Target audience – FE and HE college students at levels 1 to 4

Age Group – 16 to 19 (18+?)

Short overview of scenario

Students need to use the resources available through the library to support their learning and they need to know how to find them. Many rarely use these resources possibly because they do not know where or how to find them or they simply “Google it” which produces potentially unreliable results. There are two main sources of information, hardcopy books and online resources including e-books. Both are accessible through the online library catalogue. We need to enable the students to use the catalogue effectively by helping them access the catalogue, use appropriate search terms and filter the results to find the most relevant resources.

Scenario description

Learner logs in correctly, locates the appropriate icons and launches the catalogue. They search for a hard copy book and note the location of the items found. Next they search for online resources and learn how to correctly cite the information found. Having learned how to search for information themselves they then hold a facilitated discussion, or even given a questionnaire to discover their thoughts and feelings about the value of searching for information themselves compared with an AI doing the search for them. They should think about their own learning and development and how that would be affected if they no longer needed to do the searching. How much can they trust the results returned?

Scenario Objectives

1. Students can log in correctly and launch the catalogue
2. Students can use appropriate search terms and filters to find specific items or resources
3. Students understand the value of knowing how to search for information

Requirements

Each student should have access to a computer (PC, laptop or Chromebook preferably)

Internet access and their college login details

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Outline plan 

Aim for short activities 2 hours max

Activity 1 of 3	Searching for valid information sources to support their work on an assignment
Timing	30 minutes
Methods	Students carrying out a practical activity.
What the tutor is doing	Directing students to the correct icons, advising on search terms
What the learners are doing	In groups of 2 students login, find library catalogue and search for the resources using a selection of search terms
Equipment and Support	Computers with internet access, college login, Athens Portal
Link to AI@School Curriculum	Can students input the subject/search terms into an AI interface and the AI locate the relevant sources of information and filter it to produce appropriate results?
Assessment of/for learning	Ability of students to find valid information.Can all this be done using AI to find valid and appropriate information?
Resources/links/relevant content/Examples	https://youtu.be/usW8dNsP6Cw

Activity 2 of 3	Discussion about the ethics of using AI in a library to provide students with the information they need
Timing	30 minutes
Methods	Teacher proposes a potential situation and the learners discuss this in groups
What the tutor is doing	Explaining the situation, i.e. that an AI interface can be asked, verbally or by text, to find sources of information on a subject so the student does not have to. Facilitate the discussion.
What the learners are doing	Discussing whether it is actually beneficial to a student to get AI to find the information sources they need rather than finding it for themselves. Questioning the purpose of libraries, do they exist to provide information or is part of the role to educate students in how to find information and distinguish between valid and invalid sources?
Equipment and Support	None
Link to AI@School Curriculum	Ethics. This is not a moral issue, it is about the purpose of information searching in a student’s intellectual development and what might be lost if they do not learn how a search works.
Assessment of/for learning	Do they understand the point of carrying out research? Do they see a benefit in doing it for themselves? Who and how does AI help in terms of information searching?
Resources/links/relevant content/Examples

Activity 3 of 3	Discussion about the ethics of using AI in an educational context in terms of student learning and reliable assessment of learning
Timing	30 minutes
Methods	Teacher proposes a potential situation and the learners discuss this in groups
What the tutor is doing	Explaining the situation, i.e. that an AI interface can be asked, verbally or by text, to find information on a specific question from a range of sources. The AI will find quotes or text which the AI paraphrases for the student so the student does not have to. Facilitate the discussion. For example, could you input an essay title or assignment brief into an AI interface and it find all the supporting material needed? Given enough information could AI write the essay itself? Would it still make sense?
What the learners are doing	Discussing whether it is actually beneficial to a student to get AI to find the supporting information and effectively their assignment answers rather than finding it for themselves.
Equipment and Support	None
Link to AI@School Curriculum	Ethics. This is not a moral issue, it is about the purpose of information searching in a student’s intellectual development and what might be lost if they do not learn how a search works and how to extract the relevant pieces of information from a source.
Assessment of/for learning	Do they understand the point of carrying out research? Do they see a benefit in doing it for themselves? Who and how does AI help in terms of information searching?
Resources/links/relevant content/Examples

Activity 2 and 3 encourage learners to consider:

• Value Alignment
• To identify where ethical issues may arise in an AI system.:
• To think critically about what we should allow AI systems to do and how these intelligent systems should be implemented in our society.

Our notes from practice

Activity 1 is part of the advanced induction we offer to all HE students when they start their programme. It was originally delivered offline but it also works online. On the whole it is well received though they normally ask for a refresher later in the year or even in their second year at which point they really appreciate it’s usefulness.

Toolkit

Title – Introduction to OpenAthens – English

URL – https://youtu.be/LnNi1AKagKU

A short video explaining how to access OpenAthens the portal we use to access the library catalogue and all electronic resources.