Category: Learning, teaching and web services

Impact of AI on EDI practice

If you search for ‘impact of AI on EDI’, you mostly get returns discussing Electronic Data Interchange. But with a few tweaks we can find a growing corpus of information.

We can use AI to speed up  some of our EDI tasks, But there are big risks if we don’t actually know what we are doing.

EDI policies available from universities are all fairly similar, so a quick query to ELM (or similar LLM) will move you forward fast, although it may cite the wrong law. ELM can very quickly produce a workplace menopause policy, for instance. HR colleagues may fear for their jobs.  However constant vigilance is needed.  I particularly notice that AI will reference ‘The Equalities Act’  which is incorrect, there are not many equalities, just Equality. Equality Act 2010

That said, the law is also not keeping up with AI

In the recent Fife NHS Employment Tribunal, there has been concern that one or other of the judges involved was relying on AI misinformation Judge Kemp denies use of AI in Peggie judgment | Scottish Legal News.  The ruling had to be corrected several times and an appeal is planned.

It may be tempting to use AI to understand organisational data, but it seems likely that the result will be as biased as the historic data that you use. If we have not in the past gathered data about our particular demographics, the data will not be there for the models to learn.

It may even re-write history. Despite we know about holocaust deniers and historical revisionists, our new race awareness trainings for staff and students does not even touch on concerns about how people may learn abut history from AI .

Similarly, our consent training and sexual harassment training make no reference to online harms or consent of images. Deepfakes, revenge porn and image abuse are facilitated by AI. There is no reason to think that the people in the University of Edinburgh population are different from all others. The adding of image creation functionality to ELM has been a particular area of concern for me. Just because other tools do it, doesn’t seem like a good enough reason to outweigh the risks.

How are we helping our students to recognise fake images? Do our ‘report and support’ systems include support for detection?

Our students and staff are just as likely as any to put themselves in risky situations of scams and fakers. How are we teaching them to be safe, what does ‘safe spaces’  and ‘active bystander’ even mean in this new era?

In organisations such as ours, where concerns are consistently raised about unconscious bias, it is naive to think that this problem has been ‘fixed’.  The AI will amplify the biases of those who use it, and may be a dangerous tool in the hands of management ( including human resource management).

The demographics of people who work in AI are skewed heavily in favour of men, and in Scotland, white men.I see this at every meeting discussing ELM. We must do more to get diversity in the thinking about how tools will be used and the opportunities they afford. One woman in the room is not enough. Building an AI profession for everyone: diversity at the heart of the UK’s tech future | BCS

Recruitment, retention and career progression are particularly vulnerable areas. If past hiring decisions favored certain demographics, AI systems may replicate these patterns, disadvantaging underrepresented groups.

It is clear that while some people are championing the use of AI with enthusiasm, it is likely to have a disproportionate impact on particular groups, and that is where EDI leadership must be alert. The UNESCO study find harms to women and girls, negative content about gay people and particular ethnic groups and racial stereotyping.

Bias is being discussed in popular magazines and in academic studies, but still targeted mostly at people who are interested in stories about AI, rather than the general public. eg:

I had hoped that digital accessibility would be an area of positive enhancement, and transform the lives of people with disabilities, and this does seem to be an area in which significant gains are being made. As I age and my eyes and ears let me down, I am hopeful for the many AI enhancements I will be able to access.

But there is still the underlying risk that developers who use AI to write code will be drawing on a historical mass of legacy code which did not include the features of accessibility and no-one will be checking.

What can we do:

  • Update all our EDI training offers to include content about the impact of AI.
  • Quickly target training at HR professionals, disability support staff, welfare advisers, safety staff, network groups, occupational health and well-being professionals and EDI leaders to ensure they understand the impact AI may be having.
  • Engage IT professionals and web developers in discussions about using AI in accessibility checking and coding.
  • Take care that any AI training we develop and deliver covers these topics above.
  • Take care that any AI tools we develop and deliver make considerable investment to be better for All.

 

 

 

Athena Swan win -assessment and feedback

I am delighted that my team in LTW at University of Edinburgh have gained a Bronze Athena Swan Award. I bet we are the first learning technology department in a UK university to do so. We are certainly the first professional services department  at Edinburgh to achieve it.  We got great feedback from the assessment panel.

The panel is satisfied that the application adequately addresses the award criteria and is pleased to confer a Bronze Athena Swan award.

The panel commends the leadership and senior buy-in which is evident in several ways, including:

·       the strong letter of endorsement from the Director which communicates a solid organisational commitment to Athena Swan and demonstrates a clear understanding of the importance of Equality, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) in improving service delivery and experience for all – the inclusion of Directorate initiatives in Institutional Athena Swan applications underscores the value of the work being undertaken (pp.5-6);

·       the Director’s personal leadership and active development of a range of EDI-related initiatives (pp.9-12);

·       resourcing a Data and Equality Officer (DEO) post which includes responsibilities to support EDI work, for example, reporting Directorate /user demographic data to the Senior Management Team (SMT) and maintaining the EDI newsletter (p.9);

·       senior management representation on the Directorate’s Self-Assessment Team (SAT), including the Director and the Head of Operations (pp.14-15);

·       recognition and reward of EDI work through both local (e.g., digital badges) and University recognition mechanisms (e.g., vouchers, annual review process, pp.10-11).

A clear governance structure for EDI is in place with accountability lying with senior colleagues (p.9). The panel commends the purposeful design of structures and processes to embed EDI in decision-making and in the culture of the Directorate, for example, the establishment of roles which explicitly involve EDI, the Dignity and Respect Advisor is a member of the SMT and Athena Swan will be a standing item at SMT meetings (pp.9-10, p.17, p.44). The links between the Directorate’s EDI work and University EDI governance structures appear strong, for example, the Director is a member of the University EDI Committee and the DEO sits on the University Equality and Diversity Monitoring and Reporting Committee (EDMARC) (p.9); these links ensure that the Directorate’s EDI/gender equality work is aligned with institutional strategy as well as providing opportunities for broader collaboration.

Similarly, processes for policy development and evaluation, including feedback routes, appear robust (p.13). The Directorate uses Equality Impact Assessments in respect of local policy/practice and staff perceptions of being informed about University policies relating to EDI are largely positive (although there is a disparity between male/female responses, p.13).

The SAT brings diversity of perspectives, including representatives from component teams and with different lived experience of members; the recruitment process, comprising expressions of interest combined with targeted invitations to ensure that the SAT reflects the diversity of the Directorate, is commended (pp.14-15).

A transparent account of the activities of the SAT from its inception until finalisation of the application, including a timeline (table 3), is provided (pp.16-17). Multiple data sources informed the self-assessment and a range of approaches have been utilised to capture the voices of the Directorate’s community (p.16). The Directorate’s plans to monitor and implement the action plan, which will be overseen by the SAT, appear robust and are commended (p.17).

As a result of a thorough analysis of the mandatory data and a critical evaluation of culture, a wide range of gender equality issues are identified (pp.18-26). The panel commends the:

·       range of activity to develop a positive and supportive culture, including Mandatory Training Day, Friday messages, events for Ada Lovelace Day, EDI reading groups and promoting the University’s Don’t Cross the Line campaign (pp.23-26). The impact of these activities is evident in positive feedback about the culture of the Directorate (e.g., 83% of respondents to the EDI survey ‘felt the workplace was inclusive’, p.23);

·       collection and analysis of data on contribution awards and pay;

·       evidence-based and thoughtful approach to the use of a variety of benchmarks to support a nuanced analysis of the gender equality issues facing the Directorate.

The panel congratulates the Directorate on achieving a Bronze award.

 Good practice examples highlighted

The panel considers the Directorate’s approach, led by the Wikimedian in Residence, to diversify Wikipedia writers and content, to be good practice. The Resident Wikimedian hosts regular events and workshops to train staff and students to edit Wikipedia entries and write articles to increase the diversity of subject and contributors (p.25). This work has been impactful in raising the profile of the limitations of Wikipedia (particularly to students), addressing the gender bias in whose stories are disseminated online and improving around 16,000 articles.

The panel also considers the PlayFair Steps initiative, including EDI recognition badges, to be good practice (pp.10-11).

More broadly, the panel commends the thoughtful consideration with which a variety of sector, discipline and regional benchmarks are used.

find lifelong learning at Edinburgh

Adulting
Adulting

Our short courses catalogue, which launched in May of this year, continues to grow, attracting visitors and over 1,800 enrolments to courses from engaged learners looking to learn something new, upskill or enhance their knowledge.

In the month of July there were over 800 enrolments to courses, an increase of 5% compared to June. Active users to the catalogue also increased by 68% month on month, with 58% more views to pages than in the month of June.  

With both organic and paid-for campaigns in place we expect to see this this trend of increasing web traffic and bookings over the coming months. We would encourage colleagues to share the short courses catalogue through their networks, mailing lists, on websites and social media channels.  

The Short Courses Platform Service team are working with colleagues to add more courses whilst also continuing to refine and optimise the catalogue based on user feedback. Some enhancements over the next few weeks and months will include a new and improved dynamic filter experience, enhanced course options table and cosmetic changes. This will ensure that the site continues to meet the needs of our users providing them with the best possible user experience when booking on to a course. 

Home | Short Courses – University of Edinburgh

revisiting playful engagement

Lovely illustrations for our playful engagement website by the LTW Interactive Content Team

You may have seen a recent WonkHE article about playful leadership  The case for playful leadership | Wonkhe It announces a new research project called Re:PLAY * and I am pleased to say that ISG  University of Edinburgh is a partner in this research.

It was interesting to me that when the ISG directors had a team-building away day recently ( facilitated by Common Purpose), the advice from our visiting mentor was to embrace elements of playfulness in our leadership.

Playful Engagement at work refers to the attitude and behaviours of employees that involve approaching tasks, interactions, and challenges with a sense of enjoyment, creativity, and innovation. It involves injecting elements of fun, humour, and spontaneity into the work environment while still maintaining focus and productivity. At ISG this can encompass the ways we approach innovation, inclusion, creativity, workplace environment, workplace interactions, team building, community building, skill development, outreach, communication, work life balance, achievement and celebration.

The ISG Playful Engagement Strategy was created in 2019 to establish and cultivate a workplace environment and culture that integrates innovation, playful learning, and creative engagement into our practices. The strategy encompassed the implementation of services, tools, technologies, practices, communication, and community engagement throughout the group, extending beyond the University to address the new ways of working.

The original strategy meant to target the four focused areas which defines Playful Engagement for  ISG:

  1. Encourage the growth of innovative, playful, and creative minds.
  2. Advocate for the inventive and playful application of technologies and tools within ISG services.
  3. Leverage our top-tier libraries and collections in unique and captivating ways to enhance our services.
  4. Foster a healthy work-life balance and a positive, engaging work environment.

Over the past five years, ISG and its working strategies have evolved in the way we provide our services and the transition into digital habitation and hybrid modes of working. This project will give us an opportunity for an update of the ISG Playful Engagement strategy.

 

*not to be confused with the name of our lecture recording service

nice weather for ducks

Liverbirds
Liverbirds
Pink echo
Pink echo

On some of the hottest days of the year this week,  I ventured southwards for two conferences, both featuring birds and both styled in hot pink.

EchoExperience25 at the University of Nottingham https://info.echo360.com/attendee-hub-echoexperience-emea

and

UCISA Women in Technology in Liverpool WiT25 – UCISA

Pink WiT
Pink WiT

 

At WiT Katie and I spoke about what works in our efforts to establish career paths for women into some of the areas of technology where they are currently under-represented. We presented a number of case studies from the last 10 years of LTW internships and trailed the research work which will be going on this summer to track the career paths and destinations of so many intern alumni over time.  We were un-phased by the fact that the conference organisers had failed to upload our slides sent in advance and so we had to just wing it for while.

At Echo I enjoyed a very glamorous evening of castle, caves, culture and canards about sagittarians and luddites before proving that I would say boo to a goose.

Nottsgeese
Nottsgeese

how does your garden grow online?

another lovely slide theme created for me by the LTW Graphic Design team.
another lovely slide theme created for me by the LTW Graphic Design team.

I was delighted to be invited as to National College of Ireland to speak as part  of their  ‘Assuring Quality in Fully Online Programme Delivery’ event last week.  A lovely excuse to visit Dublin again.

I chose a gardening theme which enabled me to talk about the time it takes to grow online learning and the investments we make in ensuring that there are good growing conditions and that native plants can thrive.

To plant a garden is to believe in tomorrow
-Audrey Hepburn

adult Jewish human female

It was my honour this weekend to be part of a Bat Mitzvah ceremony for the daughter of one of my oldest friends.  The Bat Mitzvah girl has  grown into an engaging, lively, curious and clever young woman and it was lovely to see her take this step into adulthood as she comes of age.

The service included many reflections on what being a woman in our community is, the importance of family, friends and individuality and the many names we gain as we travel through life.

The event also gave me an opportunity to go on a bit about  how bat mitzvahs were established and the wikipedia page I wrote in 2016 for the first bat mitzvah girl, Judith Kaplan Eisenstein. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Judith_Kaplan_Eisenstein

As I was telling the story of the first in 1922 and referring to it as ‘fairly recently’, one of the young women of the party did point out that that is now more than 100 years ago. Time has gone so fast.

Nevertheless, I think the words of Judith Kaplan are still hopeful and relevant to the fight for equality   “No thunder sounded. No lightning struck. It all passed very peacefully.”

 

Looking at the Wikipedia page for Bat Mitzvah, I see that it is a subset of the page for Bar Mitzvah. I also notice that the pictures which illustrate the page could do with a refresh, so if you have pictures of your bat mitzvah which you would be happy to release, I may be able to add you to this article for worldwide fame ( but no fortune). Bar and bat mitzvah – Wikipedia

media, AI and students

Interns working on K.
Interns working on K.

I am pleased to be able to offer paid work to 20 student interns to work in ISG as captioners.

Alongside AI tools which generate automated captions and transcripts, the human captioners ensure that the standard of quality is good enough to support students with hearing difficulties.   This semester (to 5th March)  they have corrected over 100  pieces of media.​ The time spent captioning varies significantly based on the subject, but as the captioners gain skill and confidence the turnaround time and quality increases.  50-minute long lectures are usually turned around within 4 days. 

who learns where?

Using the right platform for your learning activity

We’ve created an infographic which we hope helps explain the collection of platforms available for University of Edinburgh colleagues to use, the strategy for each and which should be used for different learning/teaching activities.  The graphic talks through the benefits of using each platform. Each platform is designed with a particular use in mind, providing features to suit the specific use-case/audience.  We hope you find it helpful. If you have any questions, please contact us via the IS Helpline.