by Chrissi Nerantzi, Zachary Farouk Chai, Alexandra Poradowska, Maria Pavlopoulou, University of Leeds, UK.
In this short article, the module leader, a teaching assistant and students capture their story of re-imagining an approved postgraduate module as an AI-enabled curriculum that harnesses the power of collaborative learning through problem-based learning to deepen critical and creative understanding of educational practice, opportunities, challenges and possibilities for the future.
We know that it can take higher education a long time to approve new programmes and modules and to get amendments through for existing ones. It shouldn’t be this way.
While simplifying programmes is high on the agenda of institutions, academic administration still seems largely cumbersome. This often acts as a deterrent for educators from making any changes to existing provision. Excessive workload allocation also seems to create barriers for innovation. But what if we decide to navigate critically and creatively within constraints and dare to be resourceful – even bold? Is collaboration with our students a valuable way forward? What if we navigate together within the parameters of an approved module? Mission impossible? Think again!
The postgraduate module Education in a Digital Society is part of the MA in Digital Education in the School of Education at the University of Leeds, and is also offered to students on the MA in Education. While the module was fit for purpose pre-GenAI, a lot has changed in the last three years. The module leader felt that there was a need, an urgency perhaps, and an opportunity to reimagine this module so that students gain the most from working and learning with others, utilising critical and social constructivist pedagogies and practices such as problem-based learning and scenarios that can be contextualised and centred around concepts, big ideas and sustainable learning materials in the form of open educational resources and tools, including GenAI. The focus is on critical thinking, curiosity and wild questioning, possibility thinking, and making connections to diverse human thought, to each other and recognising that learning is messy, relational and needs to be authentic. Bypassing thinking does not lead to learning – it is bypassing it! Costa and Murphy talk about “responsibilising thinking”, which is an interesting concept. Students on the module are invited to reflect on their past, present and future journeys as educators in a fast-changing world that requires an adaptive mindset, and this forms their assessment.
The module leader invited students who had completed the module and a doctoral researcher who will be co-facilitating the module with me next year to collaboratively reimagine the curriculum. Collaboration with students on scholarship projects, for example, happens routinely, so the module leader reached out again. Learning is relational, and building these relationships to connect with our students and recognising what they bring can happen in multiple ways. One of them is co-creating curricula. There is increasing interest in staff-student partnerships and how these can be transformative for both. This special issue brings fresh hope and demonstrates commitment in this area, as the value of such partnerships is increasingly recognised. In this link, the editors introduce this publication with a brief foreword to the issue, which contains a short summary of all the articles.
Students not only love it, but they also learn a lot, and through this process, we get to know each other. They can clearly see that their ideas are valued and taken into consideration.
Co-creation can support more equitable and inclusive learning experiences. These partnerships open up many opportunities to centre connection, care and social justice in how we design curricula, assess learning and make decisions that affect students. They encourage deeper conversations around belonging, meaning and mattering, not as afterthoughts, but as central to the student experience. When we co-create with students, we acknowledge their lived experiences, interests and prior knowledge, and we create spaces where motivation, confidence and wellbeing are nurtured.
Designing with those we are designing for. Leaving GenAI out of the module was not an option. As educators, it is important that we also keep learning and experimenting, driven by evidence on how to boost engagement, connection and learning. After the module leader engaged with a series of GenAI applications, including feedback poetry and generating PBL scenarios in different modules and crowdsourcing with colleagues from #creativeHE, two open books with hundreds of creative ideas about how GenAI can be used in education, it was the right moment to bring everything together in a systematic way and radically reimagine and redesign this module within the constraints of an approved module. After all, in our institution, the ambitious strategic Curriculum Redefined programme is underway, and it is all about flexible, inclusive and transformative learning. How could we resist?
GenAI is a hot potato among staff and students, but we feel that if we don’t experiment responsibly with it, we won’t really know first-hand how it could be used well, and when it is a waste of time. A study participant in a research project once told me: “You don’t learn to play the piano by reflecting on the piano.” So true! The same seems to apply to GenAI.
Nobody who truly wants to learn will look for ways to bypass learning. Trusting our students is so important. When we as educators demonstrate that we are learners as well as subject specialists, discover excitement in the new, and go on adventures with our students, we are strengthening learning relationships and empowering our students too.
The authentic voices of students who were part of this reimagining process follow.
Zachary: “It is worth reviewing module and programme specifications and articulating these so that there is plenty of room to manoeuvre within the constraints. There is something beautiful about design that is simple and has built-in flexible breathing spaces to let the imagination wander and wonder and co-create stimulating and meaningful learning experiences with our students that will place them at the heart of society and enable them to make a positive contribution to the world.”
Alexandra: “Reimagining the module Education in a Digital Society as a former student was a truly rewarding experience. Working in collaboration with my tutor made me feel empowered and highly valued as an individual. This was an enriching learning opportunity that helped me develop my creativity and achieve my full potential.”
Maria: “The process of redesigning this module was a unique opportunity for me to contribute to an important HE (higher education) project related to my postgraduate studies. The fruitful dialogue with my tutor and peers fostered my creative and critical thinking and enabled me to delve into the instructional design of a Master’s module, by also drawing links between my own experience with the module as a student back in 2023-2024 and the new form of it.”
The module companion is now available as an openly licensed Pressbook, thanks to the University of Leeds Open Books initiative, and we invite educators and students to access and engage with it. Could this be a mission possible for you too? We would love to find out!
Chrissi Nerantzi is a Professor in Creative and Open Education in the School of Education at the University of Leeds, a senior lead of the Knowledge Equity Network, the founder of the Creativity for learning in higher education (#creativeHE) community and the co-chair of the ICDE Open Education Network.
Zachary Farouk Chai is a Doctor of Education (EdD) candidate at the School of Education University of Leeds. His current research focuses on teacher cognition of Mobile-assisted language learning (MALL). He is also interested in the teaching of vocabulary and reading to young learners.
Alexandra Poradowska is a language professional and first year postgraduate student of the MA in Digital Education at the University of Leeds. She is passionate about the potential benefits of artificial intelligence in foreign language teaching and learning.
Maria Pavlopoulou is a language educator, author of educational books, co-creator of the educational pages @heromathesis and GlossaplAI and a second-year postgraduate student in Digital Education at the University of Leeds. Her recent and forthcoming work explores incorporating Generative AI into language education, OERs and Playful Learning.
