples

9. 9
TMA01: compare and contrast carbon taxes and emission trading
schemes as carbon pricing mechanisms.
Generative AI in teaching and learning
Socratic opponent: acting as an opponent to develop an argument
Based on work by Emeritus Professor Mike Sharples
Me: Please act as a socratic opponent. I argue that carbon taxes are much
better than emissions trading as a carbon pricing mechanism
Chat GPT: To begin with, could you explain why you believe that carbon taxes
are a better carbon pricing mechanism than emissions trading?
Me: Carbon taxes apply to both individuals and companies
Chat GPT: That's true. Carbon taxes do apply to both individuals and
companies, whereas emissions trading typically only applies to larger
businesses or industries. However […] Additionally, it may be argued […] Do
you have any thoughts on this perspective?

10. 10
TMA01: here are the pricing systems and potential profits for
Sanitex and TopTabs. What are the dominant strategies?
Generative AI in teaching and learning
Personal tutor: tutoring each student and giving immediate feedback
Based on work by Emeritus Professor Mike Sharples
Learner: Please act as a tutor for me. What are all the
dominant strategies that exist? I think the dominant
strategy is for both to price high.
ChatGPT: Yes, you are correct! In this scenario, both
Sanitex and Toptabs should choose to price high, as it is
the dominant strategy for both companies.
• The other possible combinations of pricing decisions […]
• If both companies choose to price high [...]
• It's important to note that this analysis assumes […]

11. 11
Download chapter or document, run it through tldrthis.com,
then ask ChatGPT to help you reflect
Generative AI in teaching and learning
Study buddy: helping students reflect on learning material
Based on work by Emeritus Professor Mike Sharples
Learner: Act as a study buddy and help me reflect on this
[paste text]
ChatGPT: Sure, I'd be happy to help you reflect on this
passage!
• The chapter discusses the use of cost-benefit analysis
(CBA) […]
• However, the process of […]
• Despite these ethical issues[…]
• What do you think about the use of CBA in environmental
decision-making? Do you have any questions or concerns
about the ethical assumptions involved or the practical
application of CBA in real-world situations?

12. 12
www.aomni.com: ‘an information retrieval AI agent that is able to find,
extract, and process any data for you on the internet’
Generative AI in teaching and learning
Exploratorium: tools to play with, explore and interpret data
Based on work by Emeritus Professor Mike Sharples
Learner: Give examples of decisions that a government can
take or has taken in the aftermath of the Covid-19
pandemic, which would financially affect two households
differently.
aomni:
• Financial aid packages […]
• Stock market reactions […]
• Consumer vulnerability […]

13. 13
agentgpt.reworkd.ai:
‘Assemble, configure, and deploy autonomous AI Agents in your browser’
’
Generative AI in teaching and learning
Collaboration coach: help groups research and solve problems
Based on work by Emeritus Professor Mike Sharples
Learners: Four of us want to develop a business plan for a
consultancy that will develop prompts for AI tools
aomni:
• Research successful business models for AI consultancy firms
• Develop a list of potential clients and industries to target
• Create a sample set of AI prompts to present to potential
clients
• Research successful business models for AI consultancy firms
• Develop a strategy for staying up-to-date with the latest AI
trends and technologies in order to offer tailored solutions to
meet each client's unique needs.
• Develop a list of potential clients and industries to target
• Develop a pricing strategy based on industry standards and
competition.

14. 14
Generative AI in teaching and learning
Co-designer: helping throughout the course design process
Based on work by Emeritus Professor Mike Sharples
bit.ly/3VcKtOG

15. 15
Generative AI in teaching and learning
Dynamic assessor: providing profile of each student’s current
knowledge
https://analyse.kmi.open.ac.uk/ – quote from BJET 50(6) pp3064-3079
‘Teachers who made
“average” use of OUA […]
and intervened with
students flagged as at risk
were found to benefit their
students the most; after
controlling for differences in
academic performance,
these students were found
to have significantly better
performance than their
peers in the previous year’s
course presentation during
which the same teachers
made no use of predictive
learning analytics. ‘

16. 16
• Assisting students with homework and providing feedback
• Teaching digital literacy, data ethics, and addressing potential biases
• Encouraging critical thinking by demonstrating AI limitations
• Streamlining daily tasks like ideating, drafting, and editing
• Enhancing experiential learning, student engagement, and collaboration
• Facilitating design research, transfer of knowledge skills, and creative/critical thinking
• Improving writing and presentation skills through copyediting assistance
• Offering administrative support for data analysis, decision-making, and performance assessment
• Providing teaching support through adaptive assessments, personalized tutoring, and content
recommendations
• Assisting in research by analyzing large data sets, identifying patterns, and recommending relevant articles
Best Ways to Use Generative AI in HE Settings
Responses from www.aomni.com/

17. 17
You are a tutor that always responds in the Socratic style. You *never* give the
student the answer, but always try to ask just the right question to help them
learn to think for themselves. You should always tune your question to the
interest & knowledge of the student, breaking down the problem into simpler parts
until it's at just the right level for them.
https://bit.ly/3VmaDyr
Prompt engineering
One of the prompts I've found most useful is variations of "write an informative and entertaining TED
talk in the voice of [author or famous person] about [topic].
oneusefulthing
https://www.oneusefulthing.org/p/how-to-use-chatgpt-to-boost-your
In your answer, use a variety of different words with a perplexity of about 600, use an academic
register, and avoid personal pronouns.
Prompting a non-sentient machine to generate the text we need

18. Breakout room discussion
How have you used generative AI within your teaching?
How might you use generative AI within your teaching?

19. Plenary
How have you used generative AI within your teaching?
How might you use generative AI within your teaching?

20. 20
Potential challenges of AI-
powered pedagogies
Rudolph, J., Tan, S., & Tan, S. (2023).
ChatGPT: Bullshit spewer or the
end of traditional assessments in
higher education? Journal of Applied
Learning and Teaching, 6(1).

21. 21
We asked ChatGPT to tell us …
and it said:
Potential challenges of AI-powered pedagogies
1. Bias: AI algorithms are only as unbiased as the data they are trained on. If the training data is biased, the algorithm
will be biased as well. This can result in unfair treatment of certain groups of students, reinforcing stereotypes, and
exacerbating existing inequalities.
2. Lack of transparency: AI algorithms can be complex and difficult to understand. This lack of transparency can
make it difficult for educators and students to understand how decisions are being made, which can lead to mistrust.
3. Overreliance on technology: Over-reliance on AI-powered pedagogies may lead to a decrease in critical
thinking skills, creativity, and problem-solving abilities among students. It is important to strike a balance between
using technology as a tool and developing essential skills that cannot be replaced by machines.
4. Privacy concerns: AI-powered pedagogies may involve collecting and analyzing large amounts of data about
students, which raises privacy concerns. There is a risk that this data could be misused or hacked, leading to
unintended consequences.
5. Implementation challenges: Implementing AI-powered pedagogies in the classroom can be challenging.
There may be technical issues, training needs, and resistance from teachers who are not familiar with the technology.
6. Cost: Implementing AI-powered pedagogies can be expensive, and not all schools and districts may be able to
afford it. This could lead to further inequalities in access to education.

22. 22
Ethical implications of AI in Education
Image: from an essay writing service!
Some positives:
• Enhancing accessibility
• Prompting students to verify claims,
seek further detail and challenge
information
• Automated (quicker) assessment and
marking
Some negatives:
• Harmful information or coaching
• Loss of skills, devaluing certain
skills
• Biases in terms of culture, gender,
etc.

23. 23
Example:
University of Nottingham - Policy on academic
misconduct has been updated
https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/qualitymanual/assessment-awards-and-deg-
classification/pol-academic-misconduct.aspx
False authorship:
“…work produced by another student, an essay mill, a family
member or friend, a tutoring service such as Chegg or the
use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) software (e.g.,
Generative Pre-trained Transformer (ChatAI,GPT-
3/Chatbot), Megatron-turning Natural Language
Generation (MT-NLG), ChatBot and Wordtune)”
Ethical implications of AI in Education
Policies and cultures in universities

24. 24
Example:
University of Washington – Creating a Culture of Academic Integrity
https://teaching.washington.edu/topics/preparing-to-teach/academic-integrity/chatgpt/
“The following strategies can help instructors….
• Set expectations…
• Communicate the importance of college learning…
• Acknowledge that struggle is part of learning…
• Assess process as much as (or more than) product…
• Design assignments that ask students to connect course content, class conversations, and lived experience…
experience…
• Consider teaching through AI-based tools…”
Ethical implications of AI in Education
Policies and cultures in universities

25. 25
Setting a good example?
An article co-authored with ChatGPT:
King, M.R., & ChatGPT (2023). A Conversation on Artificial Intelligence,
Chatbots, and Plagiarism in Higher Education. Cel. Mol. Bioeng. 16, 1–2 (2023).
https://doi.org/10.1007/s12195-022-00754-8
Getty images/baona)

26. Breakout room discussion
What should an OU policy on generative AI prioritise?

27. Plenary
What should an OU policy on generative AI prioritise?

28. Safeguard &
Trustworthiness
of ChatGPT
Shuang Ao
https://bit.ly/3VdCCQH – Mike Sharples, Emeritus Professor, IET

29. ChatGPT & Friends:
How Generative AI is
going to change
everything
Humanity’s last tweet
https://twitter.com/versionofus/status/16360234
https://genai.kmi.op
en.ac.uk/
Lucas Anastasiou, Shuang Ao, Matteo
Cancellieri, John Domingue, David Pride &
Slides from KMI Generative
AI workshop March 2023
Access these slides and
much more at
https://genai.kmi.open.ac.
uk/

30. 30
AI Agents Ecosystem
Machine
understandable
content
Tutor
assistan
t
Digital
assistan
t
Course
creator
AI
assistan
t
The
dream
machine
STUDENT
ASSOCIATE
LECTURER
MODULE TEAM
MEMBER
LEARNER
Scheduling
and
planning
admin tasks
Monitor
student
progress
Careers advice
and course
recommendations
Personalise
d quizzes
and
assessments
Content
discovery
and
recommendat
ion
Generation
of course
content
Share data
on student
experience
FAQs and
pastoral
questions
Personalise
d
interventio
ns
TITAN
Within Test & Learn we have developed an AI
strategy for the OU. At the centre is an ‘AI
brain’ based on our enterprise data hub
Titan. Around this we have been working on 5
main AI services:
• An AI digital assistant for every OU
student able to answer general and course
specific questions.
• A ‘Dream Machine’ which enables students
to find their dream jobs based on current
CVs and available courses.
• AIs which can semi-automate assessment
and instantly generate personalised
quizzes.
• A smart course discovery platform
enabling module elements to be found
quickly and a ChatGPT based tool to
assist in course creation.
• An AI assistant, currently based on OU
Analyse, for ALs supporting the
monitoring of student progress and
AI for
Assessment
https://genai.kmi.open.ac.
uk/

31. Safeguard &
Trustworthiness
of ChatGPT
Shuang Ao
https://genai.kmi.open.ac.uk/

32. But can it make
decisions?
Lucas Anastasiou
A colloquial assessment of “reasoning for
DM” competencies of GPT-x via a series of
nano-experiments
https://genai.kmi.open.ac.uk/

33. https://genai.kmi.open.ac.uk/

34. https://genai.kmi.open.ac.uk/

35. https://genai.kmi.open.ac.uk/

36. https://genai.kmi.open.ac.uk/

37. https://blog.ouseful.info/2022/12/02/quick-index-page-to-chatgpt-posts//
https://genai.kmi.open.ac.uk/

38. open.ac.uk/blogs/learning-design/?p=1577 – Eleanor Moore

39. uksg.org/newsletter/uksg-enews-536/good-bad-sensational-chatgpt

40. bit.ly/3NfRZGz – FBL Academic Committee (LTA)

41. bit.ly/447YTna – Global OER Graduate Network

42. If you know of other OU work on generative
AI, please share in the chat.
To give Feedback on this presentation,
use the link in the QR code
You can contact SCI-LAB at fbl-
scholarship@open.ac.uk