On May 28 and 29, 2026, Prof. David Mwanza and Dr Lighton Phiri ran a pilot Digital Innovation, Collaboration and AI-Enhanced Learning Workshop for University of Zambia lecturers and students. The workshop was held virtually on Google Meet. Artificial intelligence is already reshaping how we research, teach and supervise, and the workshop gave participants hands-on experience with AI tools, critical fact-checking skills and practical strategies for using AI ethically and effectively, without replacing their professional judgement.

Programme

The two days were organised around six themes:

• What AI is: how generative AI works, why prompting matters, the CLEAR prompting framework, and demonstrations of research tools such as Perplexity and Elicit;
• Information and media literacy: finding, checking and citing information produced with AI;
• Communication and collaboration using digital tools;
• Digital content creation with AI assistance;
• Safety and responsible use: privacy, academic integrity and the limits of AI tools; and
• Problem solving: participants closed the workshop by pitching an "AI solution" to a problem from their own teaching or studies.