The Commonwealth of Learning (COL) recently supported the Higher Education Commission (HEC), Mauritius, to develop national policy guidelines on integrating Artificial Intelligence (AI) in teaching and learning in the higher education institutions in the country.

Since March 2022, COL has supported the HEC in systematically integrating information and communication technologies in teaching and learning in Mauritius’s six public higher education institutions. Taking a phased intervention approach, the COL support has resulted in the development of a technology-enabled learning (TEL) policy in the six institutions and capacity building of teachers in the development of blended courses. Currently, over 80 blended courses have been developed, integrating open educational resources. Many of these have also already been offered to the students. While the six institutions are currently engaged in applying COL’s TEL benchmarking toolkit for assessing their capacities to leverage the power of technology to improve the quality of learning, the HEC has developed the guidelines on AI using COL’s policy guidelines.

Over 50 participants from the higher education sector, representing private and public institutions, parastatal bodies, and ministries, recently attended the one-day workshop to validate the newly developed AI guidelines. The workshop was inaugurated by Dr Kaviraj Sharma Sukoon, Minister of Tertiary Education, Science and Research, Republic of Mauritius, and emphasised the need to regulate AI use in teaching, learning and research. “The guidelines developed by HEC with the support of COL will provide a clear framework for AI use, academic integrity, capacity building, and improving teaching methodologies and student engagement”, he commented.

Dr Sanjaya Mishra, COL’s Education Specialist: Technology-Enabled Learning, facilitated the review of the draft guidelines. Participants discussed the provisions of the policy guidelines in groups to critically reflect on the clarity, relevance, coherence, and feasibility, and provided inputs for finalising it. Dr Mishra explained the work of the Committee of Teachers involved in developing the policy guidelines and said, “The HEC has taken an important step in developing these guidelines for the appropriate use of AI in teaching and learning in higher education. This will facilitate equitable access to AI tools and allow a transparent, ethical and human-centred approach while using AI in teaching and learning.”