Persuasion Over Prescription: Building AI Expertise in Highered
Ever had that moment of retrospective clarity, realizing the perfect thing to say only after a meeting has ended? It happened to me last week in a session with the management of my university. Someone suggested we should develop an e-learning module on AI literacy and make taking it mandatory for all staff. I disagreed about making it mandatory but didn't have the right words at the time, so I kept quiet. Here's what I should have said:
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While I agree the stakes and urgency to develop our lecturer's AI literacy are high, I don't think this is an effective approach, at least not now. Making anything mandatory usually doesn't fit well with our institutional culture infused with academic freedom. Such an approach may even backfire. Many might feel their intellect and autonomy are being offended. Some might outright refuse to take the module, while others might show token compliance, formally completing it but learning little.
I propose we rather turn to classical rhetorical persuasion techniques and appeal to reason (logos), sprinkling it with a bit of emotion (pathos), and credibility (ethos).
What about an "ad campaign" for the module? For example, we could record a video on the benefits of being AI literate, and the urgent pitfalls of not being so, all explained by our eloquent and impassioned rector. At the end of the message, lecturers would be cordially invited to take the module.
I believe this is the right approach. After all, rationality is the ABC of academic work, and if we don't think that appeals to logic and reason will work with this target group, we should probably all go home.
But I admit, it would be naïve to expect this liberal approach to reach 100% efficacy. However, by making the module mandatory, we risk alienating those who may be intrinsically motivated to take it and those who are neutral. I believe that taken together, these two groups comprise the vast majority of our employees. And yes, eventually, we may need to employ some more coercive techniques, but let's not begin there.
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What do you think? Are you convinced by the counter-proposal? It took me three hours to write this and countless interactions with ChatGPT. So, I expect I'll still be catching those moments of clarity after the fact for some time before I can come up with responses like these off the cuff. But hey, forward is forward.
P.S. I also disagreed with the intervention, the e-learning module, but that is a story for another day.
