August 31 – September 1 2023
By Gavin Nigel Chuacuco, UP Diliman Department of Philosophy
The seminar entitled “Community of Inquiry and AI Ethics” aimed to provide participants with an opportunity to discuss and learn, by manner of community of inquiry, some of the most pressing ethical issues on AI use in Philippine education.
The first day started with an introduction from the participants and a lecture from Assoc. Prof. Lumberto Mendoza. In the lecture, the community of inquiry framework was introduced alongside discussion of several ethical issues in the use of AI in Education. Despite strong opinions on the use of AI, an initial survey and conversation with the participants showed that all of them had no previous immersion with ChatGPT. In the afternoon, the seminar was conducted in the computer lab where participants had hands-on activities regarding ChatGPT uses and relevant plagiarism detectors. The day concluded with a community of inquiry session to reflect and share insights among everyone.
The second day started with a lecture and activity by Asst. Prof. Symel De Guzman-Daulat on other AI tools that could be used by students and teachers. These consisted of easily accessible website applications such as WePik, Sharly, Canva, and OpenArt, among others. The afternoon involved a lecture by Instr. Gavin Chuacuco on AI policies/ethical guidelines by institutions such as UNESCO and UP Diliman. The lecture served as points for discussion for the community of inquiry session that followed. This final community of inquiry session also served as an overall synthesis and conclusion to the seminar. The concluding insights were mainly about: 1) the digital divide that restricts access to these technologies, 2) the need for more workshops and training on the topic, and 3) the need for teachers to adopt measures that can prevent students from cheating. The program ended with high hopes as both facilitators and participants expressed optimism in making ethical use of AI towards a more innovative, integrative, and reflective education.