Education
Introducing UCT’s AI in Education Framework
Dear colleagues and students
Artificial intelligence technologies are becoming part of our daily lives, and starting to reshape teaching and learning in universities. Staff and students are using tools such as ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini in innovative and productive ways; while at other times these technologies present significant challenges, requiring us to rethink teaching pedagogies, assessment practices and the fundamentals of what a university experience should be, and what our qualifications should signify in a changing world.
The University of Cape Town (UCT) is committed to providing an enabling environment and systematic approaches to shape and support staff and students in responsible and ethical use of these technologies, and I am thus pleased to announce the endorsement of the UCT AI in Education Framework by Senate’s Teaching and Learning Committee in June 2025.
This framework, focusing primarily on generative AI, represents an institutional position at this moment in time on how UCT’s teaching and learning community can best respond to and shape the advent of AI technologies. Given the rapid development and take-up of AI technologies, the framework provides both a set of overarching principles for ethical and responsible use and promotes three pillars for AI engagement:
- Promoting AI literacies for staff and students
- Promoting and ensuring assessment integrity
- Exploring and investing in AI-enabled opportunities for innovation in teaching, learning and curriculum design
The pillars are designed to give focus to core initiatives that can support the UCT teaching community through providing a roadmap of activities for the short- and medium-term, as well as outlining the roles and responsibilities for different stakeholder groups in operationalising the framework. Responding to AI in teaching and learning will require the commitment of the entire teaching and learning community as we come together to shape our future with intention and integrity.
The framework was drafted by the Online Education Subcommittee in September 2024 and finalised in June 2025 after extensive engagements with faculties, support departments, student representatives and the UCT AI Initiative. Some key messages from the consultations were to foreground academic integrity practices, ensure equity for staff and students in accessing AI technologies in teaching and learning, and promote staff and student AI literacies and capabilities.
I want to thank all the stakeholders who have engaged with this important process and whose views and suggestions have enriched the framework. Given the rapidly changing space, the framework’s roadmap and set of activities will be updated regularly to keep pace with new developments via the framework webpage.
I encourage you to read and engage with the framework.
An important related issue is the use of the Turnitin AI Score, which flags passages of writing in student work considered to be AI-generated. AI detection tools are widely considered to be unreliable, and can produce both false positives and false negatives. The continued use of such scores risks compromising student trust and academic fairness. The Senate Teaching and Learning Committee has now agreed that use of the AI Score should be discontinued, and this feature in Turnitin will no longer be available at UCT from 1 October 2025.
Sincerely
Professor Brandon Collier-Reed
Deputy Vice-Chancellor: Teaching and Learning
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Texas Birder Business
By Joey Gomez
McALLEN, Texas – Artificial Intelligence (AI) is at the core of South Texas College’s Bachelor of Applied Technology in Computer Information Technology (BAT-CIT) program as it pioneers industry certificates on a statewide and national scale for students.
Leadership and faculty with the program say they have now awarded more than 2,250 certificates to students taking BAT-CIT courses in the five years since integrating what the program calls AI-focused “microcredentials” tied to Google and Amazon Web Services (AWS) in fall 2020.
The priority on industry credentials is giving graduates a unique and competitive edge in the job market, according to program Department Chair Saeed Molki.
“In the entire state of Texas and throughout the entire United States, no one has done such a thing,” Molki said, referring to the number of credentials awarded to students. “We do not overstate all the work we have done for students in the last five years.”
Crediting college leadership including STC President Ricardo J. Solis, Ph.D., along with Vice President and Provost for Academic Affairs and Economic Development, Anahid Petrosian, Ph.D., and Dean of Math, Science, IT and Bachelor Programs Ali Esmaeili, Ed.D., for encouraging the push toward microcredentials and AI, Molki said the effort began with a vision to embed industry certifications directly into courses.
The effort culminated this year in 2025 as the program added four new AI-related courses, which includes an Advanced Artificial Intelligence course for fourth-year students and an upcoming Data Science and Machine Learning in Cybersecurity course which begins in spring 2026.
Each course is meant to build on the last to create a progressive pathway to advanced AI concepts, according to BAT-CIT faculty.
“So essentially, students are going to be getting a certificate with every class,” said Assistant Professor of Computer Science, Nicholas Hinojosa. “Last semester, we even implemented that every student who is taking our 1301 class, which is our most basic class, will complete a certificate in Google Artificial Intelligence Essentials. These are students who are coming fresh from high school to STC.”
The BAT-CIT program offers seven industry-recognized certifications, that align with coursework so students earn credentials as they progress through the program.
CIT Assistant Professor Menghung Wu, Ph.D., emphasized that the curriculum builds from Python to machine learning and then to advanced AI which ensures students understand both the technical skills and theory behind AI systems.
“AI is no longer just a tool, it’s the foundation of how technology is advancing,” Wu said. “This is why in our program, we don’t just introduce students to the basics, we guide them step-by-step into the core of artificial intelligence. That deeper knowledge is what will set them apart as innovators in the workplace.”
BAT-CIT student Andrea Rios is the founder and current president of the program’s Computer Science Club and organizes various activities and speakers for students. Reflecting on the priority the program places on AI-related credentials, Rios said faculty are doing a phenomenal job by embracing the new technology and gauging the industry.
“The biggest way the faculty in the BAT-CIT program help students is by understanding the market and the workplace and realizing just how quickly it changes, especially in the technology industry,” Rios said. “At STC, we are taught to adapt and I think that’s the most important thing I have taken from my time here.”
For more information on STC’s Computer and Information Technologies program visit www.southtexascollege.edu/academics/computer-info-tech/index.html.
White House Kick Off School Year With AI Education Efforts, Public-Private Collabs
The White House is rolling out its Presidential Artificial Intelligence Challenge with new commitments to further expand the use of AI in education just as the school year begins – and as the Federal Trade Commission readies a probe into whether popular AI chatbots are harming children’s mental health.
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U.S. President Donald Trump hosted several big tech leaders Thursday night “for discussions centered on harnessing [AI] to propel the U.S. to the forefront of global innovation,” according to a press release the White House published Friday. The meeting followed the second White House Task Force on AI Education summit, where First Lady Melania Trump announced a series of commitments to help further the administration’s AI challenge, including forthcoming toolkits, webinars, classroom guides and agency action items to increase the implementation of AI training materials and tools in K-12 schools nationwide.
Education Secretary Linda McMahon said during the meeting the agency is “fully aligned with the Presidential AI Challenge” and “encouraging students and educators to explore AI technologies with curiosity and with creativity.” Experts have also warned the federal push to rapidly deploy AI tools across American classrooms could come with cybersecurity vulnerabilities, privacy risks and potential harm to minors (see: Trump Wants AI in Classrooms. Where Are the Safeguards?).
Initiatives to further AI in education include billion-dollar commitments from companies like Alphabet and million-dollar agreements with IBM – both of which had their CEOs at the education summit. Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer said that her agency is in the process of building new private sector partnerships to expand access to AI education and training materials nationwide. Google CEO Sundar Pichai said efforts are designed “in the service of helping the next generation to solve problems, fuel innovation and build an incredible future.”
Recent studies have shown AI tools and systems may have some positive benefits when introduced in the classroom but in their present form typically introduce major risks including the presence of inappropriate and harmful content. According to the Wall Street Journal, the FTC is preparing to send many of the top tech companies developing the leading AI tools that were present at the White House this week letters demanding information while investigating whether children’s mental health is impacted by the use of chatbots like OpenAI’s ChatGPT.
The White House Presidential AI Challenge invites U.S. students to complete a project that involves AI tools or systems to address community challenges, and encourages educators to use creative approaches to teaching and using AI technologies in K-12 education. Trump signed executive orders in April encouraging public-privte partnerships to expand AI in K-12 education, establishing the Presidential AI challenge and directing agencies to work with leading AI organizations in creating new resources specifically for K-12 education.
OpenAI has announced plans to create accounts for teens with parental controls amid lawsuits against AI companies over teenage suicides from families alleging their children were adversely affected by their tools.
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