The launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 threatened ‘the end of the college essay.’ Coming so soon after the pandemic, GenAI was seen to present yet another existential crisis for third-level education, especially in disciplines like ours where language and writing is fundamental. There was an argument that the best way to ensure assessment security and academic integrity was to replace our essays with timed in-person exams. But exams are not usually the best way of assessing most Arts and Humanities disciplines, and timed in-person assessment can represent a barrier to many of our students, especially the growing number requiring exam accommodations. We needed to ensure that our response to generative AI was consistent with inclusive education principles and aligned with the core values of our disciplines. We needed to learn more about the risks and affordances of generative AI, and find ways of mitigating them.

The goal of our project was to make information available, facilitate conversation and practice sharing, and provide a sounding board for staff and students concerned about what GenAI might mean for our disciplines and for our sector more broadly. College surveys in May 2023 indicated that there was a high level of anxiety and a low level of knowledge and engagement with generative AI among Arts and Humanities staff and students alike. We therefore embarked on a multi-pronged AI information campaign, which took a Universal Design for Learning approach to making information accessible and understandable to our whole community, whatever their knowledge or experience base. We created the Arts and Humanities AI Futures website, which featured some key messages, FAQs, a glossary of terms, and a suite of multimedia resources. We embarked on a poster campaign with a set of eye-catching posters with a QR code that brought visitors to our website. We also organized a dynamic programme of events, including expert talks, presentations, student panels, interactive workshops, film screenings, information days, and drop-in sessions. Through all our activities, we offered staff and students multiple ways of engaging with our work and contributing to the ongoing conversation.

We recruited student partners by emailing all Arts and Humanities students and seeking expressions of interest. We looked specifically for students in the college from a range of disciplines and backgrounds, with an awareness of generative AI, open minds, and an interest in working with staff on an educational project. We were lucky to recruit four excellent students, three undergraduate and one postgraduate, who worked with us from the very beginning of the project (and were replaced as they graduated). These students co-designed our surveys and worked with us in analysing the results, with one producing a full survey report. Our student partners organised and ran a student panel in which they shared their perceptions and experiences of generative AI with an audience of faculty and staff, which was our best-attended and most impactful event. Our student partners also contributed in lots of other ways: hosting drop-in sessions, facilitating workshops, giving presentations, contributing case studies, and curating a film series. We were always keen to ensure that there were opportunities for the students to get involved in ways that were meaningful for them. They also contributed to monthly meetings and helped to shape all aspects of our work. Our student partners were critical to the success and enjoyment of the project. Their contributions were properly acknowledged by payment at an hourly rate.

The biggest impact of the project was increasing knowledge and awareness of AI and building the confidence of our colleagues and students by facilitating nuanced conversations and providing simple but helpful resources on generative AI. This was possible through our posters, website, presentations, and dynamic programme of events. Through this work, we shaped College responses, specifically through the rollout of our ‘AI traffic light system’, which meant that module coordinators in all seven schools adopted the same system to indicate whether AI was permitted in an assignment. This initiative improved transparency around AI use and meant that we were well prepared for implementing aspects of the new Academic Integrity Policy. Our all-Ireland workshop on AI and teaching, learning and assessment in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences took place in UCD in May 2024 and was attended by more than thirty colleagues from UCD, DCU, Cork, Galway, and Limerick. This has been developed into an open access case study book featuring eighteen case studies from around the country. The values of diversity and inclusion have always been central to our work, and we have consistently maintained an open-minded but critical stance on the risks and affordances of generative AI. We are now well placed to apply our learning to policy and practice development at institutional level (through a university working group) and in collaboration with other European universities (through a Una Europa-funded AI project).

Resources

Our Arts and Humanities AI Futures website: https://www.ucd.ie/artshumanities/study/aifutures/ provides information on the project, a range of resources, and our contact information