Abstract

AI & Creativity: A Beginner’s Guide for Arts Educators is a free, online, asynchronous resource introducing creative arts educators to AI concepts, tools, and ethical considerations. Designed for beginners, it offers videos, case studies, and interactive exercises exploring AI-driven tools for text and image-making in a creative context. The course addresses responsible AI use, authorship, and bias in creative education. This session will present the resource’s development, content, and early feedback, highlighting how accessible, asynchronous learning can empower arts educators to thoughtfully integrate AI into their teaching and artistic practices.

Session and activities

This session will begin with a broad overview of the key issues and concerns that have emerged in education since the release of ChatGPT over two years ago. We will explore how tutors and educators have been navigating topics such as academic integrity in an AI-assisted world, the ethical challenges posed by biases embedded within AI systems, and how these technologies can reinforce dominant social and cultural power structures. Additionally, the session will consider the environmental implications of increasing AI use, particularly in creative and academic settings.

The session will then introduce ‘AI & Creativity: The Beginner’s Guide for Art Education’, a newly developed resource aimed at supporting educators and students within art schools. We will discuss the reasons behind its creation, the growing influence of AI on the creative learning process, and how this is reshaping both teaching practices and student engagement in the arts. The presentation will explain how and why the resource is structured, highlighting its pedagogical framework and the types of activities it includes — designed to encourage critical engagement with AI tools while supporting creativity and ethical awareness.

In the second part of the session, participants will engage in a hands-on activity, exploring a selection of exercises from the resource using AI-based text and image generation tools. This practical component will give attendees a chance to experiment with the technology and reflect on its possibilities and limitations within an educational context. The activity will conclude with a facilitated group discussion, inviting participants to consider when, how, and why these tools might be effectively and responsibly integrated into teaching and learning.

Attendees will also be encouraged to complete the remaining asynchronous activities from the resource in their own time between 2nd and 4th July, designed to take approximately 45 minutes per day.