News, Past-Events Summary of Generative AI in Learning Contexts Webinar
The Responsible AI Network (RAIN) – Africa, in collaboration with the United States International University (USIU) – Africa, held a webinar titled “Generative AI in Learning Contexts: Opportunities & Responsible Practices.” The event took place online from Nairobi. The speakers included Dr. Lawrence Nderu, Chairman of the Department of Computing at Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT); Dr. Moses M. Thiga, Senior Lecturer in Information Technology at Kabarak University; Doreen Nkirote, CEO of SDPRO Technologies Ltd; Mr. Wayne Egesa, AI Engineer at the A.I Center of Excellence (AICE); and Dr. Beth Kiratu, Acting Academic Program Lead at the Department of Data Science, Open University of Kenya.
Prof. Jerry John Kponyo, co-founder of the Responsible AI Network (RAIN) – Africa, welcomed participants and encouraged them to share ideas and knowledge to help transform Africa through generative AI. He also emphasised the importance of effective collaboration among departments and universities on impactful projects.
Dr. Lawrence Nderu discussed the transformative power of Generative AI and stressed the need for Africans to use AI tools in developing technologies and other economic sectors. He highlighted the importance of ensuring that AI use is responsible, ethical, and inclusive.
He also said that Generative AI can create new contexts and foster creativity. It provides content orientation for lecturers, supports machine learning, and enables peer programming. However, addressing privacy, security, and biases in AI models is crucial to ensuring transparent and fair datasets.
Dr. Beth Kiratu took participants through how AI is used academically. She highlighted several aspects of growth in educational spaces, including the impact of AI on teaching and assessment. She noted that AI has expanded access to high-quality resources, overcoming geographic and economic barriers. It enables multilingual education by offering localised content in multiple languages.
She also discussed how AI tracks student progress, analysing patterns to identify progress and suggest personalised interventions through real-time data dashboards, thereby improving retention and performance. AI aids in course design, helping students iterate faster and experiment with new concepts.
She addressed the broader implications of AI in education, noting its role in detecting plagiarism and cheating. Dr. Kiratu emphasised the importance of ethical guidelines to ensure responsible AI usage, balancing technology with human oversight.
However, she also highlighted concerns about AI systems reusing old scripts and following predictable patterns, which could potentially overshadow human creativity.
Doreen Bundi explained that generative AI is a specialised branch of artificial intelligence, offering significant advantages such as personalised learning, fostering creativity, and broadening access to education.
Dr. Moses M. Thiga addressed the challenges ICT can pose to developing critical thinking skills. He pointed out that generative AI introduces innovative platforms but can also be detrimental to critical thinking by encouraging over-reliance on AI-generated content, which may hinder creative thinking, diverse perspectives, and collaborative efforts.
The discussion concluded that critical thinking can be effectively developed using generative AI by engaging in rigorous and reflective questioning of its outputs, ensuring that users critically evaluate and interact with the generated content.
