The incorporation of AI in Higher Education is not some distant future; it is already here. Internet searches use complex AI models to rank the most relevant content. AI writing and design support is built into standard tools such as Microsoft Word and PowerPoint. Services such as Grammarly, an AI typing assistant, can not only review spelling, punctuation, and grammar, but provide suggestions around clarity, engagement, tone, and style.
In late 2022 generative AI tools based on Large Language Models, such as ChatGPT, caught the attention of Higher Education professionals because of their generative nature. That is, they have the ability to generate coherent and fluent human-like text in response to an input prompt. Generative AI models are trained on a large dataset of existing data and then generate new, previously unseen data statistically based on the training data.
The primary concern for Higher Education that has arisen around generative AI is in regards to student assessment, but this has opened up a great many other, often deeper, questions about practices in higher education–and even the purpose of teaching in universities. There are no easy answers to these questions, but, like all HEIs, Durham have been working to guide and support students and staff in the journey to address these questions as generative AI and its uses evolve.
The following is a collection of resources that have been developed for University members, and in some cases the wider HE community, and further information on training and support.
Resources
- A student guide to generative AI (public)
- ChatGPT, Generative AI and Large Language Models in HE Learning & Teaching: Research, insights and resources (public)
- Generative AI in HE Learning & Teaching: Peer-reviewed publications (public)
- Briefing Paper on Generative Artificial Intelligence in Higher Education, March 2023 (internal)
- Guidance on Generative AI in Learning, Teaching and Assessment, March 2023 (internal)
- Guidance on writing a departmental Generative AI policy, December 2023 (internal)
- University policies (internal): Learning and Teaching Handbook 6.2.4.1 Academic Misconduct: Plagiarism (see sub-section 2); CIS Generative AI policy; Guidance on Generative AI in Research
Events
Queen’s University Belfast and Durham University Joint Symposium on Generative AI in Learning and Teaching, 11 September 2024: recordings and presentations (public)
Training and support for Durham University colleagues
- See Gen AI Workshops for upcoming hands-on sessions (term-time)
- See Teaching and Learning Workshops for pedagogy-focused sessions
- Contact the Learning Design Team for bespoke support