Reconceptualizing The Role of University Educators in The Age of Artificial Intelligence

Abstract

Higher education plays a pivotal role in shaping individuals' intellectual and professional development. In an era characterized by rapid technological advancements, it is crucial for universities to adapt their curricula to equip students with the skills necessary for the future. These skills, often referred to as "future skills," encompass a set of competencies inclusive of digital literacy, which comprise a range of skills, knowledge, and competencies that enable individuals to access, evaluate, create, and communicate information using digital tools (Ehlers 2020; Schüller et al.2019;).However, the rapid spread of AI is raising the question for many universities as to which core skills students actually still need and what AI can do for them. (Wannemacher & Bodmann 2021). ChatGPT has become a normality and there are a multitude of similar AI´s. On a didactic level, many university teachers feel that their role is being sensitively disturbed by AI-based tools. If technical questions can also be posed to the AI or technical discussions can be held with ChatGPT, who still needs the expertise of university lecturers?  The paper takes up this, deliberately striking question, by critically analyzing the classical understanding of education at universities. As a counter- proposal, a  co-constructive educational framework is introduced, which enables educators to change their role (Weimann-Sandig 2023b). The main difference between constructivism (Vygotskij 1964) and co-constructivism lies in the emphasis on the social element, i.e. a two-way teaching-learning relationship. While constructivism focuses on individual learning, co-constructivism emphasizes the importance of joint construction of knowledge in social contexts. In the co- constructivist concept, lecturers also become knowledge recipients and continue to educate themselves through the input of their students (Weimann-Sandig 2023b).