University dons call for AI adoption in teaching, research

By Isaac OGANGA

Kenyan university educators are calling for an urgent review of existing infrastructure within higher education institutions to allow for the seamless integration of artificial intelligence in classrooms and research.

This was a key takeaway from a workshop organised by the Microsoft Africa Development Centre (ADC) in collaboration with the Kenya Education Network (KENET) to explore the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to improve teaching, learning, and research in higher education.

Speaking at the event, Microsoft ADC Managing Director Catherine Muraga emphasised the importance of AI in the evolving classroom landscape and presented private-private and public-private partnerships as a key way to bridge existing infrastructure gaps.

 “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,” said Ms Muraga.