Through the Pandemic and Into the AI Era: Transformations of an Asynchronous E-Course

Presentation at the ICL2024 Conference at Tallinn University of Technology, Tallinn, Estonia on September 26, 2024.

1. DD.MM.YYYY
THROUGH THE PANDEMIC AND INTO
THE AI ERA: TRANSFORMATIONS OF
AN ASYNCHRONOUS E-COURSE
Kaido Kikkas and Birgy Lorenz
IT College, School of IT
Tallinn University of Technology2 26.09.2024
ICL 2024 @ TalTech
Tallinn, Estonia

2. TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
THE COURSE
Social, Professional and Ethical Aspects of Information Technology
(URL: https://wiki.itcollege.ee/index.php/E-SPEAIT)
6 ECTS, first-year B.Sc students, 15 weeks
Various versions – this article covered the asynchronous, writing-
centered variant (MOOC-style)
–Blogging
–Web forums
–Wiki-based (group) papers
–Optional exam with small weight
Began in 2010, received a national E-Course of the Year award in 2011
University merger 2017, COVID-19 2019-22, AI era from ~2022

3. TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
NOTABLE POINTS FROM THE PRE-AI ERA
Balancing public and private
–public (sharing of ideas, responsible behaviour, countering
plagiarism, public access to materials)
–private (course points, student control over their writings, some
parts (forum) deleted afterwards)
Working authorship model (CC BY-SA; three authorship aspects:
instructor, students as content consumers, students as creators)
Countering plagiarism: a wide variety and large number of small, public
tasks, peer review on many aspects
Surplus-based task system, regular and thorough feedback with a
‘positive cycle’ building the Flow
T-shaped instructor profile, good people skills a must

4. TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
RECENT DEVELOPMENTS IN THE AI ERA
Blogging and forum discussion: remain mostly the same (shifting the
weight towards the latter is an option)
Wiki-based writings: mostly dropped due to recent developments – but
the negative effects of the omission is visible
Reviews: reduced or dropped for the same reasons (the same effect)
Exam: still optional and with smaller weight, but essays replaced with
live discussion
Weekly positive-cycle feedback (‘pastoral letter’) – still a central tenet
Note: some interesting new aspects from the AI era
–A visible minority of ‘conscious objectors’ (“matter of honour”)
–Creative use of AI without crossing into plagiarism/ghostwriting
(e.g. illustrating blog tasks with relevant DALL-E pictures, adding
also the prompts used)

5. TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
SOME LESSONS LEARNED
While the COVID could not change much, the advent of generative AI did
The OER/MOOC model still works, but it probably needs adjustments
Synchronous or mixed learning models can be easier for the AI era, but
asynchronous could help preserve the 'disappearing art of reading and
writing' better
Regardless of course models, the AI era demands returning to the basics
Lack of self-regulation/self-management skills among students is a
growing problem that also seems to synergize with the spread of AI
Flipped classroom, while used a lot, is definitely not a universal solution
The Flow is still a powerful stimulus - but it takes personal approach and
is more difficult to achieve in large 'factory-style' courses

6. TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
FOR DISCUSSION: WHAT COULD BE NEEDED NOWADAYS
The current situation is a coincidence of several factors, including
–The advent of easy-to-use generative AI
–The still-present effects of the pandemic
–The slow degradation of basic education (incl ‘the three Rs’)
–(there are others)
Students do enjoy the Flow in their studies – if they can reach it
Reaching the Flow takes the basics (ask from e.g. martial artists!)
Self-management skills need more attention (one way is to ‘downstream’
as much management – including ‘Law & Order’ - as possible, while
providing constant guidance and feedback when needed; the instructor
should rather be a Wizard, not a King!)
Instructors/teachers need to know the possibilities of AI as well (even if
they do not use it!)

7. TALLINN UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY
TALTECH.EE/EN
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