Singapore’s universities race to embrace AI as job demands transform

The South China Morning Post reported on how Singapore universities are increasingly integrating artificial intelligence (AI) into teaching and learning as employers place greater emphasis on AI literacy among graduates. The article highlighted initiatives by local universities to expand students’ access to AI tools, while examining concerns about the impact of generative AI on critical thinking, academic integrity and assessment practices.

Prof Mutlu Cukurova, 18th C J Koh Professor at NTU’s National Institute of Education (NIE), contributed his perspectives on how AI should be incorporated into education. He noted that current evidence suggests AI could lead to stagnant or declining competency levels and reduced persistence when students instinctively rely on it to solve difficult problems.

At the same time, Prof Cukurova highlighted the potential for AI to positively support learning when it is deliberately designed to encourage students to think and question rather than simply provide answers. He emphasised that intellect, creativity and critical thinking require purposeful educational design and do not arise merely from access to capable AI tools.

On academic assessment, Prof Cukurova described AI surveillance and detection as a “losing battle” and advocated designing tasks that require students to interact with and critically evaluate AI-generated outputs. He stressed that AI competence extends beyond effective prompting to include the ability to identify when an AI output is incorrect and determine when a task should not be delegated to AI.

Read the original article here.