Jodie LUU and Jungyoung KIM
Centre for English Language Communication (CELC)
jodieluu@nus.edu.sg
Luu, T. H. L., & Kim, J. Y. (2023). Fostering AI literacy: Human-agency-oriented approach to AI usage in higher education [Lightning talk]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/fostering-ai-literacy-human-agency-oriented-approach-to-ai-usage-in-higher-education/
SUB-THEME
AI and Education
KEYWORDS
ChatGPT, AI literacy, critical thinking, human agency, human-AI interaction
CATEGORY
Lightning Talks
ABSTRACT
From providing learning analytics essential to personalized personalised education to conducting automated assessments and grading, technology powered by artificial intelligence (AI) has been gradually transforming the education sector. However, it is the pivotal open access to ChatGPT, a powerful AI chatbot built with OpenAI’s large language models (LLMs) such as GPT-4 and its predecessors (Marr, 2023), that has given rise to the question of how to harness the potential of AI while maintaining the integrity and ethos of education.
In response to ChatGPT and its equivalents’ capability of producing comprehensive content based on well-crafted prompts, higher education institutions worldwide have started to devise policies for AI-generated content. In NUS, a timely interim policy for the use of AI in teaching and learning was first circulated in February 2023. The policy’s focus on mandating self-declaration seems to suggest that the moral compass of an AI user plays a key role. Considering the fast-paced advancement and integration of AI in various sectors, it could be argued that learners need both a moral compass and AI literacy to navigate and harness the potential of AI tools.
The emerging literature on AI in education has highlighted the need to develop AI literacy across all age groups and professions (Taguma et al., 2021; Ng et al., 2022; Cardon et al., 2023; Long et al.; 2023; Su & Yang, 2023). As proposed by Kong et al. (2021), “AI literacy includes three components: AI concepts, using AI concepts for evaluation, and using AI concepts for understanding the real world through problem solving” (p. 2). In the context of human-AI interaction, AI is said to manifest machine agency, which could be understood as the algorithms’ ability to process a large amount of data, learn from the analysis, adapt, and evolve to support decision-making and problem solving (Kaplan & Haenlein, 2019; Kang & Lou, 2022). Informed by Williams et al.’s (2021) conception of agency that acknowledges the consideration of context, consequences, or implications of human actions (in addition to rationality and autonomy), human agency, on the other hand, could be seen as the ability to make intentional, reasoned, contextualised and ethical decisions when it comes to AI-powered activities, be it for school, work, or leisure.
Following these discussions, our Lightning Talk will discuss how we can reframe AI usage in higher education while fostering AI literacy based on the notion of human agency within the context of human-AI interaction. In doing so, we will draw on results from an anonymous poll on the use of ChatGPT conducted in Semester 2 AY2022/23 (with students enrolled in the course ES2660 “Communicating in the Information Age”) and two case studies of how the teaching team handled written works flagged positive by GPTZero, an AI detection tool. Ultimately, we would like to suggest that a proper cultivation of AI literacy and awareness of the role of human agency in the technology-driven world among students are imperative. At the practical level, AI literacy development needs to move beyond mandating self-declaration to include engaging with learners through dialogues and integrating AI tools such as ChatGPT in learning activities where human- AI interaction could be experienced and human agency negotiated.
REFERENCES
Cardon, P. W., Fleischmann, C., Aritz, J., Logemann, M., & Heidewald, J. (2023). The challenges and opportunities of AI-assisted writing: Developing AI literacy for the AI age. Business and Professional Communication Quarterly, 232949062311765. https://doi.org/10.1177/23294906231176517
Kang, H., & Lou, C. (2022). AI agency vs. human agency: understanding human–AI interactions on TikTok and their implications for user engagement. Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 27(5). https://doi.org/10.1093/jcmc/zmac014
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Marr, B. (2023, May 19). A short history of ChatGPT: How we got to where we are today. Forbes. https://www.forbes.com/sites/bernardmarr/2023/05/19/a-short-history-of-chatgpt- how-we-got-to-where-we-are-today/?sh=5f1e3e13674f
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Su, J., & Yang, W. (2023). Artificial Intelligence (AI) literacy in early childhood education: an intervention study in Hong Kong. Interactive Learning Environments, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1080/10494820.2023.2217864
Williams, R. A., Gantt, E. E., & Fischer, L. (2021). Agency: What does it mean to be a human being? Frontiers in Psychology, 12. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2021.693077