Forum addresses barriers to strategic AI use in higher education
GUESTS AT the education ministry’s third staging of the National Forum for Innovations in Teaching (FIT) were last week encouraged to identify and broaden their understanding of the barriers to effectively engaging the use of artificial intelligence especially at the tertiary level.
The forum under the theme ‘Celebrating Achievements and Re-imagining Education for the 21st Society and Labour Force’, was held at the National Arena from January 25 -27.
Head of the Department of Information Technology at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean (UCC), Otis Osbourne, stressed the potential advantages to the wider society of a greater appreciation of how to negotiate the challenges of adopting AI use.
He said: “A keen understanding of the barriers to the strategic and sustainable integration and use of AI in higher education should redound to institutions realising the transformational potential of AI in enhancing educational experiences.”
He was addressing a panel discussion on ‘Higher Education Repositioned in the Digital Space – Harnessing Technology’, one of the plenary sessions organised by the Ministry of Education & Youth, Jamaica Teaching Council (JTC). The forum comprised panel discussions, exhibits and an awards ceremony aimed at recognising and celebrating excellence in the teaching profession, and helping stakeholders to re-imagine education in the 21st century.
Osbourne, whose responsibilities include developing, facilitating and lecturing degree programmes in information technology, data science, cybersecurity and artificial intelligence at the University of the Commonwealth Caribbean, recommended four main steps to mitigate the barriers of using artificial intelligence to enhance tertiary level education: These are: ensuring an ethical framework and responsible practices are in place; investing in cloud computing infrastructure and resources; building human resources capacity in AI by hiring faculty and staff with these disciplines, and conducting intentional training and workshops. He suggested further that collaborating with academic institutions and tech companies for research and development was also key.
The panel discussion moderated by Dr Junior Martin, head of the TVET Unit, University of Technology, also featured presentations from Professor Marvin Reid, acting deputy principal, University of the West Indies, and Maya Walrond, chair of the Private Sector Organisation of Jamaica’s Human Capital Committee.