Prohibit, penalize, discourage.
That has generally been the policy toward ai technology implemented by many universities and schools since ChatGPT debuted and launched the era of generative ai.
Arizona State University has taken a markedly different approach and is instead partnering with OpenAI to understand and study the best uses of this technology among teachers and students.
“Through collaborations like this with open ai, we can be hands-on, active collaborators, helping to guide the future of these technologies,” says Kyle Bowen, associate chief information officer for ASU Enterprise technology.
billed as ai-higher-education” target=”_blank” data-url=”https://news.asu.edu/20240118-university-news-new-collaboration-openai-charts-future-ai-higher-education”>the first OpenAI partnership in higher education, this collaboration provides the university with access to ChatGPT Enterprise, the premium version of OpenAI technology. This provides many data privacy benefits, and the work done by ASU faculty members will not be part of the training data used to improve ai technologies, Bowen says. ChatGPT Enterprise accounts also allow users to input more data, increasing the processing power of the technology.
The institution is currently accepting proposals from faculty to implement innovative uses of ChatGPT Enterprise. The idea is to study these uses to provide research-backed best practice guidance for ASU staff and students.
The university will focus on the use of ai in three distinct areas:
- Administrative Efficiency. ASU is interested in learning how ai can streamline processes for school administrators as well as administrative tasks for educators. “It could help craft the course content,” Bowen says. Since ChatGPT debuted, there has been talk of using it for everything from generating test questions to creating slideshows, but much of this work has been done by individual teachers and professors. ASU will investigate this in a more formal way, Bowen says.
- Innovative research. ai has become an important tool for academic researchers, and ASU wants to make better use of it. For example, “What are ways you can help conduct an analysis?” Bowen says. She adds that ASU has a variety of scholars researching these questions.
- Student success. Lastly, but probably most importantly, Bowen says ASU wants to examine how technology can be used to support student learning and success. As with many things related to ai, there has been a lot of talk about its potential in this regard, but very few systematic studies have been conducted.
Advice for educators considering similar partnerships
An innovative ai study is already underway at ASU. A computer science teacher is ai-higher-education” target=”_blank” data-url=”https://news.asu.edu/20240118-university-news-new-collaboration-openai-charts-future-ai-higher-education”>Use ai to help make sense of large amounts of environmental data. collected from satellites, while an English teacher conducts studies on whether ai helps students improve in introductory writing classes.
To follow in ASU's footsteps by partnering with ai, Bowen advises connecting with various university stakeholders. “I can't emphasize enough the need to involve the broader community,” she says.
Before embarking on this partnership, ASU formed a committee of faculty with deep knowledge of technology. Student voice is also important in the process, as is continuing education. Additionally, ASU offers a full range of ai.asu.edu/” target=”_blank” data-url=”https://ai.asu.edu/”>ai trainingmany of them online and asynchronous, so that their educators learn more about technology.
Many students and teachers are already engaging with and using ai, and Bowen says this partnership and other ai-focused initiatives will help guide ai policies and practices. The goal is to help steer the ai ship into the future and provide resources for those at ASU and beyond.
The school's philosophy is: “Let's be active participants in the search for the next generation of practices,” Bowen says.
