Generative AI, Online Credit Transfer, Global Resources-Sharing Platform: Ideas and Ways Forward Flourished at the AUN-TEPL Workplan Seminar 2023

On 25-26 May 2023, co-leads and members gathered for the AUN-TEPL Workplan Seminar 2023 “Charting New Frontiers: Empowering Learners through Technology Enhanced Personalised Learning” at Singapore Management University. The two-day event featured the presentation of the renewed MOU, informative keynote presentations, thought-provoking panel discussions, and fruitful project planning sessions where ways forward were charted for leveraging the potential of technology-enhanced personalised learning to empower learners.

The AUN communication team was there at the scene to provide you with a peek into what our thematic network and its partners are up to!

Following the MOU presentation, Professor Abelardo Pardo, Dean of Programs (Information Technology & Mathematics) in UniSA STEM, University of South Australia, took to the stage an informative keynote presentation on ‘Using Learning Analytics to Personalise Student Support,’ where he introduced how database gained from teaching delivery can be used to craft personalised feedbacks to the maximum benefits for learners. This, however, must be done through the collaboration between three stakeholders within the institute: the learning designers or the instructors who design and deliver the learning experience, the statisticians who provide expertise to learning designers on which indicator to be used or what each indicator implies, and lastly, the IT personnel who handles the management and the analysis of data. 

With the three stakeholders working together, learning designers can harness the information about each learner in crafting a personalised experience and re-designing the teaching delivery for the maximum benefits for learners in the long run. Dr. Pardo also introduced participants to OnTask, an online tool to help instructors provide personalised feedback to a large cohort of students based on data.

Following the presentation by Professor Pardo; participants, together with group leaders from co-lead universities, embarked on vigorous table discussions and break-out project planning sessions where ways forward for AUN-TEPL’s collaboration projects were charted. 

Here are some projects that you can look forward to from our Thematic Network and its members!:

• Co-create faculty development resources that can stimulate TEPL: Under the lead of Mahidol University, this project with participating institutions from Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, and the Philippines aims to equip and update the teaching community on good practices and the utilisation of emerging technologies through webinars, workshops, training sessions, and resource-sharing. The project now sets its eyes on introducing a webinar on the capability and limitations of generative AI as a teaching tool, how this emerging technology can assist instructors, and how academic assessments will need to be re-designed when students have access to this powerful tool. 
• Facilitate the multi-lateral exchange of courses for credit transfer across universities: This project under the lead of Universiti Malaya aims to facilitate credit transfer for online courses like Massive Online Open Course (MOOC) from each platform of each university. As each institution is in possession of its own expertise, such a comprehensive system can empower learners throughout the region without the limitation of physical or geographical borders. The project now aims to create an index of online course catalogues where students will have access to online courses from all member institutions throughout the regions, and the process is already ongoing for laying the groundwork for the rules and mechanisms that will enable students to receive credit transfer from online courses at partnered institutions.
• Share and amplify the use of digital learning resource​s on MERLOT: MERLOT, or Multimedia Educational Resource for Learning and Online Teaching, is an online resource-sharing platform where instructors and learners can gain access to curated teaching and learning materials from the global communities of academia. AUN-TEPL signed an MOU with MERLOT in 2020. This endorsement of the platform means members from across the ASEAN+3 network would now have direct access to the rich collection of resources and materials available through MERLOT. The access also does not stop at the ability to scan, select, and use existing resources as members would be able to contribute their materials to the platform and enhance their academic reputation by being a Peer Reviewer or one of the Editorial boards as well.

AUN-TEPL and its members are also kickstarting collaborative research in the areas of:

• Artificial Intelligence: Ethics in the Use of AI-Assisted Instructional Tool
• Immersive Technology: Readiness of Teachers/Students/Administrators in Terms of Immersive Technology
• Student Engagement: Student Engagement in Technology-Enabled Learning: Why it Matters and how it works?
• Collaborative Learning: Achieving Personalized Learning and Collaborative Learning Through the Use of Padlet

Institutions that would like to know more about AUN-TEPL or be a part of its projects can do so by dropping your email at [email protected] or visit https://www.auntepl.com/.

If you would like to know more about MERLOT, Dr. Gerry Hanley, Executive Director of MERLOT and SkillsCommons, has provided us with an info-packed keynote presentation on Day 2 of the Seminar. Stay tuned to our website and e-newsletter for special coverage!

Photo at the courtesy of SMU Centre for Teaching Excellence