AI, E-learning & Open Education
Yu-Lun Huang from National Yang Ming Chiao Tung University in Taiwan runs an e-learning movement project for the Ministry of Education in Taiwan. More than thirty universities in Taiwan participate in the project. One of the challenges they encounter is leveraging modern technology, like artificial intelligence, to improve digital learning or online education, especially learning effectiveness.
Yu-Lun's e-learning project hosted an E-learning and Open Education international conference on December 14, 2023 in Taiwan. Yu-Lun had read my AI From an Open Perspective post and kindly invited me to give an virtual keynote talk about AI for the conference and I accepted.
I titled my talk “AI, E-Learning and Open Education”.
I used a diagram of the AI technology stack to connect AI to e-learning and open education.
For each layer of the stack I identify challenges and opportunities associated with AI in education. For example at the Data layer:
Yu-Lun asked me to focus on how AI can improve digital learning and learning effectiveness. Toward that end I describe AI pedagogical uses:
I provide a few examples of education AI applications and tools including those for pedagogy, AI for subject specific use (history, biology, math, music, …), and AI integrations into learning management systems.
I talk about AI digital literacy including the importance of prompts.
I talk about cheating and plagiarism.
I close my talk with a call to action suggesting actions educators in Taiwan (and elsewhere) can take to understand AI and use it in their teaching and learning practice.
And finally I concluded my talk with a recommendation specific to Taiwan.
Taiwan has a reputation as a smart, innovative nation and is already a world-leader in the area of semiconductors, information and communication technology (ICT) and manufacturing. These strengths position it well to build on and advance AI.
Taiwan came up with an AI strategy relatively early. Starting in 2017 it began making major investments in AI development. The Executive Yuan published a 4-year AI Action Plan with a budget of 38 billion NTD (1.1 billion EUR) and the Ministry of Science and Technology (MoST) published a 5-year AI Strategy with a budget of 16 billion NTD (490 million EUR). These initiatives were largely focused on economic matters including:
creating a national AI cloud service and high-speed computing platform
nurturing AI research service companies to form a regional AI innovation ecosystem
publishing open data
building AI innovation research centers to train AI specialists, invest in technological development, and expand the pool of AI talent
establishing an AI Robot Makerspace for innovative applications and integration of robotics software and hardware
encouraging AI start-ups including available start-up accelerators and incubators supported by multinationals such as Google, Microsoft and IBM
As a final recommendation I advocated for Taiwan to similarly invest in, align, and expand its strategy to include AI in education.
The talk was not recorded and I know it’s hard to get the full picture without accompanying narration but here is a link to my AI, E-Learning and Open Education slides. Many of the slides have links which are clickable in Slideshow view.
AI is changing fast so this is really a snapshot in time but I hope it is useful to educators in Taiwan and around the world. Big thanks to Yu-Lun for the invitation.
I enjoy dialogue about all things I post. Every post has a corresponding discussion forum on OEGlobal Connect. If you want to connect you’ll find me there. I welcome AI, E-Learning and Open Education discussion there.
