On November 21, from 12:00 to 14:00, the Center for Distance Education Development at the Office of Information Services held the “2023 Smart Future GO! SPROUT Seminar on Digital Learning: AI-assisted Innovative Teaching and Practical Research - Application of Personal Digital Assistant in Improving Project Writing” in room I501. They invited Distinguished Professor Chih-Yung Chang from the Department of Computer Science and Information Engineering, and Wei-Ting Chang, Head of the Network Management Section at the Office of Information Services, to teach the application of digital assistants. They humorously explained that a total of 146 teachers actively participated in the on-site and online synchronous learning, making “Tamkang Tiger Cub” a valuable assistant in teaching and administration.

Dr. Chin-Hwa Kuo, the Chief Information Officer (CIO) of the Information Services Office, first mentioned the emergence of ChatGPT last year, acknowledging the profound impact it had on the teachers present. He then brought up the recent ouster of Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, which had a significant impact on the market. He emphasized, “AI is now present in our surroundings, and we must pay attention to its development trends.” This led to a close collaboration between our university and Microsoft Taiwan in creating the “5C Tamkang Tiger Cub” – the personal digital assistant. The goal is to provide teachers with a deeper understanding. He further reminded teachers that, “Even so, the initiative still lies in your hands. Using it wisely, you will find yourself standing on the shoulders of giants.”

Director Kuei-Ping Shih of the Center explained that the recent period is the preparation phase for teaching practice projects and research projects from the National Science and Technology Council. Through “Tamkang Tiger Cub” or ChatGPT, teachers can quickly analyze and organize literature data, enabling them to submit projects on time.

With the topic “New Horizons of AI: Enhancing Research Projects with the Application of 5C Tamkang Tiger Cub,” Professor Chang informed the teachers that Tamkang Tiger Cub is not meant to help write projects but rather to discuss and interact, integrating with teachers into the projects. He explained that the current capabilities of Tamkang Tiger Cub inherit the abilities of ChatGPT and are now available for use by faculty and staff on MS Teams. Professor Chang presented 6 questioning techniques on how to interact with Tamkang Tiger Cub. He emphasized the importance of providing background, motivation, and purpose before setting the role for “Tiger Cub” relative to oneself. Subsequently, he suggested giving background knowledge, answering after reading while providing constraints, specifying the scope and output format, asking questions in stages before integrating, and finally, exploring reasons and processes. He concluded, “Whether working with Tamkang Tiger Cub or ChatGPT, it is essential to digest the provided content, fill in the gaps with experience, and thereby complete research projects.”

With the topic “Tamkang AI Personal Digital Assistant: Optimizing Workflow with 5C Tamkang Tiger Cub,” Wei-Ting Chang shared insights on how to achieve efficient workflow through Tamkang Tiger Cub. He noted that last year was the “First Year of AI,” and the emergence of ChatGPT brought significant changes to daily life. Beyond ChatGPT, more AI software has been introduced. Wei-Ting Chang explained that Tamkang Tiger Cub is based on ChatGPT 4.0, which includes the latest drawing software DALLE-E3, providing faculty and staff with an updated experience. He highlighted that personal data security is protected, ensuring that the information retrieval process is not easily compromised. He emphasized that teachers need to cultivate collaboration with AI. Although this software has limitations, it is essential to be able to discern information. Collaboration with AI should be approached with curiosity rather than fear. Being open to failure and achieving critical thinking to analyze and solve problems is crucial. The most important aspect is learning how to ask questions and maintaining a positive attitude towards learning, enabling long-term progress.

Professor I-Fei Chen, Chair of the Department of Management Sciences, shared that the memorable takeaway is “only those who ask the right questions can gain more knowledge.” Normally, questions might only reach the second level, and there is no awareness of the depth of questions that AI can accept and the effectiveness it can achieve. After understanding this, she now knows how to collaborate with Tamkang Tiger Cub, reducing workload and improving efficiency. Professor De-Liang Chou from the Chinese Department stated that AI and ChatGPT have had a more significant impact than imagined this year. Learning to call “Tamkang Tiger Cub” has been helpful for teachers in teaching and research. They have also witnessed various teaching scenarios and research project cases. In the future, AI will be regarded as a working partner, and they are willing to use “Tamkang Tiger Cub” to assist in course planning and design.