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Next Week: Annual Student Perspectives on Generative AI Webinar
From: Olivia Inwood
Valid from: Friday 5 July 2024 to Friday 12 July 2024
Join us for Western Sydney University’s annual Student Perspectives on Generative AI webinar.
This year, our global panel of speakers from Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, USA, UK and Singapore. They will discuss how students are navigating generative AI, university partnerships with generative AI companies, inequalities related to generative AI technologies, and research on ethical approaches to generative AI.
This is the follow-up to our well-attended and positively received webinar last year: From Theory to Practice - Student Perspectives on Researching and Using Artificial Intelligence.
Title: Grading the Graders: Global Student Perspectives on How Universities Have Reacted to Generative AI
Date: Friday 12 July 10am - 12pm (AEST)
Register here for the zoom link: https://westernsydney.libcal.com/event/5632681
Official Welcome from Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education) Professor Maryanne Dever
Professor Maryanne Dever is the Deputy Vice-Chancellor and Vice President (Education) at Western Sydney University. She is a member of the Senior Executive Group and responsible for providing leadership of the University’s education portfolio. She is passionate about educational renewal and ensuring learning delivers for a new generation of students. She is recognised for her work in transformation and change with a particular focus on digital uplift to support learning and the student experience. Professor Dever leads strategic educational innovation at Western Sydney to deliver the University’s commitment to ensuring its students fulfill their potential to become influential global citizen-scholars in a technology-enabled world. She holds a Bachelor of Arts (Hons) from the University of Queensland and a Master of Arts (Hons) and PhD from the University of Sydney. Prior to joining Western Sydney University in 2023, she worked at a number of universities, including The Australian National University where she introduced a new learning and teaching strategy and the University of Technology Sydney (UTS) where she made major contributions to the digital transformation of learning. Her research career has focused on feminist literary studies and critical archival studies. Her publications include Paper, Materiality and the Archived Page (2019) and New Feminist Research Ethics (2023).
The Library of the Future
Fiona Salisbury has been Executive Director of Library Services at Western Sydney University since 2022. Fiona joined Western from La Trobe University, where she served as Executive Director and University Librarian. She has a career track record of success that has spanned library learning, research, literacy, and engagement portfolios. Fiona has a deep, scholarly understanding of the role of the university library in the future of higher education and is highly regarded as having expertise in open textbook publishing. Fiona has been a Director on the Board of the Council of Australian University Librarians (CAUL) since 2020. She is currently Deputy Chair of CAUL and the Program Director for the CAUL Open Educational Resources Program. This program includes the CAUL Open Educational Resources Collective, an open textbook publishing initiative involving 42 universities and has published 35 open textbooks since 2022.
Guest Speakers:
Dr Samantha Newell is a Senior Fellow of the HEA and a Lecturer in Psychology at The University of Adelaide. Dr Newell is emerging as a leading voice in generative AI in Higher Education, with publications co-authored with international AI scholars. Her recent national survey explores perceptions of generative AI among Australian university students. Samantha also conducts research into the use of technology to foster rapport and enhance engagement in asynchronous environments. Her other published research explores ways to increase student voice, negotiation, and co-creation of the learning environment.
William Mabin is a Game Designer and Developer with 10+ years' experience in 3D art, multimedia and game design. He has lectured at a variety of higher education institutions in South Africa. William is the founder of Toxyn Games and a Consultant and Mentor for UK-based company, MasterEd. William is passionate about mentoring others and collaborating with like-minded creatives.
River Graziano is a senior at Arizona State University in Tempe, where they study creative writing and mechanical engineering. They currently work at ASU's independent student news organisation, The State Press, as the Science and Technology Editor. River is grateful to have connections with creative, technical, and administrative faculty, giving them a multifaceted perspective regarding generative AI's potential impacts. They would also like to shout out their reporters at The State Press for being relentless truth-seekers, especially in regards to AI. Without them, this presentation would not be possible.
Oliver Cocker is a Law/Literature student at the University of Auckland, New Zealand. He works with the student union to publish the university’s weekly publication, Craccum, as an editor. Oliver’s particularly interested in the effects of world events on students and has covered all topics from elections and natural disasters, to rocket launches and artificial intelligence. His work included scrutinising the University of Auckland’s first AI policy and has been critical of conflicting standards regarding the use of it by the University itself.
Esther Bello is an abstract artist and creative technologist based in London, UK. A PhD candidate in Arts and Computational Technology at Goldsmiths, University of London, her research explores the transfer of human emotional knowledge to generative AI through her practice of abstract painting. Employing a feminist perspective, she looks to address and challenge homogenous datasets, ingrained emotional constructs, societal biases, and the unethical practices in the design of AI in its current adoption.
Akshita Jain is a Mechanical Engineering student at the National University of Singapore. She is interested in researching green energy alternatives in the aviation industry, and her current flight of fancy (pun intended) is the possibility of hybrid airships providing humanitarian aid, on which she wrote her IB Extended Essay. Akshita's experiences with the use of generative AI in academics have led to her interest in the ethics of its use, and she is keen to explore the ethics of its use in the arts. Akshita also enjoys trying new things, from Georgian food to scuba diving.
Attached document: Generative AI Webinar.pdf [198421 bytes] application/pdf