Objective
Since the debut of ChatGPT in late 2022, there has been considerable discussion about the impact of generative AI on humanity. Universities, too, are inevitably affected in their educational, research, and operational domains, with both positive and negative implications becoming widely recognized. Generative AI holds potential to streamline education through tasks like creating teaching materials, and it might raise or deepen students’ learning outcomes with AI-assisted learning. However, concerns about cheating and the difficulty of detecting it are also prevalent. Educators may still be teaching and assessing as before, while students might be approaching their learning and assignments differently. In some cases, AI could enhance learning goals; in others, over-reliance might reduce students’ efforts and learning experiences, risking diminished motivation and satisfaction. The long-term impacts remain unknown.
In the initial period after ChatGPT’s release, many instructors discussed these concerns in various settings. Now, two years later, the extent to which individual instructors at the University of Tokyo have integrated AI into their classes, communicated about AI use to students, and adapted their preparations or evaluations, remains largely unshared. Thus, this symposium and workshop aims to facilitate on-the-ground information sharing and discussion among UTokyo faculty members, exploring how generative AI is affecting education.
In the first part (the symposium, open to all), Associate Professor Koji Yatani (School of Engineering) will discuss nurturing higher-order thinking skills alongside generative AI. Additionally, a group of Executive Vice Presidents and Advisors to the President, who planned this workshop, will share insights from both domestic and international surveys on this topic. The workshop in the second half is intended as a candid discussion specifically for UTokyo faculty and staff.
Program Details
- Date: Friday, December 20, 2024, 13:00–16:00
- Location: Online (Zoom)
- Symposium (First Half): (13:00–14:00) Open to all
- Special Lecture by Associate Professor Koji Yatani (Graduate School of Engineering): “What Do People Feel When Working with Generative AI? --- Perspectives from Human-AI Interaction Research” (in English)
- Report by Organizing Committee, Presented by Professor Toshihiko Yamazaki (Graduate School of Information Science and Technology): “Trends and Cases from Japan and Overseas”
- Workshop (Second Half): (14:00–16:00) For UTokyo faculty and staff only
- Breakout Room Discussions: Group discussions categorized by courses being taught (subjects and formats); further details below
- Group Presentations and Shared Opinions: Summary of breakout room discussions with the full group and a broader discussion; further details below
About the Workshop (Second Half)
Amid a multitude of symposia on generative AI, this event is unique in its focus on practical information sharing across disciplines, enhancing educational content and goals in light of AI’s presence. Held exclusively for UTokyo faculty and staff to enable open dialogue, this workshop intends to discuss topics including but not limited to the following:
- Classroom Practices by Field: Examples of using generative AI across various disciplines and teaching formats, including potential improvements
- Boundaries of AI Use: Determining when instructors allow or ban the use of generative AI
- Communicating with Students: How to communicate or explain the use of AI to students
- AI-resistant assignments: Crafting assignments that are difficult for AI and/or a measure against cheating
- Educational Goals: Rethinking educational goals in each field, given the presence of generative AI
- Short-Term Institutional Initiatives: Recommendations for enhancing the learning environment and setting guidelines
- Long-Term Institutional Initiatives: Areas for the university and departments to address regarding long-term AI impacts on education
This symposium and workshop aim not only to impart knowledge but also to foster an environment for shared experiences and teaching methods among educators teaching similar students, classes, and challenges. The ultimate goal is to reconsider educational approaches surrounding generative AI and discover new guidance.
Registration
- Please register through the event registration page.
- You can register at any time before the event, but to group participants in advance, please register by December 2 (Monday) if possible. You can register and participate in the workshop after that, but we appreciate your cooperation to register early.
- Contact: Information Systems Support Group, Information Systems Department
- Email: systemshien.adm@gs.mail.u-tokyo.ac.jp
Opinion Poll on Generative AI (anonymous voting)
To roughly gain participants’ opinion, we set up a voting site provided by https://pol.is/ system. When you go to the web link below, 27 statements show up and you can anonymously vote “agree”, “disagree”, or “don’t know” to each statement. We will present the results at the workshop. Those who do not participate can vote, too. The link to the site is : https://pol.is/5fthebfuue
Message from the Organizing Committee
- Education is based on the interaction between “learning” and “teaching”. In this process, both the “learners” and the “teachers” learn something. The aim of this workshop is to understand the current state of generative AI and education from the perspective of the “teachers”. The aim is to share the “learning” that the “teachers” can acquire, or have acquired, from their experiences of “teaching” with AI, or despite AI. --- Takumi Moriyama (Executive Vice President, Graduate School of Arts and Sciences)
- Generative AI is evolving at high speed. While generative AI is useful, it is also prone to errors and biases that can lead to bad situations depending on how it is used. We are now in a situation where we have to think about and devise ways to utilize it based on the assumption that each individual is using it in the educational field. This symposium and workshop will provide an opportunity to share these concerns and gain new insights. We hope you will join us. --- Yasushi Asami (Executive Director and Vice President, Graduate School of Engineering)
- Regarding my courses (on computer science), I thought about various things in the beginning but ended up in largely the same place, giving assignments ‘not meaningful to outsource to AI’ or ‘not solvable by AI (or so I thought).’ However, it’s hard to grasp what has been happening on the student side. I welcome all faculty members teaching the same UTokyo students regardless of whether you have specific approaches or views on generative AI, and I hope this workshop will allow for candid discussions among us. I look forward to exchanging ideas with participating faculty. Please consider joining this event to spark discussions within and across departments, with instructors in similar or different fields. --- Kenjiro Taura (Executive Director and Vice President, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology)
- While we are continually learning about the benefits and challenges of generative AI from a research perspective, we encounter various difficulties when introducing it into the educational field. To what extent should we permit students to use generative AI? Is its use enhancing or diminishing students’ abilities? This event offers an opportunity to share practical insights, enabling faculty and staff to freely discuss their daily concerns in the field of education --- Toko Tanaka (Advisor to the President, Interfaculty Initiative in Information Studies)
- Up to recently, borrowing other people’s hand in education has been considered as “cheating,” but the advent of generative AI enabled students to borrow artificial others’ hands, very easily and even without getting noticed. This situation can be a paradigm shift of education and evaluation of students’ ability. On the other hand, we can effectively and efficiently process a lot more information than before. Research or even society would not go without generative AIs. In this workshop, we will learn how we should incorporate this new technology in our education and research from a variety of perspectives from many scientific disciplines. --- Takahiro Higashi (Advisor to the President, Graduate School of Medicine)
- Many professors are probably wondering how to deal with “tasks that beginners should not use generative AI for” while using generative AI themselves. For example, I am concerned about 1) the issue of programming education: the problem that beginners’ over-reliance on generative AI prevents them from developing sufficient debugging skills, and 2) the issue of training graduate students’ English reading comprehension skills: the problem that relying on generative AI during the paper survey stage prevents them from developing sufficient English reading comprehension skills. We hope to create a place where we can share the concerns of professors at the frontline level and gain some hints. --- Hiroshi Fujimoto (Advisor to the President, Graduate School of Frontier Sciences)
- By listening to the opinions of other professors with various specialties and a wide range of case studies, I feel that I have been able to deepen my understanding of the relationship between generative AI and education and research, and to think about it from multiple perspectives. I hope that this workshop will expand on that, and that it will be a place where all the professors and staffs can discuss and listen to the opinions of others. --- Toshihiko Yamasaki (Advisor to the President, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology)
- I don’t use much generative AI at work or in my daily life. I am used to traditional ways and don’t know much about AI. It’s hard for me to get into using AI. I look forward to welcoming people like me who are unfamiliar with AI and sharing our concerns and information together. --- Jeongyun Lee (Advisor to the President, Graduate School of Education)