Kenyan university lecturers are calling for an urgent review of existing infrastructure within higher education institutions. The move, they say, will allow for the seamless integration of artificial intelligence (AI) in classrooms and research.
The call for improved technological improvements was a key takeaway from a recent workshop organised by the Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) in collaboration with the Kenya Education Network (KENET). The workshop aimed to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve teaching, learning, and research in higher education.
The workshop’s discussions focused on four major themes. These are the need for AI skill development, improving pedagogy through research, the role of AI and research, and the infrastructure requirements to accelerate AI adoption.
While acknowledging AI’s potential in education, educators emphasized the importance of ongoing professional development opportunities. This is to ensure they have the skills needed to incorporate new technologies into their teaching methods. Additionally, discussions focused on the importance of responsible AI development that promotes inclusivity.
According to the experts, this will necessitate investment in collecting, sorting, storing, and processing datasets derived from African settings. They also advocated for the development of policies and guidelines governing the use of AI in educational institutions.
Speaking at the event, Microsoft ADC Managing Director Catherine Muraga emphasised the importance of AI in the evolving classroom landscape saying, “It was a fruitful workshop with academics, policymakers, researchers, and partners such as KENET. One of the most important considerations for universities is the availability of infrastructure for collecting and storing local data, which can then be used to train AI models for use in education and research. The government, which can provide significant assistance in areas such as technology-related skilling, is one of the larger players that must also be engaged.”
On his part, KENET executive director, Professor Meoli Kashorda said, “AI tools are already being used by some students and lecturers. At this point, we must consider how AI can be made available to everyone in higher education. The challenge is that it demands more AI infrastructure, which requires significant resources. We need huge investments in AI infrastructure so we can start to apply it in research at scale.”