OUP hosts AI in Education at Oxford University summer school

OUP Education and English Language Teaching teams were proud to participate in, and host, the attendees of the AIEOU (AI in Education at Oxford University) Summer School, in July.

The conference marked one year since the founding of this growing global community of researchers, academics, educators, industry leaders, and policymakers – united by the goal of tackling some of the biggest questions facing education today.

Dr Sara Ratner, of the University of Oxford’s Department of Education, designed a week-long programme in collaboration with colleagues at the University’s Social Sciences Division as well as a team at the UK’s Department for Education, bringing together diverse perspectives from over a hundred representatives of academia, schools, government, industry, and civil society.

Over the week, attendees discussed not only the advances in AI technology, but also what meaningful impact looks like in education.

Discussions throughout the week brought together diverse perspectives, asking difficult questions about what AI should do in education and demanding evidence of its impact on learner outcomes.

Sarah Ultsch, Director of Global Product at OUP, shared her impressions of the event: “The debates and workshops of this summer school have been tremendously important, because the decisions we make now will shape the experience of learners for years to come.”

She also highlighted her team’s recent launch of L2-Bench, the world’s first benchmark for evaluating AI in second language learning, culminating in the release of an open-source dataset for the benefit of the wider education and technology community.

During the week, summer school attendees were welcomed to OUP’s Oxford offices for an informal gathering and tour of the OUP Museum, which showcases key milestones and stories from our 500-year history. Liz Tyler, Managing Director of UK Education, welcomed participants and applauded the aims of the event that align with OUP Education’s commitments:

Liz Tyler

Managing Director, UK Education

“At OUP, we develop services to support teachers and schools that are based on evidence and research, and we are deeply committed to working with the sector and with experts to establish an evidence base that will help us understand how AI might improve teaching and learning.”

She also pointed towards recent research conducted by teams at OUP into student attitudes to the use of AI: the Teaching the AI Native Generation and Navigating AI in Education reports. These have shown how much students as well as their teachers need more data and evidence to guide the use of AI in developing cognitive skills and improving learning. 

As the AIEOU community enters its second year, the conversations and partnerships sparked during the summer school will continue to shape the understanding of AI’s role in education. Through ongoing research and collaboration with the University of Oxford, OUP remains committed to helping the sector navigate the opportunities and challenges of AI and focus on improved learner outcomes.