I’m almost over the finish line for a massive project that’s been going on for months. It’s occasionally been a struggle, but the process ultimately leads to a great result for our staff (training in AI & Education). What’s been really wonderful is how much collaboration it’s involved.
I included some students in the development phase which has the dual benefit of getting extra capacity, and ensuring that the student voice is meaningfully integrated. I also had over 40 critical friends review drafts along the way, an essential step for sense-checking.
Trying to create a resource for every type of teacher, at every stage of their AI literacy, in every one of our degree contexts at a massively diverse university is…. maybe a bit of a tall order.
Do I regret taking on the job? Not really, because it needed doing.
I’ve learned so much from the process personally too. Feedback from my seniors has really helped me focus away from the minutia of the content to different type of “learner profiles” & what content to let go of (sob 😭).
It’s also been interesting to navigate the extreme ends of anti-AI and all-in-AI sentiments. This is not an institutional issue, it’s a sector-wide one. We all need to be able to navigate AI in one way or another, but how we do that will be different. Communication is key.
No, the course won’t make everyone happy. I accepted that from the beginning. But I know it will have value for potentially all education staff, which is a huge responsibility and also an honour to be trusted to deliver on.
A huge benefit of the project is also making the most of the many resources our staff developed recently from primary research. We have completed staff and student surveys and qualitative analysis, and compare this to national data and pedagogical literature.
We also get to promote the many teams who make education at Bristol thrive, notably the BILT team, the Library and Study Skills teams. We are all in the crucible together, forging a new path through AI challenges and opportunities.
For colleagues at the University of Bristol, the AI & Education course will be out soon. We are just finishing off some nicely edited videos and final touches. Fingers crossed it will be released before Christmas (via Develop).
Behind the scenes of creating a staff development course on AI from scratch
