Kazem Banihashem – educational technologist and lecturer in AI in education

According to Kazem, the MHPE programme holds tremendous potential for healthcare professionals who are looking to develop into educational experts. “Our students can be excellent teachers, but to research and innovate education, a solid academic foundation is required. We equip our students with the pedagogical skills to take on roles as educational leaders, educational designers, or educational researchers.”

Kazem coordinates the certificate courses, which allow participants to explore the MHPE programme on a smaller scale by working on a selection of tasks within a role of their choice. “We offer a selection of courses that are equivalent to parts of the MHPE curriculum, such as critically evaluating assessment or modern health professions education.” Certificate courses offer students the opportunity to acquire knowledge and skills related to major topics in health professions education. 

This aspect of personalisation continues in the full master’s programme. “The idea of the two-year programme is to offer a substantial part as electives, so that students can choose the material that best fits their context and then translate it back to their own authentic educational practice.” Throughout the two years, students receive continuous feedback based on a portfolio. “There is no fail or pass for a single task,” Kazem explains, “because we use a portfolio-based assessment, a method that is also taught during the programme.”

Students graduate with a well-developed educational vision at a macro level. “They often start by searching for answers on how they should view and define health education, because that foundation is needed for their work later on.” As a teacher, Kazem also sees personal growth for himself through direct contact with students. “The MHPE programme is mainly online, combined with a usually three-week on-campus period. There is a lot of peer-to-peer interaction, which I find particularly interesting because everyone comes from a different professional background.”

As far as educational vision is concerned, that of Kazem will probably incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into it. Kazem has a bachelor’s, master’s, and PhD in educational technology. “At my previous position within the Open University, I focused on educational innovations that support both teaching and learning. Think of learning analytics, educational data mining, and the use of AI chatbots such as ChatGPT.”

Alongside his teaching role, Kazem continues his research at SHE into the use of AI in education. “I am working on developing both guidelines and pedagogical designs. We started workshops on the use of AI for thesis writing, teaching, and learning, and on how faculties can deal with this fast-evolving field.” His main goal is to improve AI literacy among both FHML staff, teachers, and students. To achieve this goal, Kazem works with a large team within the FHML AI working group led by Prof. Desiree Joosten - ten Brinke.

“AI literacy in education includes a few basic principles: AI should never play the main role - students and teachers do. We can delegate lower-level cognitive tasks to AI so we can focus on higher-order thinking skills. Another principle is transparency; both teachers and students must be open about their use of AI and their reasons for doing so. And finally, AI tools such as ChatGPT are biased. They learn from data created by humans, and we are all biased in some way.”