Book on living (and learning) with generative AI

Knowledge and expertise

The foursome has extensive experience in the ICT work field. Each with a different background and set of specialities, but with the skills to move along in an ever-changing field where knowledge and skills are constantly subject to innovation. So they have all closely followed and also embraced the revolution brought by AI. What is also special about a group of Fontys ICT lecturers/researchers is that, because of the form of education, they always have one foot in education and the other in practice. This not only makes them proficient with AI, but also in how AI is applied in practice.

Educational innovation

Binding factor between the foursome is a high interest in educational innovation, in short; the question of how technology or a new approach can make education better. AI naturally turns a lot of things upside down, and to get this on the agenda, the necessary work has been done, Danny Bloks says: ‘Internally, we started an AI Community, of which I was a co-creator. Also to get a place in education, for example with a minor AI For Society, which makes the technology accessible to students without an ICT background as well. This is important, because AI affects us all.’

Ruud Huijts also conducted an experiment with Koen Suilen; can AI write a portfolio for a 1st-year student: ‘The conclusion was: yes! And that means we have to think differently about our role in education. It changes not only what students are going to learn, but also how they are going to learn. Such an experiment seems playful, but is a warning that you can't wait it out. That is also a reason for this book.’

Questions from practice

The idea for this book therefore stems from an increasing demand for tools to get started with AI, especially generative AI. Koen Suilen sees this daily in his role within the Fontys ICT InnovationLab in Mindlabs Tilburg: ‘Everyone wants to get started with AI, but where to start? It goes beyond applying a technology, you can really ask yourself questions about what you can and don't want to do with this. There is also an ethical aspect to it. What we want is to help companies, but also people themselves, to make that consideration.’

Erdinç Saçan is closely involved in the Fontys Knowledge Centre Applied AI for Society and previously wrote the book ‘Inclusive Artificial Intelligence’: ‘Look, AI was already there for a long time, of course, and this development has been going on for years. It is with the advent of ChatGPT that the whole world woke up. So with this book, we hope to offer real help based on the experience all four of us have already gained. AI is there for everyone, especially generative AI, but a little help with that is welcome. That's there now.’

The book ‘Living and Learning with AI’ is now (pre)available to order from Noordhoff. The book was written by teacher-researchers Ruud Huijts, Koen Suilen, Erdinç Saçan and Danny Bloks with support from Fontys.

Source: fontys.nl