27 26 HKU ANNUAL REPORT 2023 ADDING VALUE Generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) in education has been firmly embraced at HKU following a period of dialogue and thoughtful reflection on how to get the most out of this technology. Initially, we were cautious about its use to ensure fairness in assessment and access and to sound out staff and students on its ramifications. Two workshops were held in early March, each attended by more than 1,000 staff and students, followed by five policy-making sessions to address specific issues such as plagiarism and security. By June we had a policy, approved by the Senate and disseminated across campus, that encourages the use of GenAI across all programmes and recognises its potential to benefit humankind. Proficiency with AI is also now seen as a fifth literacy at HKU, alongside oral, written, visual and digital communication. EMBRACING AI AND NEW TECHNOLOGY The Law, Innovation, Technology & Entrepreneurship (LITE) Lab’s Founding Executive Director, Mr Brian Tang Wha Li, introduced one of the world’s first law school courses incorporating GenAI after ChatGPT was unveiled. In ‘LITE Lab: Tech Startup Law’, students, who co-design legal, regulatory and policy research with Hong Kong tech start-ups, companies, social entrepreneurs and NGOs, were encouraged to explore using GenAI in their research and project deliverables. In ‘LITE Lab: Lawtech & Regtech Sandbox’, students were asked to explore GenAI’s strengths and weaknesses in a chosen area of lawyering. After ensuring all students had access to some form of GenAI, they were required to check everything for accuracy before sharing and to not input confidential or proprietary information into prompts. “One main learning outcome was for students to develop first-hand skillsets in the emerging field of legal prompt engineering,” said Mr Tang. Some of the student findings demonstrated how GenAI can help streamline and augment the work of legal practitioners. Mr Samson Wong Ki Sum, Assistant Lecturer in the Medical Ethics and Humanities Unit, has initiated a grief literacy training module in the Medical Humanities Curriculum that uses virtual reality to expose students to the agonising pain and guilt of family members in end-of-life care as they witness their dying child’s life wither, while holding on to the slightest hope that medicine can make a difference. By exposing learners to the complexities of anticipatory grief from the lens of family caregivers, this immersive high-fidelity case study encourages medical students to reflect on the meaning of physician empathy, and to rehearse the myriad emotions that may emerge in endof-life care settings. Second-year MBBS student Julian Wan Pui Hang reflected: “As a medical student and future physician, there will be times that I will encounter terminally ill patients and their distressed caregivers. This medical humanities workshop has profoundly instilled in me the significance of cultivating patience, understanding and empathy when families confront adversity.” EXPLORING AI IN LAW USING IMMERSIVE DIGITAL STORYTELLING TO TEACH ABOUT GRIEF IN CANCER CARE LITE Lab@HKU was awarded the 2023 Edtech Heroes (Adult Learning) Stakeholder Engagement Award. MBBS students immersed in a virtual medical consultation room at which distressed parents of a paediatric cancer patient received the news that chemotherapy has failed, and the family’s narrative that they felt “being abandoned on a drifting boat with the dying child”. 1,000+ PARTICIPANTS IN EACH OF TWO WORKSHOPS ON THE THEME ‘CHATGPT AND AI TECHNOLOGIES IN EDUCATION: THE GOOD, THE BAD, AND THE UNKNOWN’ To help both teachers and students make the most of GenAI, a series of support measures were rolled out by the new Teaching and Learning Innovation Centre (TALIC), which brings under one roof three previous centres (Centre for the Enhancement of Teaching and Learning, Technology-Enriched Learning Initiative, and Teaching and Learning Evaluation and Measurement Unit). TALIC has organised WhatsApp support and an AI clinic for teachers, a dedicated website called AI in Education, a five-week self-paced online module on AI literacy for staff and students, and an assessment guide for teachers. At the curriculum level, new interdisciplinary programmes with a technology focus that includes but is not limited to GenAI, have also been developed, such as the Bachelor of Arts in Humanities and Digital Technology and the Master of Arts in AI, Ethics and Society. Other technologies, such as virtual reality, are also being adopted where they serve curricular needs.
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