SEDAtalk February 2025: Impact and implications of GenerativeAI

Monthly recorded webinar, focusing on important issues in educational change and development.
Emphasis on discussion and sharing good practice
Organised in ‘seasons’ focusing on a main topic �(unless we decide on a different format – feedback and suggestions welcome).

1. Welcome to SEDAtalk Sue Beckingham [email protected] Peter Hartley [email protected]

2. What is SEDAtalk? Monthly recorded webinar, focusing on important issues in educational change and development. Emphasis on discussion and sharing good practice Organised in ‘seasons’ focusing on a main topic (unless we decide on a different format – feedback and suggestions welcome).

3. Processes Please add comments and questions in the chat as we go along. Please raise a hand if you would like to join in the conversation. The session will be recorded and made available asap. The chat will not be included in the recording – we will provide a summary of any resources or useful links.

4. Today’s session Main theme: GenerativeAI in Further and Higher Education: Searching for ethical and responsible ways forward Today’s session: Quick tech update Panel discussion with our guest contributors Our guests: Louise Drumm and Rosemarie McIlwhan Open discussion

5. Tech update: Last month’s cliffhanger: 4 key points (John Naughton): “China has caught up”. “turbocharge American anxiety”. The US bans did not work. “R1 seems to be a genuinely open-source model”. “The AI genie is now really out of the bottle.” See at: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2025/feb/01/ai-deepseek-cheap-china-google-apple

6. New HEPI report (26.02.25)

7. A few stats from HEPI re AI/ GenAI 88% of students using for assessments Only 36% have received direct training from their institution “The main reason students use AI is to save time (51% of students), closely followed by improving the quality of their work (50%).” “The proportion saying university staff are ‘well-equipped’ to work with AI has jumped from 18% in 2024 to 42% in 2025.” “ There is a growing digital divide in AI use , with male students, students on STEM and Health courses and more socioeconomically advantaged students more likely to use AI than others.” See at: https://www.hepi.ac.uk/2025/02/26/hepi-kortext-ai-survey-shows-explosive-increase-in-the-use-of-generative-ai-tools-by-students/

8. GenAI Trends AGI: The race is on. Enormous investment. International competition. Deepseek anyone? The OpenAI roadmap. The best new GenAI in our homes? The agents are coming? But what about learning?

9. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): The race is on: money, money, money …. Enormous investment See at: https://economictimes.indiatimes.com/tech/artificial-intelligence/2025-outlook-genai-the-evolution-and-expectations/articleshow/116613837.cms

10. Artificial General Intelligence (AGI): The race is on: international examples. International development: India as a leading example International competition: Initiatives from India See at: https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2025/02/indias-ai-moment/ See at: https://www.nature.com/articles/d44151-025-00021-5?utm_source=Live+Audience&utm_campaign=3f19cbf6e6-nature-briefing-ai-robotics-20240225&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_b27a691814-3f19cbf6e6-499207706&mc_cid=3f19cbf6e6&mc_eid=70d71dff86

11. DeepSeek anyone? See at: https://www.msn.com/en-ca/money/topstories/deepseek-rushes-to-launch-new-ai-model-as-china-goes-all-in/ar-AA1zKc1E See at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cy7g45g2nxno

12. The Future for OpenAI? Tweets from Sam Altman, Feb 2025

13. And what will be the ‘best’ Generative AI in your home by the end of this year?

14. And what will be the ‘best’ Gen AI in your home by the end of this year? The Amazon answer The promo The reality? See at: https:// www.youtube.com / watch?v = dAPuMivixzg See at: https://www.techradar.com/computing/artificial-intelligence/alexas-big-ai-revamp-might-have-been-delayed-again-and-im-losing-faith-amazons-new-assistant-will-be-all-that-smart The interview With the Amazon CEO, at: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qyjJo85oJ20&t=157s

15. The Agents are coming One projection from the industry “Looking forward to 2025, AI agents are poised to become far more sophisticated, autonomous, and versatile. They will go beyond  chatbots ,  virtual assistants , and simple task automation to become invaluable collaborators, decision-makers, and ethical guides . In the coming years, we can expect AI agents to not only enhance efficiency and productivity but also empower humans to achieve greater levels of creativity, personalization, and well-being.” See at: https://www.analyticsvidhya.com/blog/2024/12/ai-agent-trends/ And another … See at: https://www.forbes.com/sites/solrashidi/2025/02/28/the-5-ai-trends-in-2025-agents-open-source-and-multi-model/

16. But what about learning ? A recent research review: ” more and more research suggests that generic AI models are not only suboptimal for human learning — they may actually have an actively detrimental effect on the development of knowledge and skills.” However, “if we take a “pedagogy first” approach to building AI models and products, the impact of AI on human learning could be exponentially po sitive” Hardman, P. (2025) The Impact of Gen AI on Human Learning: a research summary. https://drphilippahardman.substack.com/p/the-impact-of-gen-ai-on-human-learning?utm_source=publication-search (accessed: 26/02/25)

17. Panel discussion with our guest contributors Main theme: GenerativeAI in Further and Higher Education: Searching for ethical and responsible ways forward Guests: Dr Louise Drumm, Associate Professor in Digital Education, Edinburgh Napier University. Rosemarie McIlwhan, Associate Professor of Digital Pedagogy and Practice, Heriot-Watt University.

18. Panel questions W hat are the key concerns which we need to face up to when we examine current applications of GenAI by staff and students? What are the likely developments in applications and access to GenAI across Higher Education which we should be concerned about? What are the implications (both short and long-term) for educational development and for educational developers?

19. Shared links Drumm, L., Beetham, H., Cronin, C., & McIlwhan, R. (2024). Generating AI Alternatives: Collaborating and creating intersections.  Proceedings of the International Conference on Networked Learning  ,  14 (1). https://doi.org/10.54337/nlc.v14i1.8185 The Generating AI Alternatives toolkit – we invite people to use this and share back what they’ve done. It’s licenced under Creative Commons ( CC BY-NC-SA license ) so people are welcome to remix it too (indeed we encourage that) provided it’s shared under the same licence. Colleagues may find interesting our video provocations on Generating AI Alternatives from the workshop / toolkit. These are think pieces around GenAI which we hope provoke ideas for others. I mentioned in relation to quality of research on AI in Education and research: Gundersen, O. E., & Kjensmo , S. (2018). State of the Art: Reproducibility in Artificial Intelligence . Beetham, H. (2024) Never mind the quality, feel the speed GenAI use in higher education: stakeholder perceptions and attitudes – this includes  a research report, open data set, infographic and conversation cards to help staff explore perceptions and attitudes to GenAI. Crawford, J., Allen, K. A., Pani, B., & Cowling, M. (2024). When artificial intelligence substitutes humans in higher education: the cost of loneliness, student success, and retention.  Studies in Higher Education , 1-15. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2024.2326956