Summary: Artificial intelligences and personalised learning, skills needed for work in the future, the ban of grantees publishing in paywalled journals by the European Science Funders, making appropriate use of learning spaces, and tips for difficult conversations Description: Artificial intelligences and personalised learning

As described in the August anniversary issue of Medical Teacher, adaptive learning is on the agenda in medical education. But where does artificial intelligence (AI) fit in? There is an interesting post in the ALT blog by Richard Price – Artificial Intelligence – Hype or Reality?  He describes an experiment with some AI tools to see how they could improve learning outcomes. The first experiment used a tool developed by Filtered which assesses an individual’s digital capabilities against a digital capability framework and then makes recommendations on the most appropriate resources to support that learner’s needs. The learner interacts with a chat bot interface to perform the assessment and an AI-curated list of resources is presented to the learner in priority order of their learning need. The study concludes at the end of December. In the second AI experiment personality types and thinking styles of undergraduate medical and nursing students are assessed to provide learning prompts and to inform tutors about tailoring support mechanisms to an individual. The personality detection uses a tool based on IBM Watson.

Skills needed for work in the future
A new World Economic Forum report, The Future of Jobs, describes ten skills that will be needed to thrive in the fourth industrial revolution. They are:
  1. Complex Problem Solving
  2. Critical Thinking
  3. Creativity
  4. People Management
  5. Coordinating with Others
  6. Emotional Intelligence
  7. Judgement and Decision Making
  8. Service Orientation
  9. Negotiation
  10. Cognitive Flexibility
 
European Science Funders ban grantees from publishing in paywalled journals
This is the heading of an article by Martin Enserink. He reports that 11 national funding organisations in Europe, which jointly spend about €7.6 billion on research annually, will now require every paper it funds to be freely available from the moment of publication. It will not be acceptable for the 6-12 month delays that many subscription journals now require before a paper is made open access and publication in so-called hybrid journals which charge subscriptions but also make individual papers open access for an additional fee will not be allowed. Researchers will be prevented therefore from publishing in journals such as Nature, Science, Cell and the Lancet.

Are you making appropriate use of learning spaces?
The design and use of learning spaces remains on today’s agenda. Following a useful and well-received presentation at a previous AMEE Conference, Jonas Nordquist, Kristina Sundberg, and Andrew Laing produced AMEE Guide 107 Aligning Physical Learning Spaces with the Curriculum. The following presentation on the topic has some interesting ideas and is primarily based on experience at the University of Westminster – here

Nordquist, J., Sundberg, K. & Laing, A. 2016. Aligning physical learning spaces with the curriculum: AMEE Guide No. 107. Med Teach. 38(8), 755-68.

Tips for difficult conversations
Inevitably at some time or another we all have a difficult conversation with a student or trainee or with a colleague. In a post on the Connected Principles blog of 27th September David Geurin provides seven tips for difficult conversations. While set in the context of conversations with students they are more generally applicable. We often avoid difficult conversations because we are not sure if they will be productive or may evoke strong emotions. Guerin suggests the recommended approaches create shared meaning and understanding.