Halmstad University releases podcast course about AI

Today, Halmstad University launches a pod-based course about AI (Artificial Intelligence). It is mainly targeted towards professionals within digital service innovation, such as UX designers and developers, who want to know more about AI as design material. The course is also interesting for individuals who want to understand what AI is, how it can be used and its ethical aspects.

"We see a great need to concretise the concept of AI and cut through the hype surrounding the subject"

Pontus Wärnestål, Associate Professor in Informatics

“We want to make knowledge about AI accessible in an easy way and contribute to lifelong learning. Halmstad University, as an educational institution, should be relevant to people throughout their professional lives, not only during their studies. In addition, we see a great need to concretise the concept of AI and cut through the hype surrounding the subject”, says Pontus Wärnestål, Associate Professor in Informatics and project manager for the DAP (Digital design and Artificial Intelligence Podcast) project in which the podcast has been produced.

12 episodes – from basic AI knowledge to application areas and ethics

The podcast is called Human-Centered Machine Learning and consists of 12 episodes of varying length, most of them around 40 minutes. The first episodes elaborate on the basic concepts of AI, followed by episodes describing how AI can be used when designing services. Examples are given of how AI as a design method can be applied in the areas of Health Innovation as well as Smart Cities and Communities, which are Halmstad University’s two profile areas. The podcast ends with an ethical and social reflection on AI. The podcast is in English and each episode is based on a dialogue between two or three experts.

Man with headphones sitting in front of a microphone and a mixer table

Pontus Wärnestål, Associate Professor in Informatics at the School of Information Technology at Halmstad University, during the production of the podcast Human-Centered Machine Learning.

“We have focused on flexible learning at an individual pace. Many other E-learning initiatives are based on videos, but since we want to offer a more easily accessible educational material that the recipient can listen to at any time, we chose a pod-based course”, says Jeanette Sjöberg, Senior Lecturer in Pedagogy at Halmstad University and part of the DAP team.

All episodes of the Human-Centered Machine Learning podcast can be listened to both on the project's DAP website and through various podcasting platforms such as Apple Podcasts, Google Play and Spotify. There is no examination on the course, and everyone is free to listen to it at any time. DAP (Digital design and Artificial Intelligence Podcast) is a project financed by Vinnova for a flexible education for professionals.

Podcast: Human-Centered Machine Learning (DAP website) External link.