Your feedback is shaping the future of AI at Queen Mary
Last year, more than 500 Queen Mary students shared their views on AI and how it is shaping their studies with the Queen Mary Students’ Union.
Co-creation with students is central to our approach to education at Queen Mary. Your feedback is shaping our work through new learning opportunities, student-led projects and a long-term plan to help students develop the AI skills you’ll need for the future. Together, this will help students like you to develop the AI literacy increasingly expected by employers, while also helping you to be clear on how to use AI responsibly in academic settings.
What we’re doing
- Helping students build AI skills. We'll introduce new opportunities to help students understand how to use AI effectively, ethically and safely in their studies and future careers. Get started now with AI for student learning and research, from our Library Services team - all students are expected to take this course and the sooner the better!
- Co-creating specific initiatives, through student-led AI projects. Ten students have been employed through the Learner Interns Programme to develop five projects that explore how AI can enhance learning, assessment and the student experience. Questions students will explore include ‘how do students perceive AI skills as contributing towards their employability?’ and ‘What do students perceive as fair or effective us of AI in assessment?’
- Ensuring your feedback is reflected in our AI strategy and policy, which is shaping our approach to teaching, learning, research and student support.
- Developing new technology that will support your experience as a Queen Mary student.
Professor Chie Adachi, Interim Academic Director of the Centre for AI in Education, says:
“As educators, we see students embracing AI every day – and we know that you’re doing so in different ways, for different purposes. This research gets under the surface of what that means, and the specific needs and challenges you have as Queen Mary students. I’m incredibly grateful to the Students’ Union for conducting this rich research, and to everyone who participated in it.
“When you graduate, you’ll be moving into a world of work where AI literacy is as vital as digital literacy once was. We need to understand that, to embrace it, and to support you to use AI ethically, meaningfully, and considering its benefits and limitations.
“Above all, this research emphasises the need to work in partnership with our students in shaping a human-centred and inclusive approach to AI that helps you to succeed as a Queen Mary graduate.”
Riley Griffin, Students' Union VP Science and Engineering, says:
"AI presents as a unique new challenge; it’s fast moving and has new updates and features constantly. I think of AI as a combination of two things: marmite and Thanos. You either love it, or you hate it and I feel that we are at a stage where AI is inevitable – for better or for worse.
"This year, we are progressing the work of the Student Experience Forum on AI by carrying the recommendations forward into a streamlined set of goals to ensure students are getting the support needed. These aims seek to provide students opportunities to gain AI literacy skills to advance academic and professional development, provide students with a transparent approach on how to use AI and ensure students are given respect and honesty surrounding how the University engages with AI.
"This is important to ensure we can meet the needs of our students based on their differing wants and views on AI. There is a lot of emphasis on how ‘AI is a tool’ so implementation of the correct tools is essential, whilst being fair & equitable. We need to continue to encourage honest dialogue around AI use to enable transparency when students and staff use AI."