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The Taskforce "Artificial Intelligence in Education" presented recommendations to the state government in Düsseldorf on July 2 on how to ensure the responsible and sustainable use of artificial intelligence in schools, universities and further education. Patron Nathanael Liminski, Minister for Federal and European Affairs, International Affairs and Media and Head of the State Chancellery of North Rhine-Westphalia, Science Minister Ina Brandes and Schools and Education Minister Dorothee Feller accepted the recommendations from Taskforce coordinator Prof. Dr. Michael Baurmann (Founding Director of the Center for Advanced Internet Studies (CAIS)) and Prof. Dr. Christiane Eilders (CAIS Director).

Responsible integration of AI

The recommendation paper includes hands-on proposals for state policy measures for the responsible integration of AI in schools, universities and further education. The Taskforce is made up of academics from the educational and social sciences and computer science, representatives from the relevant state ministries, the state administration and educational practitioners. Four representatives from FernUniversität in Hagen were involved: Prof. Dr. Dr. Friedrich W. Hesse together with Prof. Dr. Torsten Zesch from the Center of Advanced Technology for Assisted Learning and Predictive Analytics (CATALPA) contributed their scientific perspective in the field of higher education and expertise in computational linguistics. Junior Professor Dr. Hannah Ruschemeier was involved in the Taskforce as an expert in data protection and law. Prof. Dr. Hannes Schröter with his cooperation professorship with the German Institute for Adult Education (DIE) dealt with continuing vocational education in the recommendation paper.

Foto: Land NRW/Florian Hemann

Nathanael Liminski expressed his gratitude for the work the Taskforce put into its paper during the handover: "Since ChatGPT at the latest, everyone has been talking about artificial intelligence and the abbreviation AI has become a fixed term. It is up to us to take advantage of the opportunities and at the same time set ethical boundaries. In order to help shape this technical evolution and weigh up the risks, it is necessary to understand how it works. The results of the "Artificial Intelligence in Education" Taskforce make an important contribution to ensuring that AI education is not only taught in the classroom but also in higher and further education. AI affects all areas of life, so it is logical that cross-departmental and interdisciplinary work has been carried out here in order to do justice to the scope of the topic. As a media minister and father, I am equally concerned about how AI threatens to blur the boundaries between fact and fiction. The results of the Taskforce reinforce our course of a continued effort to strengthen media education in North Rhine-Westphalia in all age groups in order to be able to distinguish between fake news and truth, between dubious and trustworthy."

"In an intensive and detailed exchange between science and practice, we have drawn up a recommendation paper on how a reflective and competent integration of AI into teaching and learning processes can be promoted along the education chain. We are now looking forward to seeing how politicians take up our proposals," says Michael Baurmann.

CATALPA brings expertise to the university landscape

Friedrich W. Hesse, Scientific Director of CATALPA, emphasized how important it is for the university sector in particular to put scientific findings into practice in the sense of a living lab. "Generative AI offers us a unique opportunity to achieve greater educational equity with adaptive learning systems. But this is not in the technology itself. We need good practices, standards and prototypes for dealing with AI in higher education, which we develop in living labs such as CATALPA. Above all, this requires interdisciplinary research to develop alternative, "lean" models of generative AI for research and teaching. Here, it is particularly important that these are financially viable, stable and transparent and therefore ethically and legally more assessable and controllable. In addition, we need adapted examination formats for the AI-supported assessment of students' learning achievements and skills, including examination and teaching support systems for lecturers. This is how we make higher education future-proof."

Five packages of measures for education address state government

The recommendation paper contains five central and cross-sectoral packages of measures. These include establishing legal certainty, implementing permanent AI training for all areas of education, developing and testing good practices and standards, ensuring access to AI applications and establishing and promoting an "AI in education" competence network that integrates the scientific expertise available in NRW and institutionalizes dialogue and cooperation between research, educational practice, education policy and education administration.

Recommendations for the university sector

The sustainable and ongoing development of training courses in the field of AI, especially for university didactics, and the development of prototypes of digital learning environments are key for the higher education sector. In addition, common access options for AI systems should be provided. Access to selected commercial applications should also be possible in the short term, preferably as part of state solutions. An open source infrastructure is to be established by pooling expertise.

Ina Brandes, Minister of Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia, says: "Artificial intelligence is already an integral part of our everyday lives and at our universities. I am certain that AI will help us in many areas to make people's lives more pleasant and better - also with new, efficient teaching and learning methods that are individually tailored to students. At the same time, the rapid development of AI is accompanied by ethical challenges. This is another reason why we, as the state of North Rhine-Westphalia, are investing in AI research in order to create a counterweight to the large American corporations, for whom ethical considerations are not a priority."

Read the recommendations paper

About the task force "Artificial intelligence in education"

The task force "Artificial Intelligence in Education" is a model for networked cooperation between science and practice. It is characterized by a variety of scientific disciplines and practical perspectives: Scientists from the educational and social sciences as well as computer science have identified the need for action and regulation together with representatives from the responsible state ministries and the state administration and educational practice and have developed concrete proposals for state policy measures for the responsible integration of AI in teaching and learning processes. CAIS coordinated the task force.

Its members include representatives from NRW research institutions:

• CATALPA – Center of Advanced Technology for Assisted Learning and Predictive Analytics
• DIE – Deutsches Institut für Erwachsenenbildung – Leibniz-Zentrum für Lebenslanges Lernen
• FernUniversität in Hagen, Rechtswissenschaftliche Fakultät
• Fraunhofer-Institut IAIS
• KI:edu.nrw
• Kompetenzplattform KI.NRW
• Lamarr Institut für Maschinelles Lernen und Künstliche Intelligenz
• Research Center Trustworthy Data Science and Security
• Zentrum für Wissenschaftsdidaktik der Ruhr-Universität Bochum

And additionally

• Ministerium für Kultur und Wissenschaft
• Ministerium für Schule und Bildung
• Staatskanzlei Nordrhein-Westfalen
• Bezirksregierung Münster
• AI4schools
• Grimme-Institut
• Gymnasium Haus Overbach
• Landesarbeitsgemeinschaft für katholische Erwachsenen- und Familienbildung in NRW
• Landesverband VHS NRW
• Roberta-Initiative