Wednesday June 26, 2024 – The Education and Digital Division, Office of the President, Khon Kaen University, organized the Al for the Next Generation Leader Workshop for middle-level administrators. Assoc. Prof. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul, M.D., President of Khon Kaen University, presided over the opening session and gave a special talk on: Recommendations of AI Policy. Assoc. Prof. Tanachat Noomon, Ph.D., a qualified member of the University Council and Asst. Prof. Denpong Soodphakdee, Ph.D., Vice President for Education and Digital, joined as distinguished speakers. The event was organized at Sirikunakorn Conference Room, 2nd Floor, Sirikunakorn Building, from 9:00 a.m. to 16:00 p.m.
Assoc. Prof. Charnchai Panthongviriyakul, M.D., President of Khon Kaen University, said that in the era where digital technology has its key role in organizational administration, development of digital skill has become the important factor that enables administrators to get ready for organizational transformation into a digital university. It is also necessary for staff members to acquire knowledge and skill in applying AI technology in organizational development.
Khon Kaen University therefore proceeds with the policy related to education and operations through equipping lecturers, students and staff with cognizance of and capability in appropriate use of AI. Their attitude related to Generative AI will have been adjusted so that Generative AI is no longer a villain but an assistant in a classroom that still retains the Learning Paradigm of thinking, analyzing, synthesizing. In this regard, lecturers must be able to master it before applying in classrooms.
“We must form the concept that this basic job already has the assistant, that is, AI. Therefore, we must be one step ahead by laying guidelines for developing Generative AI Policy that enables lecturers to bring the tool to design their curriculum, assessment and evaluation, and producing graduates who possess knowledge and use Generative AI as the tool. This leads to digital age labor, which is demanded by the labor market. An important thing for everyone to think about is that you believe in, like and are able to use Generative AI.”
The training atmosphere was full of fun. Assoc. Prof. Tanachat Noomon, Ph.D., a qualified member of the University Council, gave a talk on Generative AI for Administrators. He explained about the background of AI and different tools that use Generative AI, including Claude, Chat GPT and Gemini, which are the assistant that helps saving time. At the same time, the smartness of AI, owing to its being continuously trained, has increasingly replaced labor in different jobs. Thus, what is important is looking at AI as a personal assistant and using AI as a tool to create more efficient and fast operations.
Asst. Prof. Denpong Soodphakdee, Ph.D., Vice President for Education and Digital said that lecturers, staff and students of Khon Kaen University need to regularly adjust themselves and be prepared to learn new things, think ahead about extension, be able to use digital tools, do new things and adjust them with one’s work, as well as be able to analyze the complicated situation and use digital technology to solve the confronted problem.
“There are 3 things one should adopt as a habit, namely, whatever the job, think about digital first; follow-up, study, experiment new technologies; and think beyond what technology can do.”
The Education and Digital Section has laid the future digital plan with expectation for over 50% of KKU staff dealing with instruction and research to use Gen AI in their job, under the guidelines given by the University this year. In the following years, programs receiving impact from Gen AI will have been assessed in order to come up with the guidelines for curricular development. Moreover, at least 50% of the programs will use Gen AI as part of the instruction. In 2027, all KKU students will have the Gen AI skill at the level that supports their future occupation.
The event also featured the workshop on Generative AI in Action that sharpens the competency of trainees by having them use AI as their smart assistant. The Workshop was divided into 3 groups. The first group: AI as an Assistant (Operation/writing) was run by Asst. Prof. Anucha Somabutr, Ph.D., and Asst. Prof. Parama Khwaengmuang, Ph.D. These two trainers built a lot of laughs from trainees when they tried to make everyone understand the work of AI in daily life. This group used the following tools: Gemini, perplexity and Gamma. The second group was AI as an Analyzer (Data analytic/ Deep strategic/Learning), by Asst. Prof. Denpong Soodphakdee, Ph.D., and Ajarn Kit Thaintahnopajai, Ph.D., who shared knowledge and skills in the use of tools as assistants and enabled everyone to “chat with the data” in a simple way by just clicking Chat GPT and Akkio. The last group was AI as a Creator (Image/Music/Audio), led by Asst. Prof. Burin Plendeesakul and Ajarn Paradorn Semaphet, who built imagination with AI to create work pieces such as pictures, video, and to create song lyrics and melody until it came out as a song, by using Bing and Sano. It can be said that the workshop was full of content, elements and entertainment for all groups.
Mrs. Montha Phaengma, a professional general management officer from the Faculty of Agriculture said that formerly she has always been interested in Generative AI, but had not had a chance to learn or experimented on it intensively. So she became interested to attend the training today and she found that many AI tools are very good assistants, in documentation, planning, making presentation slides and making meeting minutes. It means time saving for officers so that they can use the time for other useful things. The training was really fun and gave her knowledge that can be put into real use. After this, she will transfer the knowledge obtained to other officers and cheer everyone to learn about these tools in the future.
News: Phanit Khatnak
