The Centre for Professional and Lifelong Education (CPLE) and Graduate School held on May 23, 2023, the annual Teaching, Learning and Research Symposium for Westminster International University in Tashkent (WIUT) academic staff.

Dr Michael Clarke, First Deputy Rector (Academic Affairs) of WIUT, kicked off the symposium. Welcoming the participants to the premier teaching event, he stated: “The topic of this year’s symposium is of particular importance and timely since the rise of AI has raised questions about how we assess student learning”.

The event featured a keynote presentation from a leading practitioner in education alongside eight WIUT faculty presentations, each dealing with the specific areas of research and practice within the scope of the symposium topic. Reflecting the 2023 WIUT Teaching, Learning and Research Symposium theme, the keynote speaker Dr Sal Jarvis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), University of Westminster UoW, shared the University of Westminster perspective regarding the opportunities and challenges of generative AI. Dr Jarvis voiced her concerns regarding the recent developments in the generative AI field, stating “Generative AI in education raises a number of important ethical, technological, and privacy concerns that must be addressed before it can be widely adopted”.

Given the rise of AI as a disruptive innovation, the higher education sector is now forced to move to new and authentic ways of student assessment. The symposium presenters, representing the School of Law, Education and Technology, not only shared ideas about how to respond to the assessment-related challenges in the rise of generative AI but also explored the possibilities of using artificial intelligence tools to enhance student learning.

The Symposium attendees also sourced vital insights from the faculty members representing the School of Business and Economics, Graduate School and Pre-University Studies, who focused on inclusive education practices and sustainable skills for learning in their presentations.

The event ended with the announcement of the Symposium winners. The panel of judges consisted of Dr Sal Jarvis, Deputy Vice-Chancellor (Education), Dr Andy Pitchford, Head of the Centre for Education and Teaching Innovation, UoW and Dr Michael Clarke, First Deputy Rector (Academic Affairs) of WIUT. The first place was awarded to Hamid Reza Shahbazika for his presentation titled as “Leveraging ChatGPT to Enhance Learning skills (case of programming languages)”