Lunch Talks GenAI at Faculty of Science
Several Lunch Talks are being organised for staff members of the Faculty of Science (FNWI) in collaboration with TLC-Science.
19 May 2026 | Collaborating with GenAI: Artifacts
How to get the most out of using Artifacts in UvA AI Chat (e.g. for Time Savers)
This lunch session aims to educate participants on the use of artifacts within UvA AI Chat. By the end of the session, educators will understand what artifacts are and how to use them effectively within UvA AI Chat. The session will cover basic to expert progression, provide practical examples, and include a roadmap of upcoming UvA AI Chat features.
Learning goals
- Understand artifacts and their use in collaborating with generative AI;
- Recognize the added benefit of artifacts, when to use them and when not;
- Know how to effectively use UvA AI Chat to create artifacts.
23 June 2026 | GenAI & assessment
Designing AI-resilient assessments that align with your intended learning outcomes
In this lunch session, you will explore how GenAI is reshaping assessment in higher education and what that means for your own courses. We will look at how GenAI affects unsupervised assessments such as take-home exams, essays and projects, and discuss what responsible and problematic use of GenAI looks like in your context. Along the way, you will be invited to reconsider what you most need and what you want students to demonstrate in their work.
Learning goals
- Understand how GenAI impacts the validity and reliability of common assessment formats (e.g. essays, take-home exams, projects);
- Be able to distinguish between responsible, acceptable, and problematic uses of GenAI in student assessment;
- Explore concrete strategies to redesign assessments in ways that better capture student learning in the presence of GenAI.
Registration
Past sessions
Theory and evidence on the Effects of GenAI use on learning and cognition
AI is changing how students learn — sometimes for the better, sometimes not. In this lunch talk, we will explore how genAI shapes learning processes and cognition more generally. We’ll look at relevant theories of cognition to frame the challenge of AI in education and we will discuss recent empirical research on using AI in higher education. This talk will help you see when AI supports learning, when it undermines it, and how we can steer students toward using AI in ways that actually build their skills.
Learning goals
- Be able to explain how AI can both enhance and hinder learning through processes of deskilling, offloading, and cognitive scaffolding;
- Recognize how student characteristics, task design, and AI tool features shape learning outcomes when AI is introduced;
- Understand the challenges of AI and learning on the basis relevant theoretical frameworks and recent empirical research;
- Develop a sense for what is needed to integrate AI in education such that we safeguard the development of essential academic skills.
An overview of AI learning activities in the classroom including what works and what does not
This lunch session aims to help equip university educators with practical knowledge and skills to start integrating AI into their classroom activities. The session will cover innovative and advanced learning activities that utilize AI, focusing on encouraging effective learning. The session will provide practical examples and research insights into the impact of AI on education as well as opportunities for discussion and sharing.
Learning goals
- Get to know effective examples of innovative/advanced learning activities with AI in class;
- Discuss practical strategies for implementing and making effective use of AI in class;
- Be aware of current research in the field on the integration of AI in the classroom.
Advanced chatbot building in UvA AI Chat and how to use them for education
This lunch session introduces educators to the next level of working with UvA AI Chat through persona-based chatbot design. Participants will learn how to build and customize AI personas that can reliably perform specific tasks, support classroom activities, or simulate expert roles. The session will discuss different types of chatbots (task, discussion, and information retrieval bots), design principles, common pitfalls, and live examples of how personas can enhance teaching, learning, and research workflows.
Learning goals
- Understand what AI personas are and how they work;
- Be able to build and customize AI personas that can reliably perform specific tasks;
- Identify concrete ways to integrate persona-based chatbots into teaching workflows.
The GenAI Living Lab team contributes to these sessions with the aim of improving AI literacy among the academics and to actively involve students and staff it in the development and application of GenAI in education at the University of Amsterdam.