Abstract
In September 2025, the HKU School of Innovation (I-School) began teaching its first cohort of Bachelor of Science in Innovation and Technology students. The I-School curriculum includes three first-semester foundational courses that integrate theory with practical hands-on experiences across science, technology, design, and entrepreneurship. Naturally, given the subject area and the fact that we are developing our new curriculum at a time of great interest in generative AI technology, the I-School teaching staff are actively exploring the use of AI for pedagogical design, assessment and feedback, and as a learning tool. We expect our students to develop a high level of AI literacy, to use AI ethically in their academic and professional work, and to engage critically with the issues raised by AI for teaching and learning. The I-School thus provides fertile ground for experimentation and prototyping of AI-enabled learning experiences.
- Our presentation will describe two distinct practices that we have adopted in our foundational courses this semester:
- First, in our Computational Problem Solving course (INTC1103), we have been engaging students in utilising computer codes to solve problems from a computational approach. During in-class learning activities, course instructors and students explored together how to manoeuvre AI to produce computer codes to solve various kinds of problems, such as finding the shortest path between two elements in a network. Throughout the entire process, emphasis was placed on developing students’ competencies in critically assessing the quality of the computer codes provided by AI and in effectively directing AI to further improve the computer codes at hand by asking the right question (prompt engineering). To enhance the effects of this pedagogy, students were later encouraged to adopt AI-assisted coding for their assignments.
- Second, in our Human-Centred Innovation course (INTC1001), we have been developing students’ research and reflection skills using a set of weekly “foundational inquiry” assignments. These assignments ask students to engage with a challenging idea (e.g., what makes innovation human-centered?) through a series of prompts that require both information seeking (research) and connecting to their own experience (reflection). Rather than limiting the use of AI for these assignments, we have encouraged students to use the chatbot of their choice to engage in a thoughtful discussion while preparing their responses.
We will share our initial observations, some adjustments we have already made in response, and our plans to assess the effectiveness of these practices and refine them in future iterations.
Presenter(s) / Author(s)
