What are students' experiences and needs with AI and digital applications for their studies and professional fields?
THUAS wants to explore and exploit the opportunities and challenges of AI and digitalization. We have - thanks in part to our students - the potential to make a significant contribution to AI being deployed in an inclusive, sustainable and equitable way. To gain more insight into students' experiences and needs with AI and digital applications, a survey was circulated among the student panel of THUAS in December. A total of 286 students fully completed the questionnaire. Thank you for completing the questionnaire, because your feedback as a student is important! By sharing your opinion and ideas, you influence the choices De Haagse Hogeschool makes. Below you can read the most important highlights.
Digitalization
- Students consider digitalization important for their studies and field of study; they say they know how to use digital applications responsibly.
- Half feel they develop sufficient digital skills during their studies.
AI
- A large proportion of students use AI applications. They mainly use it for creativity, support, text writing and research.
- Almost three quarters of students say they know how to use AI responsibly for their studies.
- Only a fifth feel they learn enough skills during their studies to use AI applications.
- A majority of students need support in dealing with AI applications. They especially need clear guidelines.
Digitalization and AI in the future
- 53% of students see digitalization as an opportunity for their future field of work because of its efficiency, automation and time savings. At the same time, almost a third see it as both an opportunity and a threat and are concerned that it could lead to dependency and the disappearance of jobs.
- Half of the students think the programme is sufficiently in line with current digitalization in their field, 39% think it is in line with future digital developments.
- Regarding the programme's alignment with AI developments in their field, only 33% feel the programme is aligned with current and 26% with future AI developments.
Suggestions for improvement
- To better integrate AI applications into studies, students see the following areas for improvement: explaining their use, tailoring lessons and assignments accordingly, and providing clear rules and guidelines.
What do we do with the results?
THUAS ambition is to ensure that every student learns to use AI and digital tools responsibly and deploy them purposefully. The importance of this is underlined by the results of this survey. And we also see that we are not there yet. We will therefore also make additional efforts to work on this. We will do so by scrutinising our curricula, investigating how AI can help make your learning experience the best it can be, and exploring which tools enable safe and responsible use. One way we do this is through the AI Hub: these colleagues support the college to quickly give AI a firm place in our education and research. Our applied research in the field of AI is also growing rapidly, for example in our Digital Operations & Finance and Cyber Security knowledge centres. With that research, we ensure that your education uses the latest knowledge.
Information about AI in your education can be found in the Education and Examination Regulations (OER) of your programme. Do you have input or ideas about AI? Welcome! Send an e-mail to ai-hub@hhs.nl.
THUAS would like to thank all students who have contributed to this research.
Let’s change. You. Us. The world.
