How did VU Amsterdam and the VU Centre for Teaching & Learning (CTL) respond to the rapid rise of artificial intelligence (AI)? We spoke with Esther Schagen, lecturer and CTL education specialist, and Silvester Draaijer, CTL programme manager. Where do things stand now? And what does AI mean for the education of tomorrow?
“This will have a huge impact”
“When I first saw generative AI in action, I immediately thought: this will have a huge impact on education,” Draaijer says. Within a short time, it was everywhere: in lecture halls, programme committees and boardrooms. The CTL quickly got involved as well. “We immediately started exploring what this means for lecturers and education,” he explains. “Our first didactic tip on AI was written with a clear starting point: don’t just look at students’ final products anymore, but focus on the learning process.”
That tip on the VU website was widely read and shared. “But of course, one article didn’t provide all the answers. So we brought people together from different domains – from education policy and IT to the University Library – to explore what generative AI means for education.” From that network, the CTL later contributed to the university-wide AI working group.
According to Schagen, VU Amsterdam did not start from scratch. “A few years earlier, we had already developed a new vision on assessment.” Less emphasis on final grades, more attention to students’ learning processes. “That turned out to be extremely valuable with AI. It brought back the fundamental question of what and how we actually want to assess.”
First reactions from lecturers
What did Schagen observe among lecturers? “Many people didn’t immediately realize the scale of the impact,” she says. “The examples in the news often seemed harmless, like generating a poem. That still feels far removed from your own teaching.”
But once AI entered education, a divide quickly emerged. “Some lecturers thought: this is fantastic, we’ll use it everywhere. Others were much more hesitant and preferred to stay away from it altogether.”
Good education as a foundation
According to Schagen, that hesitation often stems from uncertainty. “Many lecturers think: I don’t know enough about this yet, so how can I teach my students about it?” That concern is only partly justified, she argues. “You don’t need to understand AI in full detail, but a basic understanding is important. Much comes down to asking the right questions and critically evaluating the output. And that is exactly what lecturers are good at. You already know what good education looks like, you can incorporate AI into that.”
Her advice: start small, but intentionally. Experiment, see what works, and learn along the way. “It doesn’t have to be perfect right away,” Schagen says. “We’re all doing this for the first time. That’s precisely why it’s important to keep the conversation going with students and colleagues, and to remain critical.” And yes, sometimes things go wrong. “You might receive twenty essays and think: something’s off here. That’s information too. You discuss it with students and use it to improve your teaching.”
“Much comes down to asking the right questions and critically evaluating the output. And that is exactly what lecturers are good at. You already know what good education looks like, you can incorporate AI into that.”
Full workshops, avatars & AI events
Meanwhile, a lot is happening within the CTL. “We regularly organize AI workshops, and they often fill up quickly. Lecturers and programmes increasingly find their way to us with questions, ideas and experiments,” says Draaijer. “We don’t just explore the impact on education, we also have the expertise to support lecturers who want to work with AI, both technically and in a tailored way.”
In some courses, students already work with AI avatars in simulations, for example at the School of Business and Economics. Beyond the lecture hall, initiatives are also expanding. “We recently developed the AI Literacy Companion – student edition, a free book that helps students use AI productively, but also critically and responsibly,” Draaijer explains. “We also organize moral deliberationswith education staff from across VU Amsterdam, as well as events like the VU AI Literacy Day.”
The momentum around AI continues to grow, Schagen notes: “The first time I gave a session on AI and theses, two supervisors attended. A year later, there were thirty.” Draaijer adds: “Technological developments are moving fast, and their societal impact is becoming increasingly visible. That keeps adding new dimensions to the conversation.”
Students at the table
Students are also actively involved at CTL and the VU Education Lab (part of CTL). In an AI student team, student staff members contribute to workshops, experiments and small-scale research on how students use AI in their studies.
“As a student, you often use AI very practically,” says student staff member Joséphine Tans, Master’s student in Artificial Intelligence. “To generate ideas, create structure, or improve a text. But what students mainly want is clarity from lecturers: what is allowed, what isn’t and how do we use AI in a fair and meaningful way in our education?” Within CTL, students contribute to workshops, discussions with lecturers and experiments. “That way, the student perspective truly becomes part of how VU approaches AI in education.”
Beyond the panic
Many AI-related questions now land at CTL, which has been active for nearly three years as an expertise centre for educational development and lecturer professionalisation. Time to look ahead: what will education with AI look like in three years?
According to Draaijer, the initial sense of panic will have passed. “We don’t need to turn everything upside down. Many fundamental forms will remain effective.” At the same time, the focus is shifting. In writing, assessment and research, more emphasis will be placed on the learning process. “The guidance and judgement of the lecturer will become more important than ever. That’s the only way students feel seen, and that’s the best remedy against uncritical use of AI.”
Schagen sees a broader lesson here. Both students and lecturers need to become AI literate, so they can critically and ethically decide whether and how AI should play a role in the learning process. This also requires programme directors and programme committees to embed it in the curriculum. “We need to understand what this technology does and how to align it with our education.”
Or, as Schagen puts it: “Developments around generative AI have prompted us to take a sharper look at our education and to keep shaping it together with our students.”