NUS students to get ChatGPT access; AI module compulsory for incoming freshmen
Announcing a partnership with OpenAI, NUS said all students, faculty and staff will get access to ChatGPT Edu from Aug 31.
A sign at the National University of Singapore. (File photo: CNA/Calvin Oh)
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SINGAPORE: All National University of Singapore (NUS) students will get access to ChatGPT tools from this academic year, while incoming freshmen will have to complete an artificial intelligence course within their first two weeks of school.
Announcing a partnership with OpenAI on Monday (Aug 11), NUS said all students, faculty and staff will from Aug 31 get access to ChatGPT Edu, a version of ChatGPT that is built specifically for universities and colleges.
More advanced tools on the platform will initially be piloted in selected courses, before being progressively made available in undergraduate courses where AI can add educational value and support learning objectives, the university said.
NUS provost and deputy president for academic affairs Professor Aaron Thean declined to provide exact figures, but shared that the initiative is a “significant but necessary” investment.
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The partnership with OpenAI is the first of many NUS has in the pipeline, he added.
According to Prof Thean, AI companies are keen to work with the university because of its captive market of about 50,000 undergraduate, master’s and PhD students.
But NUS does not intend to rely on a single provider. It wants to work with multiple companies to expose students to a variety of AI tools, he said.
Given the cost of premium large language model platforms, the university also wants to ensure students have equitable access to such tools.
Under its approach, all students will receive baseline access, while those who need more advanced tools to develop expertise in particular domains will be able to use them through specific courses.
Students in fields where AI forms part of their core expertise, such as computing, will have access to the most advanced tools through relevant courses and activities, Prof Thean said.
Currently, NUS students already have access to Microsoft Copilot through the university’s Microsoft 365 subscription.
COMPULSORY AI COURSE
From this academic year, all incoming freshmen must also take a compulsory course called Applied Generative AI: From Prompting to Evaluation.
The module comprises three hours of online lecture videos with embedded quizzes and a two-hour in-person workshop.
More than 7,700 students entering NUS this year began the module in July. They must complete the videos and quizzes before attending the workshop, with all requirements to be completed within the first two weeks of the semester.
The course is intended to give all NUS undergraduates a foundation in using AI tools effectively for learning, assignments, internships and their future careers, said the university.
It forms part of a broader NUS strategy to ensure students graduate with AI fluency.
SUPPORT FOR FACULTY
NUS will provide its own set of ready-to-use AI tools that instructors can adapt for use in their classes, said Professor Melvin Yap, NUS’ associate provost for education and technology.
The aim is to lower the barriers to using AI in teaching by giving instructors a starting point while allowing them to tailor the resources to their specific needs, he added.
“Basically, we don’t want instructors to start from ground zero and figure out from scratch how to use AI for teaching,” he said.
There are currently seven such solutions. One example is a classroom engagement tool that transcribes classroom discussions, tracks contributions and surfaces other topics in real time.
This allows instructors to see how participation is distributed across a class and steer discussions towards more rigorous dialogue, NUS said.
Other tools include a scenario generator, a resource navigator and one for practising oral presentations.
NUS intends to provide support to both students and faculty as they adapt to AI, said Prof Thean, noting that some instructors may face a steeper learning curve as they are “less AI-native” than students and need to level up.
“They have to learn enough to be able to teach,” he said.
The university’s AI Centre for Educational Technologies and Centre for Teaching, Learning and Technology will support faculty in experimenting with and using AI for learning, said NUS.
University staff already have access to its in-house generative AI platform, which includes models from OpenAI, Anthropic and Google.
From this academic year, selected tools from this platform will also be made available to students through specific courses, the university said.
Source: CNA/hw(gs)
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