AI in Education and Libraries: Taking Privacy, Security, and Equity into Account

AI in Education and Libraries: Taking Privacy, Security, and Equity into Account

This event was held on Friday, July 28. We will post the recording and materials here as they become available.

Presenters: Ray Pun, Alder Graduate School of Education
Scarlet Galvan, Grand Valley State University
Dr. Lauren Goodlad, Rutgers
moderated by Carolyn Bennett Glauda, Southeastern

Outcome: After participating in this webinar, attendees will confidently respond to comments of, “we should -or- shouldn’t have AI in the classroom or library.”

About the webinar:
Everyone is talking about Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning lately. In the valley between “AI is going to destroy life as we know it” and “AI is going to revolutionize our lives” lies the fact that the future isn’t yet written, and these tools will only be as good as we let them be.
This technology is now widely available to the public and professionals alike, and it’s time to understand how it works and how it is marketed to us. That way, we can make educated choices about using AI in the classroom, at work, and in the library. In this moderated panel discussion, you will hear from three people in the field who are approaching AI technology through the lens of privacy, security, equity, and intellectual freedom. 

About the presenters:
Ray Pun (he/him) is the academic and research librarian at Alder Graduate School of Education where he supports 400+ preservice teachers and teacher educators; Ray holds a Doctorate in Education, Master of Library Science and Master of Arts in East Asian Studies. Ray is a member of the Library Freedom Project.
He will discuss how ChatGPT and generative AI tools are used in the K-12 classrooms. Ray will discuss how it is critical for learners to utilize tools like ChatGPT to interrogate responses reflecting biases and systemic racism; generative AI tools have potential in supporting teaching and learning efforts but there are concerns to consider regarding how the tool might be interfering with privacy issues or neglecting skill development. This presentation will highlight Ray’s experiences with ChatGPT in the teaching and learning setting.

Scarlet Galvan is the Collection Strategist Librarian for Grand Valley State University Libraries in Allendale, Michigan. Her research interests focus on sociopolitical dimensions of library technology and infrastructure. She will focus on more ethical use of AI image programs, and pathways for advocacy in this context when talking with vendors. This section would include a pretty healthy “how does it work / how do we currently understand how it learns?” component and examples of AI art that pre-dates the widespread use we see with DALL-E and Midjourney, etc.

Dr. Lauren M. E. Goodlad is Professor of English and Comparative Literature as well as a faculty affiliate of the Center for Cultural Analysis (CCA), the Rutgers British Studies Center, and the Rutgers Center for Cognitive Science. At Rutgers, she has served as Associate Chair of English and as a member of the executive committee for Graduate Studies; she currently serves as a board member for CCA and RBSC, the chair of a new interdisciplinary initiative on Critical Artificial Intelligence and as Editor-in-Chief Critical AI, a forthcoming multidisciplinary journal. She will examine the technological ramifications of LLMs (ChatGPT et al.) as well as the various claims for the educational benefits of these commercial products. She can talk about the media’s narrative about AI. Reporters who hype it as something all-powerful and obscure the very real, banal harms of AI, such as racism, surveillance, over-policing and lack of accountability for the powerful.