This autumn will see a strong government focus on artificial intelligence (AI) with the UK hosting the inaugural AI safety summit in November. In education, generative AI tools have both excited and alarmed the world over the past year, with tools like ChatGPT reportedly reaching over 100 million users within three months of its public launch. At Imperial College London, we recognise that generative AI is poised to transform many of our graduates’ careers, and we must therefore adapt our educational offering to provide them with the skills that will be in demand. Our staff and students are working together to realise the significant opportunities offered by generative AI and to address the evident challenges. Our initial approaches have covered a range of education activity, from assessment and feedback to entrepreneurship support and the wider student experience.
AI has significant potential to improve the university learning experience by enabling increasingly personalised and real-time feedback to students, particularly for many formative assessments. In fact, a team of staff and students have together developed a new web platform to deliver automated feedback on mathematical problems, with positive results. The platform – Lambda Feedback – currently hosts nine modules across eight departments, and is being tested by over 1,000 students.
The long-term goal of Lambda Feedback is to provide highly personalised feedback at the point of coursework submission, allowing students to receive constructive feedback instantly. This, in turn, can increase the time spent on more valuable discussions between staff and students during contact hours.
